You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: Real BB-8 and You can have one too! Part 1 of my adventure in building full scale droid from Star Wars.
Wow, you put so much effort into this but the end result is clearly worth it. I love that photo on your FB page of him with all the other Star Wars characters. Lol. That's really great you used this project to help get investment for Ireland's STEM program. I think something like this would really show kids that maths and science can be fun (although still nerdy 😁) and not all textbooks. Getting recognition for your part in that is an achievement in itself. Well done.
Wow! Thank you very much! You made my day with this nomination. It gives me more energy to write more. I am now printing the other droid, the black BB9E from recent movie in second room on 2 of my printers. The smell of plastic makes me sick so had to move my computer to living room for last 10 days :)
Yes it was a lot of work, for about half a year, I had to reject few commissions to make it happen but it served well, it raised the bar for me as maker.
Yes, the photo with other characters was made during charity concert playing music from the movies. They are a group who shows on different events, they are great. I exchanged contact details with them and planning to bring my droid for more appearances, he is like a celebrity :)
The investment in STEM programs would happen without me. I was so surprised they invited me to represent the maker movement. I guess, owning the only BB8 in Ireland helped :) I wish more teachers use pop culture to keep children interested. Even when they teach soldering and programming, instead of building this bug like creatures, they could make something more interesting. We all got used to seeing this complex robot in the movies and games and 2 motors with the board does not look that appealing. But put it inside hamster ball and turn it into your own BB8, thats the winner :)
Lol. I like that he's reached celebrity status already.
Yeah be careful inhaling all those toxic plastic fumes. That's not good for you at all. Having said that, I'm excited to see the new one sometime in the next 6 months, since I'll assume you'll make another post (please make another post).
I hope you get a chance to tell teachers (or at least the Dept of Education bureaucrats) your ideas for getting kids into STEM. They could definitely use something like this that's relevant they can get excited about.
Also this post got resteemed by curie in case you weren't aware, so congrats on that too. That's actually a pretty big deal.
Wow! that is amazing. With 14k followers, it should give some extra exposure for this article. Once again, thank you so much for taking time to read it and show it to curators.
Celebrity of this droid was reached since the first trailer and now after the latest movie, he gained even more love from fans :) I wish I could contribute to that :) I can only do it here locally, give people a chance to take selfies or let kids hug him. It was cool to watch. Thanks to that it is the static figure, I could mount head without the use of magnets. That is safer, because it will never fall, so I have no worries that people touch him.
I always try to share ideas with other makers during the meetups around the event. Most of them are educators, I must be careful so I don't sound like smartass :)
Fumes from the plastic is just one of the ingredients of the toxic environment of maker :) there is sanding of all sort of materials and spray paints and fillers :) I try to limit my exposure with safety gear where I can. I want to see times when next generation will finaly invent flying cars and all the gadgets I love to see in the scifi movies ;)