DIY B-Movie Robot is A-OK

While we certainly agree that “Devil Girl From Mars” is an attractive movie title, we have yet to see this apparent British B-movie delight for ourselves. If [Cory Collins]’ fantastic build of Chani, the lumbering, terrifying robot that accompanies the vinyl-clad and caped Devil Girl in question is any indication, we bet it’s delightfully bad.

[Cory] was able to faithfully reproduce Chani — lights, lumbering and all — for less than $50. This price tag does not include the vacuum former required to make the domed head, but hey, it’s an investment into future projects.

[Cory] started by dissecting an R/C stunt car from Harbor Freight and stringing the innards up to a 3D-printed walking mechanism that’s been modified to use gear-reduced motors so it walks more slowly. While Chani is stomping around on TPU treads, the LEDs from the R/C car’s headlights shine inside of its dome. Chani’s boxy body is a big paper sculpture that looks spot-on to us when compared to the movie’s trailer.

We love the way that Chani walks — it sort of dips and glides along in a forward-facing Moonwalk fashion. As you can see in the video below, [Cory] totally nailed the robot’s gait, and it’s hilarious to watch Chani’s little coolant hose-looking arms dangle and shake as he makes his slow and menacing way across the table. Stick around for some scary nighttime footage of Chani against a thunderstorm.

Want your robots to move more like movie robots? All you gotta do is use the right tools.