Project: Rover

[Frenkie]

For those of you who dont know what this mod is about; Planet 51 is a galactic sized alien adventure comedy from the writer of "Shrek" and "Shrek 2", which revolves around American astronaut Captain Charles "Chuck" Baker who lands on Planet 51, thinking he's the first person to step foot on it. With the help of his robot companion "Rover" and his new friend Lem, Chuck must navigate his way through the dazzling, but bewildering, landscape of Planet 51 in order to escape becoming a permanent part of the Planet 51 Alien Invaders Space Museum.

Youtube trailer

I turned my webcam into a little Nasa Robot mod.

Ofcourse I first did my homework and checked out the movie and all the pictures I could find on the internet. Then I started with a strip of my favorite material; Vikurene! ( polystyrene )

Because the mod is build around the webcam, I had little trouble estimating the measuerments.

Cut out the hole for the webcam and cutted the front.

Glued it together with moddeling adhesive.

The rough edges come out here.

[Frenkie]

Since P51 it's a spanish production (Most expensive in our history) I'm a little bit proud, I think.

Nice project.

And well deserverd, I really love the movie. Its going to be a big hit !

[Frenkie]

No just a casing around a webcam. When I asked around in my direct surroundings about those sphere webcam, I got a lot of responses, almost everyone wanted to donate me one of those ancient pieces. In thoses days, these spheres were about the highest possible availble and affordable. I can get about 7 now without breaking a sweat. Then my friend Pepijn from Space Promotion came by to bring back my R2D2 and Wall-E mod, they used on their stand at the HME in Utrecht. He offered me a brandnew Logitech Quickcam Sphere AF . These are supposed to be the highest quality image using Carl Zeiss lenses and with the tracking motor inside it is the perfect cam for this mod. Thanx Space Promotion!

:b

[Frenkie]

Sanded down all the edges with a file

There, its not so square anymore.

On the side there is a small led and an antenna.

glued together

en beveled down

Stuck to the side

[Frenkie]

Made a small lid for the front

Spraypainted dull black behind it

And fastened the lid

[Frenkie]

Over to the rear, there is a solar panel on some hinges.
first test form.

Four equal shimms

Tightened with some small bolts and nuts.

Now it can pivot

[Frenkie]

Matis wrote[]
Nice work, are you making it by eye from the drawing or do you have a 3D-drawing layout ?

No, completely from the eye. The drawing behind the first picture is where I am making this from. (Much later I found out by pauzing the movie that he has two oval blue leds on the back.)


Some creative printing makes me a little solar panel

On the back I did some spraypainting.

And this is how it looks like now.

[Frenkie]

Merchandising

I have come across so many toys and goodies about Rover, that i'm wondering why I even bother to make one ( remember, the movie isnt out here in Europe untill februari ! ) Some examples;
From Burger King USA this was included in the "kids meals"

A very tiny rover

A rover shaped pillow

The best looking I found at Amazon ( where I can not purchase one grrrrmmbbll )

same one, out of the box

Last week I had a major HD crash and lost everything for my upcoming 3 new projects ( including Rover ) thenit is kinda hard to start over again... then I heard yesterday that my Terminator mod won a price in the Intel CoreI7 Challenge compo and now it doesnt seem so bad anymore.... sometims life suxx, and sometimes it doesnt

[Frenkie]

Thanx man!

Since I'm working on the back; I noticed in the movie ( *cough* trailer I mean *cough*) that Rover gets his power from a nuclear vessel.

Building a vessel, at the local candy store I found this sucker with a plastic sphere on it. BTW, it tastes horrible ! Oh a table tennis ball was also an option.

There, got rid of the sweet candy ball.

Found a cardboard roll and printed some warning stripes.

Spraypainted it the same yellow as Wall-E.

Glued the warning stripes around it.

Mounted two yellow LEDs on the front and one small one near the antenna.

Looks like X-mas is coming!

[Frenkie]

The webcam is in !

Hmm, the housing is too big for the mod.

Rip her up !

Now the base fits underneath the mod.

Needs to be a bit higher.

This base should be this height.

This rod is used to extend the sphere.

I need to get it much shorter, so open it up

Found at the local car parts store, a rubber that is used for cables through a door.

Cut up the extension rod to get it to the right height.