This is the BB-8 Droid Robot building; organised by Tiffin Tech Talks, run by Rajvir M in 8HCH, and Arduino Raspberry Club, run by Carlos M in 8OMU. This droid is from Star Wars and we will be building a life size version. This version is over double the size of the film version of the droid.
At present, we are making the body of the BB-8. We used a jumbo beach ball around 1.07m in diameter which took about 25 minutes to blow up. Then, whilst it was being inflated, everyone was busy cutting 2-inch-wide strips of newspaper to make the papier-mâché. After the strips were cut and the ball was blown up, we got a bucket and a bin bag and we put in some PVA glue and water; 1 part of PVA glue to 2 parts of water. Adding water to the mixture to make it runnier, the glue and water were mixed together. The bin bag was placed on the table to make a base where we can put the ball on, so the table doesn’t get damaged, and the ball doesn’t stick to the table. Then, we dipped newspaper strips in the bucket and then laid those strips on the beach ball. Overlapping the strips of newspaper to make sure everything was stuck to the ball, this process was repeated until the first layer of papier-mâché was complete.
On a second day, we repeated this process and did another layer of papier-mâché to build up the strength of the structure.
So, what will happen next? We will make three more layers of papier-mâché, each layer made of a different day to allow drying. Then we will put some cotton cloth around the ball and use Plaster of Paris to make the ball rock-solid. For the head, we will use a Styrofoam ball which will be 50cm in diameter and then cut in half. We will then papier-mâché the ball and put cloth on it and plaster it. After, we will be doing the coding and robotics (keep your eyes peeled for further updates!).
I can’t wait to see what my team and I can do; this will be an amazing experience.
Thank you for reading!
Rajvir M 8HCH
