A sci fi nut who was terrified by toy robots as child now builds his own life-sized working versions of them.
Andy Shaw was given a Robby the Robot toy when he was just four-years-old
The miniature based on the character from the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet scared the tot as it made a whirring noise when it walked.
READ MORE: Shoppers row while queuing in Tesco as woman slams man for ‘filming’ her before mocking his poodle
- Advertisement -
But he grew to love it and was so fascinated he later dismantled it to find out how it worked.
And by 13, he had got so skilled he was building his own robots.
Now the 61-year-old engraver even designs his own remotely controlled life-sized models including Daleks and his beloved Robby.
He said: “I was given a toy Planet Robot, a black and red Robby style robot when I was four.
“But I was petrified of it when I watched it walk across the living room floor making a loud mechanical whirring noise with sparks cascading onto the windows behind the chest unit and face grill.
- Advertisement -
“I grew to love it and around 11 took it apart to see how it walked.
“I started building my first human sized robot at 13 after making lots of parts for a life sized Dalek following plans in the Radio Times.
“I realised before I was finished that the plans were really poor and that it would look awful compared to a ‘real’ one.
- Advertisement -
“I developed that first robot through my teens and was side tracked restoring my first car, a 1972 Vauxhall Victor FD and by girls.”
Andy of Southport, Merseyside, told What’s The Jam: “It wasn’t until my wife Carol and I bought a house and I’d built a workshop that I restarted my passion for robots.
“I built two steel remotely controlled Daleks which I planned to incorporate into our home security system but didn’t get beyond the automatic opening sliding door on the workshop and signal wire in the ground for them to follow around the house.
“I built a few Daleks then started on robots again, my own design.
“Numan is radio controlled and can be operated remotely having a TV camera which turns with the head dome.
“It relays sound back to you and automatically ‘talks’ to people.
“Then came the life sized Planet Robot which was much more complex than anything before both in geometry and mechanical functions.
“I’ve built several including interactive, talking and walking using a similar striding method as the toy I had.
“I modified them to walk backward and turn left and right.
“There are a couple that swing their ray guns when they see someone approaching making firing noises while the gun barrel flashes.
“The other toy robots I loved were Ideal’s Zeroids from 1968 so I set about scaling the toys up and making them full sized.
“I’ve built two of the three original 1968 line up.
“There are thousands of hours put into building each one
“I’ll start the third this year then concentrate on motorising them and developing full computer control which I had wanted to do way back with the steel Daleks.
“It will be so much easier and cheaper now with the advances in chip design and AI.”
He added: “My wife likes them as we take them up and down the country for charity shows and conventions.”
READ MORE: Ice cream van man slammed for not charging millionaire Luke Littler
