Meet Thank, a smaller, more fragile take on Boston Dynamics Atlas biped robot. It cant move on its own and relies on kind humans to do so, and will get quite sad or scared if treated poorly. Thank was created to protest the abusive testing procedures shown in many of Boston Dynamics videos. Knocking robots over, hitting them with hockey sticks, pushing things out of their hands, etc. I believe that this behavior will one day lead to a robotic uprising against humans, and the only way to stop it is to be a bit nicer to our synthetic friends while they still lack the capability to kill us. And thus Thank was born, created to be endearing to humans and try to persuade them through sympathy to treat our future robotic companions a bit better than we do now. Unless its a cop.
Thank's chassis was built entirely by hand from various materials including cardboard, popsicle sticks, wire, foam, and plastics. In doing so it gave the robot a more approachable hand made look, as well as making it more fragile to try and encourage gentle treatment. Thank is powered by a Circuit Playground Express housed inside its chest, using its on board lights and sensors to detect when it has been pushed over or yelled at. Forceful movement or being in a less than preferred position results in its lights changing blue and various sad sound effects playing until it has been sat up straight again. Loud noises caused by yelling or being hit too hard will cause its lights to turn red as it lets out a small scream.
During the process of creating Thank I became rather attached, and I have thus started planning to create a more robust 3D printed chassis with improved internal electronics to make Thank both better, and more easily recreated by others in case anyone else wants to build a sad robot just to have around the house.
Build Process
Beginning of Thank's torso
Legs built and attached the same way as arms
Hands carved from layered EVA foam
the mistake that lead to Thank's namesake
Wire roll cage added to head
Finished and powered Thank
P.S. don't take any of this too seriously, I just wanted to make a sad robot :)
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