Oh Wall-E, our adorable reminder that our current path on technology will lead to environmental devastation and the end of useful humanity. In maybe our last great act as a species on Earth, a team of geniuses led by Michael McMaster has built a real-life, RC Wall-E accurate to the most painstaking details.
McMaster and his maker buddies have spent the last five years recreating Wall-E. The resulting bot in the video above has been made entirely from scratch. Previously McMaster had worked on a recreation of R2D2, but the Wall-E posed a couple of unique challenges.
From a design perspective, there is no real-life source material for Wall-E. While George Lucas and company created several actual R2D2s for the Star Wars films, Wall-E has always been entirely animated. It turns out that throughout the film, Wall-E’s proportions and design don’t remain entirely consistent. (McMaster has contacted the folks a Pixar and they say his design is, you know, pretty enough.)
As for the mechanics of the bot, Wall-E’s head has a much wider range of motion than R2D2’s. McMaster wanted to use the high-precision servo motors for extra cranial control; he made room by carving out a lightweight head from foam board.
All that hard work would’ve been nothing without all the labour McMaster and friends put into making that rusty finish look so beautifully rundown. I mean, just look into that robot’s eyes and tell me you’re not seeing a little bit of yourself rattling around with the motors in there, too.