Beta Bot

In today's class it was about drawing your ideas on paper or drawing in general. I would love to say I drew the Beta Bot right out of my mind, but I did not. I wasn't aware that we were supposed to draw something entirely new - maybe Joe said something before I walked in. Good thing I started the little guy recently and I have other beginning sketches. So dose it mater if I drew it that day or the day before? It's all the same in my opinion.

I usually do most my sketching in my bed at night. I like the piece and quiet, I can hear my self think also love to be alone while sketching so I can act out scenes to get ideas. I used to collaborate ideas with my brother but he left my house quite some time ago. 

First Thought:

I started this project sitting on the can. I was thinking about what I wanted to build next after finishing a P-40 War Hawk for a community project. I wanted something challenging to push me to think ahead about structure. Organic was ruled out quickly because I am horrible at organics and it's no fun. I thought about how I tried making a Mech and ran into trouble because it became too heavy, confusing robotics and the cock pit was really hard to work out. I realized that it was the result of poor planing. I just decided to model the Mech form scratch and it led to my downfall. So I knew I would have to take it slowly and make a strong foundation. I don't know how it hit me but I imagined a shiny white ball rolling about and how cool it would be if legs and guns just pop out and it can fire, barrel-roll and do other crazy things. I wanted a purpose for the ball robot. I like things I make to have a purpose and try to make it believable while still being impossible/fantasy. 

My original idea was that it would be a spy robot with a camera that came out and could move around corners or through little cracks. I also was thinking about how it would climb up walls - to get into vents and stuff. It really taxed my brain since it would be impossible. So I thought of a grappling hook device, mission impossible style. 

My second idea was to call it a beta bot because it's always in beta testing. It became one of those anime series. Were you have to battle the two bots and see who is the ultimate. I liked this idea because It meant I would have to implement the robot style into many different opponents and could work on cool battles. Also gave me more weapons to build in, which is always cool. In the end I wanted to make it able to do both mainly because I had enough room to fit weapons and spy gear, spy's need weapons too. 

Weapons:

Blaster Canons- located in the front, they are designed for close range shooting.

Lazier Shower-  Located right behind the blaster cannons facing toward the sky. This weapon is the most powerful, also the most in-accurate.  The way it works is a satellite feeds video of the perimeter around the Beta bot, the video appears on a screen located behind the head. there are two arms/fingers that tap the screen were ever the enemy is, this fires the guided lazier to there position and deliverers a fatal blow. There is not that much ammo and it is hard to hit a moving target. Usually used in the beginning of battle to get rid of as many opponents possible.

Grappling- Good for holding the enemy down to get a better shot, getting to the hard to reach places and when falling off something.

Why did I put a head - I forgot to mention were that came from. One day at work I was slacking off in the back room and drawing a new avatar picture, It was a toy like robot head. I liked it so much and it was fresh in my mind when I was thinking of the beta bot. Made it a obvious decision to have a head come out. Gives it a human feel, I also worked it into an eject pod robot within the robot. It drills it's self into the ground and the upper shell explodes - final move.

My first blog experience was interesting. I might just add this too my list of horrible interfaced sites for the interactivity class. Took me quite some time to figure out that centering the image locked it in place.