Bob May Tribute

Today Kirk Montgomery of the local television station, 9News, came to my home office to tape an interview with me and the Robot. The purpose is to do a proper tribute to the Man in a Can Bob May who past away this past January at the age of 66. Bob is the actor that gave the Robot his character and personality. Kirk is a Lost in Space fan as well and we had a real good time talking about the Robot and of course Bob May. Kirk will send me a copy of the interview and let me know when the segment will air. The Robot and Kirk will meet again at RoboCon 2009 which is a B9 Robot Builders Club Convention that is held in conjunction with StarFest in Denver Colorado.

2009- A New Year

RoboCon'09 is just around the Corner. (107 days) We are hoping to get at least one of the LiS cast Members in for this convention. Bob May or Mark Goddard would be the first choice. Bob lost his home along with everything else to the fires in California a couple months ago just before Thanksgiving.

R2 Gone

It didn't take long for R2 to be scattered. I don't think the Jawa's could have done it as fast. All parts are sold and shipped. There a small place in the office next to the B9 that was once the space of little R2. snif snif...

Robot and Droid News

I must apologize for the lack of posting but it was necessary. For the last few months I have had some guilty feelings about building the R2. The B9 has some system upgrades coming up and there are more than a couple projects around the house I have been putting off until he is finished. It's been three years and I'm starting another Robot Project before those are done? I guess it's time to clear the list. On november 24th I sold all of the R2 parts I had, and they were many, to finance the other projects. The R2 Project wasn't abandoned just postponed.The B9 is getting those upgraded parts and I hope to have most of them installed by RoboCon 2009 in April.

Halloween!!

The Robot had a busy schedule this Halloween. He was a big hit where I work and and even bigger hit at the house. For the first time in 75 years here in Denver it was warm for Halloween. Usually it's hoovering around 20 degrees with either snow or rain but it was shirt sleeves last night! We even had a couple Police Officers that were patrolling the neighborhood stop by and came out to talk with me about the Robot. One little 4-5 year old kid that came for his loot looked at the officer with a critical eye for a minute and then told the Officer he had a really cool costume! I thought the parents were going to faint. That was the AFV moment of the night. I gave the Officers some candy to give to all the little kids that were there and the Officers talked with all of them for a couple of minutes then left. By 7:00pm the word must have got out because the visitors were arriving in groups of 10 or more. The little kids would sit down in front of the Robot and ask me to "make him talk". The parents asked if I would hire the Robot out for babysitting because the kids just sat there not moving and watched him. When the parents wanted to go the kids didn't want to leave! One couple came back and said their three boys begged to see the Robot one more time before they went home. Another couple that came the husband said he had met me while I was building the Robot in the summer of 2005 and shortly after that they moved from the area. They came back to visit with friends and stopped by to see if I had finished him. They were all amazed by his size and impressed when he could carry on a conversation with them thanks to the I-B9 Software. Here are some pictures of both events. Unfortunately I couldn't get pictures of the crowds because I was busy running the Robot and making him talk! I need to hire a photographer. I can't wait to get the R2-D2 finished for next year!

The Robot at work.






The entire Facilities Dept.




The Robot at the house waiting to entertain the Trick or Treaters.

The Star Wars Droid R2-D2 Project Launches Nov 1st

The R2-D2 Project is getting ready to launch on November 1. The goal is to have him ready and functioning by September 2009. I have about 90% of the parts required and will build him first before painting. Once everything but the electrical is completed he will be disassemble and painted then re-assembled and the electronics installed. Hopefully I can have him ready to go to his first public showing at Mountain-Con05 held in Utah next September. Here are just a few pictures of him in pieces. He is mostly steel and aluminum and will have most of the gizmo's seen in the movies.

The Robot is becoming quite a celebrity lately with fans coming over almost weekly to see him. So with all the fans dropping by he asked for, and received, some new space in the office. He was in a corner where he was cramped and could barely rotate. His fans also complained that it was hard to get a good picture with him. So as of this past Saturday his display area has been moved towards the center of the office and increased to about 60sf.

He has a very busy week this week starting on Thursday. A Boy Scout Troop will be over to see him and get pictures. They are learning and building robots for scouting activity. Their Scoutmaster heard about him and when he asked the boys, they all voted to spend their night here with Robot. Then early Friday morning the Robot will be making another all day appearance where I work. He was requested to be the Guest Star by the big kids, again. Then Friday night he will be entertaining the Trick-or-Treaters and helping his roommate "The BatMan" pass out his Bat-Candy for Halloween. For the past few weeks the kids and their parents have been asking if he was going to be out this year. Last year he was in pieces getting some systems upgrades. With all these requests for appearances he has been practicing several of his impressions of other famous Robots for his many varied fans. Should be a fun week!