What Happened??

It's almost a year since the last post and in that year several changes have taken all my time and drained the life force out of me.....My wife's 17 year old grandson came to live with us...won't go into details but it wasn't the best of times for a long while afterwards. I didn't do anything on the Robot or any of my other projects..it was just too depressing. Our vacation with some old friends was cancelled and I think it had to do with our additional member but that is just my assumption. It was a very depressing year and it really got me down in the deep, deep dark doldrums. I did nothing to the Robot during this time as far as upgrades I did, however, take him to work for Halloween in support of the United Way. They offered professional pictures of the kids with the Robot for a donation...raised $140.00. Thanksgiving and Christmas were both depressing this year as well. It just didn't seem like a happy time of year for me. In January the New Year started with rumblings that my job may be going away at the end of the year.....and it actually ended on April 15th. Because of that I didn't go to MegaCon this year...that was depressing. I host The RoboCon Convention here in Denver which is a pretty big event, lots of fun and big moral booster and it helped for a few days but being unemployed sure put a damper on it. To make matters even worse, I even had a minor problem....two artists bailed on delivering the artwork for the T-Shirts. We did have most of the guest stars come up to the Robot Room and visit with us and pose for pictures with the Robots. (Their pictures are posted on the right) Marina Sirtis who played Counselor Troy on Star Trek The Next Generation. Garrett Wang who played Ensign Harry Kim of Star Trek Voyager. Christopher Judge who played Teal'c on Stargate SG1 There was one special guest that came for RoboCon and that was Guy Vardaman who played Darian Wallace and was Brent Spiner's photo double on Star Trek The Next Generation, he also was in Voyager and was a CG artist on Star Trek series and movies. The character of "Guy Fleegman", a background extra on a Trek-like television series in the Star Trek parody Galaxy Quest, was named after Guy. He had a lot of behind-the-scenes stories to tell.

This summer the Robot is getting a up-graded parts I have purchased in the last three years. First he gets a new animated Radar section, machined aluminum ear posts, and brain support components. He will also get a major upgrade to his electronics, Central Support Structure and new rubber arms. Along with these upgrades he will be getting his Radio Control system installed so I can control him.

Hopefully next year I will be employed and can resume building R2D2 and Robby. Now that I have time I'll be posting more on this site and the Batcave Site.

Here are some pictures from Halloween and RoboCon-2010.

The Great Texas Build-Off 2009

This past weekend I was in Dallas Texas attending the 2nd Annual Texas Build-Off for all Robots and Droids at JerryC's home. As always it was a blast! There were 3-B9's, several R2's, Robby, Gort, C3PO, Battle Droid, Pit Droid, Mouse Droids and parts from all the various Robots and Droids were scattered all everywhere in Jerry's house. The event was broadcast live over the web all three days. On Saturday, The Voice of the Robot Mr. Dick Tufeld logged on and chatted with the group for an hour and told us his behind the scenes experiences. Droid Races were held on Sunday. Everyone had so much fun we are already planning for the 3rd Annual Build-Off next year.








A Garage of Robots and Droids!














An interesting mix of Robot and Droid parts













Radio Controlled Robots and Droids












Ready...Set...GO.....The Droid Races















This B9 Robot came all the way from Wisconsin! He's Pooped













Me (R) and Jerry (L) and a couple of his Famous Replica Robots Robby (L) from Forbidden Planet and Gort (R) from The Day the earth Stood Still. Both are from the originals movies.

Jerry C's Texas Build-Off

Jerry C's 2nd Annual Texas Build-Off for ALL Robot Builders begins on Friday May 15th and I hope to attend. Last year was a blast and this year I actually have a couple of items I need some help in building so I'm hoping to get there. There will be a few familiar faces from last year as well as some new faces. Jerry has a full schedule of things planned everyone is going to have a blast. It just can't be helped!
If I'm able to make it I'll post some pictures on Monday May 18th.

Bob May Candy Bar Project

I believe that the Bob May Candy Bar Project is ready to close, get the scrapbook pages finished and everything sent to the family. This has been a very rewarding project because I've seen the good in people you sometimes don't always get to see. It touched my heart. I'll have a complete report in the next couple weeks with pictures and stories.

New B9 Money Clip

It just didn't seem right at this last Robot Convention to pull out my Batman Money Clip when I made a purchase so I decided to remedy that last night. Here is the Batman Money clip I currently use daily....... (click image to zoom)














I will be using this money clip at all Robot Events in the future....

RoboCon 2009 Day 3

We had a lot of fun at this convention and we are discussing plans to make the 2010 Edition even better. One goal is to get more club members to attend and some more Robots on display as well. Here are some closing pictures from Sunday.









L to R CharlieG, JerryC, B9Leo, BobG, SamL and GregL.

RoboCon 2009- Day 2

At these conventions, Saturday is the biggest and busiest day and this year, despite the 14 inches of snow we received, was no exception.












People were coming in large groups to the Robot Arena. We had Star Trek fans from all the series, Star Wars Fans, people from the HorrorFest and ComicFest Conventions which were also being held with StarFest one of the largest Sci-Fi Conventions in the United States.














Two Club Members, Bob G and Jerry C, manned the desk and kept everyone entertained with my Robot with the help of the fantastic I-B9 Software. We had several fans come up and tell Greg and myself that they were at the convention because they were fans of the lost in Space Robot and just couldn't pass up seeing one in person. They were really surprised at the size and how they looked just like the Robot they remembered on the TV Series. More Pictures....



The Robot with a Star Trek, The Next generation fan.

Robot and Star Wars fans.

Robot with Superboy and his Mom. The Robot was just a bit BIG and intimidating!

A young Will Robinson even shown up in his silver flight suit to pose with the Robot
Star Trek, The Next Generation fan. We thought it was Marina Sirtis for a minute but she has been invited to StarFest next year.
A REAL Star Trek, fan.
Brent Spiner!! Brent was kind enough to autograph this picture for me. The Android and The Robot - COOL!!