Robot Building for Beginners, Third Edition

CHAPTER 24 ■ BODY BUILDING

Origami Helper—Bending Paper Before Bending Metal

Here’s a trick that works well for brackets, cowls, or other parts that you can form by bending a flat material.
Begin by folding and cutting the piece out of paper. Paper is cheap, plentiful, and easy to cut and bend.
Wavy’s motors needed to be firmly attached to the base; otherwise, the motors would spin in place
instead of spinning the wheels. I cut and folded several test brackets out of paper until the shape was exactly
what I needed (see Figure 24-3).

Figure 24-2. Preparing an aluminum base to replace much of the LEGO Technic frame

Figure 24-3. Design with folded paper before cutting complex metal shapes

Then, I flattened the paper and traced the outline onto a thin piece of aluminum. Because it takes a lot
of time and effort to cut, drill, sand, and bend aluminum, it was reassuring to know that the approximate
outcome had already been tested.