# T08A2 / R3000 spider lightweight tank (from GITS)



## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

I started working on* T08A2 / R3000 spider tank* from _Ghost In The Shell_ movie a year ago. For those who haven't seen the movie - I would highly recommend, it's one of the best sci-fi anime movies.










Scale 1:20 (roughly )

One of the biggest problems that I had from the start was non existence of blue prints, or actually anything that would be close to that. That's why scale is approximate  So for "blueprints" I ended up with a few things:


Screenshots from the movie
Smaller resin model from ebay, which isn't proper quality 
Someone made a 3D model, which I managed to aquire. It isn't very accurate, I would say it follows movie almost...

So yeah, none of these were precise. Actually, even frames from the movie sometimes contradict itself. To make matters worse I wanted to make a model which could move, so following sizes and strength of mechanical components had to be taken into consideration as well...

Initial idea was to make the shell from a styrofoam, but during last year I bought a 3D printer, which came very handy when making these complex shapes.


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

This is almost complete frame (except "arms"/weapons) and close to complete electronics: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu7gaKglD3A

Motion is controlled by RaspberryPi. Programming in C++, from scratch. It is controlled with PS3 joystick, but there are plan to have some autonomous functionality.


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

I love those GitS designs- whimsical but practical looking at the same time.


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## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

That should look amazing once complete. I like the GITS designs as well. Pity most of the merchandise is a tad expensive. I do have the Jigabachi AV model though.


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

Xenodyssey said:


> That should look amazing once complete. I like the GITS designs as well. Pity most of the merchandise is a tad expensive. I do have the Jigabachi AV model though.


Oh yeah - Jigabachi is amazing too. I'm considering turning it into flying RC model as my next potential project  But I need to get CNC machine that can work on styrofoam, because 3D printing won't do - it's way too heavy.


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

A little bit from inside the "brain" of the robot:










The robot has full model of itself (in order to do correct simulation) and it's calculating where to make steps in such way that legs do not collide.


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

A little bit from work progress:

*Model in 3D printing program:*









*Printed parts:*









Here should be some screenshots of work with sanding paper and acetone, because that's a big part of 3D printing, but about that some other time 

*Assembly of electronics (2x servos, 1x laser):*









*Hiding of cables inside the ammunition belt:*

























*Painting of base color and assembly:*


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

Holy Mackerel! This looks like the beginning of an awesome build...one that walks across the floor on its own no less! I liked Ghost In The Shell very much as well, glad to see someone doing a build from that anime. Will definitely be following this one!


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

Thanks!


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

A little bit more of progress on the legs:

















*3D printing:*


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

*Polishing *(i.e. reducing visibility of 3D printing slices by sand paper and acetone; acetone also gives strength):

















*Assembling:*


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

*Puttying* (hiding marks of 3D printing even further):


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

*Painting:*


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

*Result:*









*"Suspension" of toes:*









I hope to finish main body and the I'll be able to attach the legs. I hope that everything will work once cables are connected (fingers crossed ) Otherwise I'll have to disassemble (read: break) and redo some parts ) The original plan was to have ability to disassemble, but that was too complicated, so I skipped that part


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## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

Continuing to follow your progress with eyes wide open.


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## hal9001 (May 28, 2008)

Xenodyssey said:


> Continuing to follow your progress with eyes wide open.


Shaka, and the walls fell...

Carl-


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## Hagoth (Mar 12, 2015)

Wow! That is some impressive engineering. What will the size of this robot be when completed?

_________________
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." - Walt Disney


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

Thanks everyone!



Hagoth said:


> What will the size of this robot be when completed?


Roughly 50cm. You can get a better impression from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9P47HHAg6g


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## Hagoth (Mar 12, 2015)

That is absolutely awesome! Your video of it walking around the floor is also very cool. 

I'll have to remember you when I get around to building my custom designed bipedal reptilian mech with a tail.  I could use your help robotizing it.

I love this kind of stuff! :thumbsup:


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

Hagoth said:


> I'll have to remember you when I get around to building my custom designed bipedal reptilian mech with a tail.  I could use your help robotizing it.


That sounds like an interesting project!  Any more info on it?


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## Hagoth (Mar 12, 2015)

Not much at the moment even though it was started 25 years ago. It is a pile of sketches, 2D layouts, and a 3D model of the head. The only place that it is fully assembled is in my head. :tongue:

I might have to bump this one up the priority list of projects to work on. I'll start a new thread for that when I get to it.

My current project is a mechanism for positioning the wings on a 1:48 scale MPC X-Wing. I'm planning on motorizing that one. Maybe you will have some tips and insights for me on that one?

Again, I must say that I'm very impressed with your project here. Very cool!


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

Hagoth said:


> My current project is a mechanism for positioning the wings on a 1:48 scale MPC X-Wing. I'm planning on motorizing that one. Maybe you will have some tips and insights for me on that one?


I would go for single cheap micro servo. I used these for my guns: http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/6032789418.html 
($3/servo), your wings shouldn't be very heavy, so it should be sufficient as well. Link all 4 wings using some gears or linkage system. Of course if you need wings to be independent just use more servos  Simple Arduino board is enough for this kind of setup if you just want to control it by some button. And you might need some extra parts if you want to control it remotely or something like that.


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## Hagoth (Mar 12, 2015)

You obviously know a lot more about this stuff than I do. I'll bring up the motorization topic on my thread so as not to clutter up yours. Stop by and say hi.

In the mean time I will be watching your progress here with awe. My little piece of engineering pales in comparison.


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

Thanks everyone!

One of the most complicated parts: it's time to cover main-body to which all legs are attached:









The optimistic plan was to print it from a couple of parts:
















*Problem #1*: printer shifts all layers by ~1cm sometime during printing. It still did in a different place when printing flipped part, although the problem was smaller, so I just fixed it by slicing printed part into two and gluing it together in correct place:.























I subdivided the remaining parts into smaller parts before printing in order to avoid same problems during print:









*Problem #2*: I could not assemble robot using these parts - there was no way to fit sphere in the middle through other parts once everything is assembled. I had to cut it into smaller pieces and attach these parts separately.


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

*Problem #3*: first design mistakes: my virtual project had no screws, so when I tried to fit to and bottom part they didn't fit where they belong (see the photo above), so there was a gap of 1cm between them. The main structure of the robot was done by hand without very precise engineering, so gaps between printed parts and servos were uneven. So even if I fixed design problem with the screws there was no I way to fix all gaps. I had to fallback to plan B: use of polystyrene and macroflex  To make matters more fun I had to fit wires for 19 servos and plus a bunch of other wires


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

More shaping, macroflex, shaping, making surface stronger using PVA glue, polishing, glue, polishing, putty, polishing, putty, polishing:























Painting and result:


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## Hagoth (Mar 12, 2015)

Bummer about the ill fit of the parts. Nice recovery with the scratch built filler. Looks very nice in the black overcoat.

Are you going to modify your computer model to match what you ended up with?


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

Hagoth said:


> Are you going to modify your computer model to match what you ended up with?


No, not really. I could, but that doesn't affect the simulation, because biggest gap was on vertical axis, so legs will work fine and upper body will be alright too. One of legs is shifted sideways a bit too much, and I might fix that in order to improve walking.


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

Some photos from older printing:

"Find 10 differences!" or "My printer misunderstood what I actually want to print (correct piece is on the left side)":









*"Tail":*









The part is to big to make it as a single print - the max print dimensions 20x20x20cm. It was chopped into 6 individual pieces. The printer was misbehaving again a bit, so 2 out of 6 parts had to be corrected after printing:























Assembled:


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

I covered the bottom piece with too much acetone, which resulted in bends... I had to cut it, screw to the frame, glue together and use a lot of putty afterwards  There is still small gap between the top and bottom, so I added a screw to tighten them together after closing. The top and bottom are not glued together, since main electronics sits there and I need to service it occasionally or attach screen and keyboard when coding for it.
















Result:


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

I found out that the old RaspberryPi (model B) is getting in a way of cables after assembling all printed parts, so I replaced it by newer model A+. Everything fits much better now:









This is how it looked before the painting of details:


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## Hagoth (Mar 12, 2015)

Great progress on this project! This is looking awesome. Very very cool!


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## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

Please keep posting your WIP photos. It really is fascinating.


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

Thanks guys!


I finally found time to fix electronics.

Main change: I switched to power source with higher voltage (from 5V to 7.5V) - this gives more strength to the legs. One of the main problems was that it was having hard time standing on the legs after putting so much plastic on it. The robot weights ~5kg now. New and shiny power source:








Of course RaspberryPi still needs 5V, so I had to put voltage stabiliser. That leads to some energy loses, but who cares when you're not planning to use batteries and you have 26A )

I also had to switch to shorter and thicker power cables for servos. And better plugs for those cables too. I'm glad I didn't have to pull any new cables through internals of the robot - it would be very hard to do at this point  Although I still had to put a relay in the back and some thick cables. It doesn't look nice (when it's open), but it works! 









I found out that servos in arms take 6V max, so I had to put another voltage stabiliser  Any change is never as easy as it seems at first sight


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

Happy New Year everyone! I finally found time to get this project going again - there isn't better time than a night of New Year celebration  I hope to get a better camera soon and make a final photoshoot....

Here are some older picture about what happens when your 3D printer messes up your print and shifts half of a piece. Anyway, there is no thing that saw, glue and putty can't fix )


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## hal9001 (May 28, 2008)

PauliusLiekis, on a project like this you should be using _advanced_ electronics!:jest::tongue::lol::wave:

Holy shmoly, I feel like I'm getting electrocuted just looking a something like that. Here I am proud when I hook up a battery to a single LED!

Wish I had 1/100 of your electronic know how. Which that one be _1/1000_ more than I know now...

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Carl-


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

Thanks, Carl! I actually knew very little about electronics before starting this project - roughly the same level as you are: solder a cable, hook up LED or a motor to a battery. I learned most of the things as I worked on the project.


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## Hagoth (Mar 12, 2015)

Good to see you back at it!

3D printers are great fun but still require lots of attention and care to get perfect results each time. Thank goodness for crazy glue, putty, and sandpaper. :tongue:


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

As my friend says: working with sandpaper is profession of the future 


Painting the robot was a lot of fun. I've done these layers:


Prime color
Shadows / light surfaces
Weathering details
Chiping
Rust
Weathering sufraces
Oil/dirt

I overdid the chipping, but that's what happens when you're doing it for the first time


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## Hagoth (Mar 12, 2015)

Pretty darn good for a first time attempt at chipping. Looks awesome to me. What technique did you use?


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## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

Lovely work. Thanks for getting back here to show us more.


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## lunadude (Oct 21, 2006)

Nice! Do we get to see it move soon?


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

Hagoth said:


> Pretty darn good for a first time attempt at chipping. Looks awesome to me. What technique did you use?


A lot of patience with fine brush for edges  And faster approach with sponge for flat or curved surfaces. Although I prefer result from the brush.



lunadude said:


> Nice! Do we get to see it move soon?


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

BTW: people at a maker fair though it's made out of metal. Maybe the chipping is not as bad as I though. LOL.

One of the goals of the project was to make the robot move in the nice, fluid way. A lot of work went into things that can not be shown by photos - coding and preparing the moves. To make it even more fun I had to redo some electronics - the robot stopped working after just sitting idle for half a year  Anyway during the preparations I prepared a storyboards - my final animation was supposed to resemble the original movie:

















I turned my flat into mini photo studio for a couple days 










I'm not a photographer or filmaker - using a tripod is as far as that goes  but I decided to try using a couple of spotlights and a smokemachine. The smokemachine turned out to be harder than I thought. You basically have to know how to use it. Having a good camera dosn't gurantee making good photos - the same for a smoke machine. Anyway, I needed it for making photos of the lasers, so it wasn't completelly wasted. Oh, and I haven't reallized that smoke from smokemachine raises straight up. You need cold smoke in order for it to sit on the ground, so I had to improvise that. 5 liter bottle filled with ice cubes served as cooler for smoke:


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

Results:





More videos, photos and info:
GITS - R3000 / T08A2


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## MykTurk (Nov 27, 2006)

That is freaking amazing!!!


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## electric indigo (Dec 21, 2011)

This is just awesome, including the final finish on the model (though I'd preferred the "eyeless" look of the original design, makes it even more menacing).

I wonder if we will see an iteration of the tank in the upcoming live action movie.


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

electric indigo said:


> This is just awesome, including the final finish on the model (though I'd preferred the "eyeless" look of the original design, makes it even more menacing).


Yeah, I know. Although the original one does have "eyes", i.e. the things on the sides of the head - it just doesn't have the features in the center that mine do. I wanted to keep the original look as much as possible, but I had to fit RaspberryPi camera and distance sensor somewhere. I wanted to fit RPi camera into one of the eyes, but it is 2x2cm, so there was not enough space. You can see how crammed it is in there:









BTW.: there are more things that do not match - like legs are not connected with ball-joints, but that is hardly possible in reality 



> I wonder if we will see an iteration of the tank in the upcoming live action movie.


Oh yeah...I wonder how much they will **** it up


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

*Cool workmanship!!!*

Good Lord , this is looking completely awesome!:surprise:

I have always loved robot or similar Robot projects.
You are doing FANTASTIC!!!!Please let me know if you are planning on releasing this in some type of kit.
Thank you for all the projects.
Way too exciting. Saved this on a bookmark.




If there is a way to feep me updated , please do,
Thanks,
-Jim G.G.


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## PauliusLiekis (Feb 16, 2015)

To celebrate the new Ghost In The Shell movie, I made a video about how awesome the tank in the old one was!  I loved how it looks so much that I built a robot from scratch and I tried to match the motions as close as I could. 

https://vimeo.com/212772719

BTW, the robot in the new movie is not as cool, calm and menacing. Although the rest of the movie visually is amazing.


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