And then there’s I-Wei Huang.
Huang spends his day as the character and toy director for Toys for Bob, designing the characters for the company’s flagship toy and game, Skylanders. A “failed mechanical engineer,” he says he works in 3-D and animation because he realized that he wasn’t good at things that aren’t visual. One peek at his array of complex model-vehicle hybrid creations, however, and it’s evident that his engineering chops are solid.
“My RC hobby came out of building steam powered-machines,” Huang explains. “I learned how to use RC equipment to control steam engines, because I really wanted a RC steam-powered tank.”
He built that tank in 2005, mounting a shoe-sized steam power plant, complete with boiler, to the frame of a treaded vehicle, and creating the linkages necessary to transfer the piston’s movement to the transmission of the tank. It was a success.
Everything needed to build your own hamster walker: A) Gakken Vol.30 Mini Strandbeest kit
B) Styrene model plastic sheet, 2mm thick, 11”x14”
C) Align Bearing (MR74ZZ) HS1222 (Φ4xΦ7×2.5mm)
D) Align Feathering Shaft (HS1003)
E) 2Wheel collars with boss screw, 4mm inner
F) Φ4mmx40mm shaft
G) Meccano Sprocket 2″ Dia, 36 Teeth
H) Meccano Sprocket 3/4″ Dia, 14 Teeth
I) Meccano Chain ~14”
J) Dwarf “mini” hamster ball 5”
K) Robo dwarf hamster Since then, Huang has cobbled together many other unique vehicles, almost all using boiling water to create motion. One of them crawls on a millipede-like array of undulating metal legs. Another combines two 4×4 trucks into a four-wheel-steerable, six-wheel-drive monster steam truck. He’s even created a steam-powered R2D2, dubbed R2S2.
“There is no real advantage of using steam; it’s much more of a challenge,” Huang admits. He describes it as messy, heavy in comparison to electric or gas, and potentially hazardous due to fire and pressure. “It is finicky and low torque at a small size.”
His steam creations have thrust Huang onto the radar of maker community, and from there he’s shown his range with a smaller, more current project.
“I made a quick little robot called Swashbot, out of spare RC helicopter parts,” he explains, talking about one of his more popular YouTube videos. Swashbot, and its two diminutive cousins, are almost as purely “RC” as it gets, being made from an internal structure of taped-together servos. The crustacean-looking robots come to life through his RC transmitter expertise, crawling, leaning, and swaying like a funny pet pleading for attention. It’s a deliberate effect; Huang says that part of his intention with Swashbots was to create something that could simulate a sentimental reaction.
The pet element ties heavily into one of his most absurdly powered project: the hamster walker. The setup uses a hamster ball and the kit version of Theo Jansen’s articulating Strandbeest in a creation that skips steam or batteries, and instead harnesses the power of his niece’s pet to generate movement. As the hamster runs, a gear that Huang added to the side of the ball turns a chain connected to the strandbeest, rotating its many legs and driving it forward. It’s flowing, graceful, and entirely hilarious.
Unfortunately for fans of outlandish steampunk creations, Huang says he has a million half-started projects but has been kept busy with Skylanders. Time permitting, however, he’s looking to go bigger. “I think building something large-scale would be cool,” he says. “Ride-able steam-powered walking machine!”
