[Robot Movie] The Miners' League - Prologue

This film is a kind of trailer. The main film is being released on April 3.

Title : The Miners' League - Gods in the Peninsula (Prologue)

The Miners' League comes true

Almost a year has passed since I started the project. Now, I've just finished one of the four movies. The first movie will be released on 3 April, 2008.



The day, April 3, is special for some Koreans. Briefly, a man who wanted to be a President divided a country into two so that he could easily seize power, and killed people who disagreed to it and their family, friends, and neighbours(25,000 civilians). He succeeded in ruling the half-cut nation for 12 years thereafter. It happened only 60 years ago in the Korean Peninsula.

The name of the 'half-cut' is the Republic of Korea, and the 'murderer' is the first President Syngman Rhee. For more information on April 3 Incident,

http://www.jeju43.go.kr/english/sub05.html



Sometimes I feel - or am under hallucination - that the dead in the peninsula still crying. It may be the reason I decided to make the movie, Gods in the Peninsula.

[hybrid robot making] 7. finished

'Hybrid' that appears in the Miners' League

The name 'hybrid' comes from its design, which combines an armored vehicle with human legs.

With the hatch cover opened, a serial cable is put in.

The robot helps the humanoid carry its mission in the League.

* The Miners' League : is the title of a real-robot movie series produced by Andy Kim. The Season 1 consists of four short movies of robot-combat, and will be released in the first half year 2008 at Andy Kim' blog[ blog.andyone.com (English) and http://www.andyone.com/ (Korean)]. All of them are noncommercial movies that everyone can enjoy.

[hybrid robot making] 6. painting

Before painting the robot, there are some parts to be finished.

First of all, a hatch cover should be made on the left side of the body. The reason we need a hole is to make it possible to connect the robot through a serial cable to a desktop .



The hatch cover consists of outer and inner plates. The former is made of 0.2T aluminium and the letter 1T. Because the cover works with a hinge, we need a piece of paper clip as well.



Stick the two plates by epoxy adhesive, but leave the clip piece unlinked untill the painting process ends.



Next, the camera covers(front and back covers)


The back cover should be devided into two and leave some room for the axis. This will make it easier to take off the box(Sometimes, it should be taken off during the production of films).

The front cover needs a hole for the camera eye.

Instead of real one, make a mock-up from simmilar stuff such as a plastic washer like in the picture below.

Now, paint the robot. The painting process goes as before(metal primer -> surfacer -> enamel -> coating)

The camera eye made of plastic washer after the painting process

The picture of the complete camera box

[hybrid robot making] 5. machine gun

An Hybrid has a machine gun. But, we should make two guns; a mock-up and a working one. The former is needed when it walks, and the letter when it fights.


The mock-up is made of paper in order to reduce weight and make the robot easy to walk.


Fold the paper into the figure below.


Then, spray surfacer and gun-metal enamel, and it's finished.

The working one has more complicated structure. It should have sounds, movement, and light when it works.

I bought a toy gun made in China. It costs only 3 dollars, but has all I need.

I cut the gun into two, and wired them for filming convenience.

Then, make a paper box to cover the original body, and spray enamel.

The picture below shows the Hybrid with the mock-up gun.

The below shows the working one with the trigger pulled.

It's also sparkling in the darkness.

[hybrid robot making] 4. front

The front side of Hybrid corresponds to the face of a humanoid.


First, cut 1T aluminium to make a main axis.


Make it 'ㄷ' shape so that it can bear up well against weight. And drill three holes on the bottom.

Then, cut a horizontal pole to fix to the axis to make a cross.

Make a hole in the middle and stick it to the axis with a bolt.

Now, the side guards are made of 1T aluminium(asymmetric design).

Make them round and drill holes for bolts.

The side guards fixed to the cross.

Then, the camera box. This empty box is supposed to have a camera inside in the movie.

Bend it round and make grooves on it to joint to the axis.

All(camera box, guards, cross) are put together.

Finally, fix the axis (with three bolts) to the front motor of the frame.

[hybrid robot making] 3. armor

The armor of Hybrid is similar to military armored cars.

To begin with, cut a 0.2T aluminium plate as in the picture below. You can also use 1T or 1.5T plates for stronger one.


In assembling the plate, it is better not to use bolts since they might seem too big to be real. The robot is supposed to be 1m 60cm high in real world. The real bolts will make it look ridiculous.

So, I've come up with a pin instead.


After driving them into the plate, fix them inside with epoxy putty. Don't forget to cut out the pointed parts beforehand.

The other side fixed in the same way. Now, the body frame is equipped with its armor.