Polish it some and it could be a robot that serves up shots of Patron Tequila to guest and the ladies.
Blimey, there’s enough wood in that, you could stand on it!
Check out the steampunk guys if you haven’t already seen their work.
Congrats, you made a robotic cabinet. Sexy.
Just to be objective, if a robot performs its intended function thru the required range, then it is successful. Personally I think some people spend way too much time and $$$ on looks instead of just getting the job done. The robots that show up in this forum generally only exist for learning and entertainment purposes.
Yea,take a robot like linuxguy’s W.A.L.T.E.R For example,i have to admit that contraption looks kinda weird,but its entertaining 
you know you comment in a rude way, whether you had intended to or not. by empty i meant it looks like a lot of wood on the sides thats not being used. i understand you have all those electronics or not, but to the person that didn’t build the robot (us, the audience) we cant tell whats inside it and how it works. i can’t explain it very well, but it seems like you have large surfaces of plain wood with no robotic function in them. i just cant see why its this big, but im waiting for a video or something to explain everything. im just telling you my opinion from a first glance.
oh and by the way, this is a forum and you’re posting your work in a public domain. criticism will come and theres nothing someone can do to stop it, whether you like it or not, no reason to jump about it. i’d defend my robot too, and while it seems good for experimenting as you say, i cant see what function it has so its in my natural instinct to criticize on form while i await for its mechanics to prove itself.
Been testing my mechanics every step of the way. I promise it won’t be fast, but it -is- agile and stable. I’ll post youtube links when ready.
I’m curious to see it in action …
I think there should be more info/sites dealing with wooden hobby robotic projects. Although there are some parts that need to be metal, wood can be used instead of metal or plastic in a lot of the structure, saving significant time and $$$. It would be interesting to make a list of the minimum tooling and equipment needed for fabricating wooden parts for robotic projects.
I see a sticky and a new forum index materializing 
Zoomkat,
Woods OK but why stop there, heck just head over to your local large franchise hardware store. You got wood panels, (many of these places will cut to your specs), aluminum sheet, pvc, all manner of mouldings, grates, ductings, tubings, mountings, bearings, steel shaft (threaded and not), cables, pulleys, springs, … I mean I get crazy, my wife won’t go there with me any more. Anyways once you know what you got to work with it’s a lot easier to get ideas. Far as tools you really don’t need much, I’d recommend - drill, jigsaw, miter saw, hack saw, hand tools, a couple of small wood vises for joining, a little space to work isn’t bad either, oh and a book on basic carpentry’s a good idea.
Jim Shaffer
For those still interested en Woodenstein,
Found some older pics:
The chasis, and some of the materials used.
The wheel assembly and bottom view.
amodedoma.net/px1_prewheels.jpg
Thanks again for all the feedback, positive and negative.
Jim Shaffer
Someone a while back posted pix of a wooden prototype of a ROV type bot (I can’t find the link now) that looked very nice. As for tools, electric drills can be had for less than $20 (half that at Harbor Freight), and Lowes has a plastic miter box/saw combo for $8. I’ve followed wooden aircraft building for many years and wooden structures can be very light and strong. The below from another robotics site shows how someone can use inexpensive wood to make a simple first robot for for minimum investment in materials. Wood is definately DIY, but is an alternative when $$$ is tight for the usual plastics and metals.
actually I have used carbon fiber tape re-enforced balsa spars in lieu of spruce in a couple experiments and found it to be very strong if done correctly. Also some of the plywood used for r/c planes is incredible with 1/64" thick laminations. there was some discussion awhile back about the astetics (or lack thereof) of using cf for robots but used to structurally enhance inner structures it might really help cut down on weight and not even be visible if done well. applying that could make a mostly wood construction significantly lighter overall.
After seeing the latest pictures
I’m guessing you’d better add a shopvac to that tool list otherwise
may soon apply to areas around your home too.
Nice - keep posting - inspiring
Chris out
Yeah, shop’s got a lot of chips. To build the chasis I used the thickness planer and that thing mass produces chips. Anyway, I try to keep the shop slightly dirty and disordered - It’s like repelent for my wife (there’s another place she won’t go, often).
Jim
I was just over at Lowes and a 2’x4’ sheet of laun(?) 5.2mm thick plywood was only $3.98. There were other similar sized sheets of .25" thick plywood of various woods (oak, berch) for less than $10. Probably a good question would be what is the least expensive type of power saw that would provide the most usefullness to someone building using wood.
Deffinately a Jobmate brands are the cheapest. I bought a jobmate chop saw at Canadian Tire(another one of those only in Canada superstores ) for only $50.00
For basic wood cutting (and thin metal too), an inexpensive jigsaw like below might be a good starter power tool. Bottom is the inexpensive miter box combo. The saw could also be used to make long cuts in in the thin plywood.
lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=p … lpage=none
lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=p … lpage=none