Maker Faire Happy Valley 2025
Baxterbots
Home: Pennsylvania, United States
My work explores the deconstruction of antiques and their transformation into robotic art. This project, RustyBot, combines vintage materials with modern electronics to create a robot that moves, lights up, and speaks. At its core is a Raspberry Pi controlling servos, sound and music hats, NeoPixel LEDs, and solenoids, all integrated through custom-designed PCB boards. A built-in wireless access point and webpage allow visitors to control the robot’s sounds, lights, and movements in real time. Much of the coding was developed with the assistance of ChatGPT, blending human creativity with AI collaboration. Alongside the finished robot, I will also display a working prototype rig that exposes the wiring, components, and code, making the inner workings transparent and easy to understand
https://www.baxterbots.com
Additional Project Photos
Maker
Dan Baxter
What Inspired You to Make This?
I was inspired to bring together antiques and the Raspberry Pi to make my robots feel more alive and ultimately interactive. The antiques provide history and character, while the Pi and electronics add movement, sound, and light. Building a prototype allows me to explore what’s possible, testing different combinations of hardware and code. My next step is to integrate a Pi camera so the robot can visually sense and respond to people, creating more dynamic and playful interactions.
