A Hucknall man is “reliving his childhood” after building a life-size replica of a much-loved 1980s movie robot.
No, not R2-D2. Ryan Howard, a 33-year-old engineer, has instead built Short Circuit star Johnny 5 over the course of almost four years.
This robot stands at an immense 6ft tall, and is only one of about four or five in the world according to Ryan.
“As a kid, I was mad on the film, I grew up with it and played it on repeat,” he said.
“About four or five years ago I got a 3-D printer and thought ‘ooh I’ll make myself a Johnny 5 head’. Then I thought I might as well make all of him.”
After 3-D printing for around two years Ryan realised, due to its fragility, plastic would not be strong enough to hold the robot’s massive frame.
He therefore started again, instead building Johnny mostly from aluminium and steel. This took a further 18 months, but ensures it is “99% true to the original” robot.
“It became a bit obsessive, during lockdown I would sometimes spend 12 hours in the garage,” Ryan revealed.
“I would just lose myself in there because what else could you do? It helped me escape the madness the world was in at that time.”
He will be taking the creation to this weekend’s EM Con, taking its place at Motorpoint Arena as one of the main attractions alongside the likes of Doctor Who’s Tardis and a Back to the Future Delorean.
“I’m really looking forward to people being able to see him,” beamed Ryan. “I’ve put a lot of work into it and it’s nice to see people relive their childhood. When I finished him and was able to drive him around, it was like seeing my childhood come to life.”
He added that the whole experience had given him a desire to create more Johnny 5s, but says due to the fact his young children keep mistaking it for a WALL-E, he may go ahead and put one of those together.
And what for the long term future of Johnny? Ryan admitted he’s “become one of the family” so won’t be leaving the house anytime soon.
“The kids love it and my wife’s done very well to put up with me, to be honest.”
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