Robodrome

A black toy robot with a skirt-like lower section, thin silver waist, a boxy torso, thin silver arms, silver tubular neck, and an old-fashioned TV with rabbit-ear antenna as a head. An Atari joystick sits next to it.

Wheeled Robot "Nolan"

Created: 2026-01-07

A robot with two independently controlled wheels, light up face, and a piezo beeper. Almost entirely 3D-printed. A controller port in the back of the head accepts an Atari 2600 compatible controller to drive the robot.

Details

A back view of the same robot. There is a wedge-shaped socket in the back of the head. A close up of the head. The TV appears to be switched off: the shiny screen shows only black and reflections.

Based on the same body and drive as Neumann. While working on Neumann's redesign, I considered switching to an Atari joystick or NES gamepad to control it, instead of the IR receiver. Once I settled on the the clear dome head as a design feature, I decided to save the game controller concept for a future robot.

I chose the name Nolan as a tribute to Nolan Bushnell, co-founder of Atari. I started Nolan shortly after finishing Neumann, but I stalled on it for several months. I was trying to design a head that resembles Topo, a robot produced by the Nolan-Bushnell-financed company Androbots in the 1980s.external link After playing Stray,external link I decided to pivot to a TV-head. That is much simpler to design for 3D-printing and assembly, and also ties into the video game theme.

Inside the back of the head is a flashing RGB LED. At the front of the head is a 3D-printed part and and a tinted plastic sheet. The back of the 3D-printed part is clear PLA printed thickly on a textured bed. It diffuses the light from the LED. The front of the 3D-printed part is in black PLA, with cutouts for the eyes and mouth. The tinted sheet hides the face cutout when the light is off, and provides a shiny glass-like surface.

The antenna was a last-minute addition. A 3D-printed base with a bolt and nut holds a bent piece of wire. The nut is in a hexagonal channel, so as I turn the screw, the nut pulls into the wire. There are 3D-printed caps on the ends of the wire.

The current incarnation of Atari sells a wireless version of the original joystick,external link which works to give Nolan wireless remote control.

© 2026 Kyle Delaney | Site Map