My Advanced Realistic Humanoid Robots Project

[Artbyrobot]

I have been chipping away at building some humanoid robots for some years now and wanted to share my build with you all in order to give away my ideas freely as well as pick up some ideas from the community. It's certainly a hard project in some ways. My goal is to have the robots pass for human in appearance and movement. I want them to be able to do chores, manufacture products, and make more robots just like themselves.

Here's the CAD design:

 

[rjenkinsgb]

For sticking PTFE, you can use Loctite "All plastics" superglue - it comes with a fibre tip applicator of a primer (activator) that allows a good bond on PTFE & polythene etc.

You can also get the primer in a bottle with a brush for application, as Loctite SF 770. You can then use any generic superglue etc.

I use PTFE tube and piano wire as bowden cable / pushrod type connections in small mechanisms for a couple of years & the primers work well, giving a very solid attachment.

 

[Artbyrobot]

I use PTFE tube as guide tube for thin pushrods in my sailplanes. The largest was 1/4rh scale. I have never (about 30 years) had the bonding (usually epoxy or Eclectic E6000) to the fuselage or wings loosen as you describe. 1) Harden the PTFE by stretching it to a limit. As you stretch it (including PE or most similar plastics), initially it is quite easy. Then it suddenly becomes much harder. That's often about 2 to 3 times the initial length. 2) Etch the surface for bonding. For some plastics, a soft propane/butane flame in the blue portion works. For PTFE, I use sodium dissolved in naphthalene and diluted with an inert hydrocarbon,* if needed. That's easily DIY, but similar etchants are commercially available.

*Sodium also dissolves in liquid ammonia (NH3), but the apparatus for doing that is more complicated. I do not recommend it as storage is difficult, and it is probably more reactive.. I have not tried it on Teflon.

Cool tips. I will keep that in mind as an alternative way to fasten the ends.