Joule’s Best Friend Comes to Life: Robo Challenge Creates Mack the CoreBot with 1,000 Hours of 3D Printing & 16 Motors

Every adventure needs a trusty, hardy canine companion following along faithfully, ready to stand through anything at his master’s side. And in ReCore, that entails a lot. As Joule Adams wakes up from cryosleep, a message from her father explains, unsurprisingly, that ‘things didn’t go as planned’ in colonizing Far Eden. But for her to carry on, he left her with three friendly and loyal CoreBots: Mack, Duncan, and Seth, with their presence intended to mean that she will never have to watch her back as they battle large numbers of the evil CoreBots, harvesting cores to continue gaining power and saving humankind. And while according to Joule’s dad sometimes the safest path is the most destructive one, harrowing challenges that none of us would want to face certainly lie ahead for the fearless young woman navigating the distant future in a desert terrain, searching for cores.

A major mission was certainly in the cards for the aptly named Robo Challenge as well, upon deciding to recreate a functional, robotic Mack, bringing him over from the other side into the real world. And just as if he’d been plucked right out of the video game, we see an extremely realistic and lovable Mack in 3D print, thanks to the intensive efforts of the design team headquartered in Birmingham, England.

We’ve been privy to a multitude of pieces created from video games, brought to the physical world via the 3D printer, although most often in the form of impressive weapons such as the BFG from DOOM, the AK-47 from Rust, or the iconic pistols from Overwatch. But you need to check out the video of Mack below, not just to get an idea of how formidable the 3D printing and robotics work is here, but also to see how darned cute he is. I think it’s all in the affable, wagging tail and those wavering ears. Make no mistake, though: as a character in ReCore, this is one kickass robot, ready to protect Joule to the end.

Robo Challenge had access to the design files from ReCore, which did offer them some savings in time as they began fabrication of the outer body panels, filled and sanded. In total, 1,000 hours of printing time was required to create Mack. He also houses 16 independent motors, 3D printed and programmed to imbue him with Mack-like life and movement.

https://youtu.be/y2Dk6kmec_s

“Building Mack has been an exciting challenge,” Grant Cooper, creative engineer at Robo Challenge, told WIRED. “We brought Mack to life by working with the original 3D CAD models directly from the game including the fitting of electric motors, gears and electronics to design the steel internal skeleton.”

Once the 3D printed parts were created, the team referred to ReCore to make sure they painted each part accurately by hand. Other electronics in the form of colored lights and sound effects were added at the end of the project as well.

Meant for the Xbox One, or PC with Windows 10, ReCore is a Microsoft Studios product just released worldwide, created by Keiji Inafune and the makers of Metroid Prime.

Robo Challenge is an innovative company driven by the needs of their clients, whether that’s for an upcoming PR campaign or a TV show. They offer ‘cutting edge facilities’ which allow for the design and production of amazing projects, from the concept stage to completion. Robo Challenge also offers consulting services. Discuss further in the 3D Printed Mack forum over at 3DPB.com.