Chess is all well and good, but Joseph Larson was distraught by the lack of giant fighting robots in the ancient board game. He fixed that with his 3D-printable chess pieces that combine together to form a super-powered robot ala Voltron. Forget Kasparov and Deep Blue — this is the ultimate test for chess grand masters.
To make your mecha chess set, start by getting a 3D printer and downloading Larson’s updated designs. Print the required pieces, and then assemble your super-fighting chess bot thusly:
- Slide the tab from the queen into the notch on the king and slide downwards to lock the body together.
- Take the 2 type A pawns and slide into the shoulder slots.
- Take 4 type B pawns and lock their feet together to form 2 legs.
- Flip the knights over for feet and snap the legs into them.
- Snap the legs into the body.
- Take the remaing 2 type B pawns and lock their feet into the feet of the rooks to form two upper arms.
- Snap the shoulders pawns into the upper arms.
- Snap the upper arm pawns into the bishops to form the hands.
Congrats to Larson for putting together such a fantastic concept. However, this isn’t the only transforming chess set out there. After being inspired by Larson’s design, Thingiverse user “bull” created an opponent’s set of pieces. True to form, these combine together to create a ferocious dragon.
(Thingiverse via The Daily What)
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