The InMoov Robot, designed by French sculptor Gael Langevin, is comprised almost entirely of 3D printable parts, small motors and cheap circuit boards.
(CNN) -- "It's about as difficult as assembling a cupboard from IKEA," says Gael Langevin, but he's not talking about an affordable piece of Scandinavian furniture. The 41-year-old French sculptor and model-maker is referring to his open-source, life-size, 3D-printed robot.
Known as InMoov, Langevin's animatronic creation can be made by anyone with access to little more than a basic 3D printer, a few motors, a cheap circuit board and about $800.
Langevin has been developing InMoov in his spare time since the beginning of last year and, he stresses, it's all still very much a work in progress. So far the robot boasts a head, arms and hands and the torso is not far off.
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On completion of each body part, Langevin shares the printer files and assembly instructions on his dedicated blog.
"I've also posted some programming instructions -- so you can make it respond to voice-activated commands," he says. "It can grab hold of things, tilt its head and move its arms around in various ways ... and when I get around to building some legs, that's when things will get really interesting."
The project began when Langevin was asked to create to a prosthetic hand for a commercial photo shoot. He'd recently brought a 3D printer to play with at home, so thought this would be a "good way to test it out," he recalls.
Although he confesses to being a "coding novice," Langevin taught himself how to use Arduino -- a very cheap and increasingly popular microcontroller -- so that he could get his prosthetic hand to move.
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He posted the bodiless limb to Thingiverse -- a digital design file sharing site -- and was swamped with enthusiastic responses. The users began printing and building their own versions, and wanted to see more. So Langevin obliged.
"Each individual part is small enough to be printed on the cheapest range of 3D printers available to the public" he says, noting that most of the robots you read about are both prohibitively expensive and "kind of ugly."
Despite the sci-fi appearance of his creation, Langevin's vision for the InMoov robot is remarkably quaint.
"It's something to make with the family on weekends," he says. "When she was very young, my daughter said she wanted to build a plane and various other incredible things ... this robot shows you can build anything you like."
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Using mircrocontrollers like Arduino and a basic programming language, the assembled robot can respond to voice-activated instructions -- moving its head and arms accordingly.
Each part of the robot has been built in stages, limb by limb. When Langevin completes a stage, he posts all the building instructions, including 3D printing files, on his public blog. Currently without a torso or legs, the robot is still a work in progress.
The whole project began when Langevin was commissioned to make a prosthetic hand for a commercial photo shoot. The 41-year-old Frenchman thought it a prime opportunity to test his new 3D printer.
Langevin admits he has limited computer programming skills, so the coding instructions on his website are relatively basic. But, for those in the know, the robot could ultimately be programmed to carry out all manner of tasks.
Each component is created using 3D modelling software and, in order to make it accessible to as wide an audience as possible, they are all small enough to be printed on the cheapest range of 3D printers.
A rear view of InMoov's upper torso reveals a bundle of exposed wires and other electronic components. Although it looks complicated, Langevin assures that, as long as you follow the instructions on his blog, no prior knowledge is required.
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