Inspired by Gundam and other Japanese mecha, this armoured robot was designed in Tinkercad and printed at Selwyn Libraries. But it wasn’t just made to look cool, it also functions as a bookshelf, with slots designed into its frame. Getting this balance of design and utility took multiple tries. Some early versions couldn’t stand upright, were too large for the display case or broke when assembled, while others lacked the aesthetics I wanted. After lots of tweaking and test prints, the final design came together. None of the material was wasted, used filament from this display and others has been recycled through Kiwifil, our 3D printing recycling partner.

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On display

Bookshelf-powered Armoured Robot, designed and printed by Nikolai Pidwerbesky at Selwyn Libraries.

This robot represents one of our largest 3D prints, consuming nearly 3 kilograms of filament to achieve. To complete it, teams from across all four Selwyn Libraries branches pitched in to print elements of the project. The print required extensive post-processing to make the pieces fit as intended. While the design looked seamless digitally, in practice the parts didn’t lock together perfectly. Several joints had to be carefully sanded down and adjusted, ensuring stability and alignment so the overall structure was stable and could hold as planned.

Pieces of a robot printed and ready for assembly