To Be or Not to Be LEGO Kinetic Sculpture

In life, it is all about choices, to be or not to be. LEGOs are a versatile medium to build with. I love building whimsical automatons and kinetic sculptures. This is a skeleton trying to decide whether to go right or left.

You can assemble the complete thing, or just build only the automaton part of it. You can swap out the minifigure according to the month or the theme. Here, I have used the skeleton and a ghost and a wizard. But you could easily use any mini-figure from your supply.

This decoration piece will add a little of bit of spook to your space. If you put it on your shelf, it could be a Halloween related conversation starter or about building with LEGOs.

It's a compact and neat sort of automaton. You could leave this on your desk, even after Halloween is done. It can be for something to do with your fingers, as you do your thinking..

This instructable has the LEGO part list, and the step-by-step building instructions in the attached pdf.

It takes about an hour to come together. If you are a LEGO person, chances are you might already have most of these parts.

Automaton Part List

Skeleton LEGO minifigure

Ghost with a white hood LEGO minifigure

Wizard minifigure- optional

Technic Axle connector-flexible rubber- 2 pieces

Technic Axle 7L

Technic Axle 4L with stop

Technic 1x4 Brick with holes - 2 pieces

Wheel -18mm Diameter

Azure Blue Plate 6x6 with hole - 2 pieces

White Plate 2x2 Corner -4 pieces

White plate 1x2 modified -4 pieces

1x4 Bricks

Powering mechanism Part list

Power Function Motor set

Gear Worm Technic

Gear 24 Tooth

Red Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Perpendicular 3L with 2 Pin Holes

There are 2 parts to the build. One is the presentation piece i.e the automaton. Other is the power function motor and the connecting worm gear mechanism. Honestly the thing comes together in 1 hour or less, but I took a long long time finding the right LEGO pieces for the build from my stash.(sounds familiar..?)

This is inspired from JKBrickworks' Prairie Dogs Kinetic LEGO Sculpture. Worm gear connection is built from Page 30 of Yoshihito Isogawa book The LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Idea Book: 181 Simple Machines and Clever Contraptions

I have put together step-by-step instructions for it using Studio 2.0, attached here. You can substitute any of the 1x4 bricks or some of the base plates, but you will want the gears and Technic parts from the list.

You could build only the automaton, if you like the old-timey feel of a windup toy. Build step 12 to 27 in the instructions.

Build and share here! I would love to see what variation you added to your kinetic sculpture.

Stay spooky out there!