Parts reborn as Borg robots

A door stopper. Some tubing from a valve. A broken antenna. A fuse. A little toy gun. And a collection of miscellaneous other parts.

Some people may see this as a pile of junk, but a local artist sees these parts as a recipe for a mechanical masterpiece.

Harold Lundgren is a cartoonist and artist who can often can be spotted at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore looking for odds and ends to create robots - yes, robots.

“As I am looking at parts in front of me, I think, 'This could be a head.' And then the body begins to form,” Lundgren said.

Executive director Frank Carrillo was so impressed with the little robot, he asked Lundgren if he would like to sell some of them in the store.

“Harold uses things that might otherwise be thrown away," Carrillo said. "If I can get people to see what you can do with recycled materials, we can keep it out of landfills and help someone else maybe make some money. You just don’t know what the possibilities are.”

There are usually a handful of Lundgren's creations on sale at ReStore, most of them just a few inches to just under a foot tall and ranging in price from $25 to $50, depending on the intricacy.

ReStore is Habitat for Humanity's retail store, which sells everything from building materials and plumbing supplies to furniture and appliances. The store is located at 2404 S. Engler Ave. For more information about the robot collection, call 783-3993.

Lundgren revealed that making robots doesn't just amount to a fun hobby. As a behavioral technician at a local psychiatric ward, he sees his ventures in art as an important outlet.

Lundgren’s interest in cartooning and science fiction inspired him to start creating the three-dimensional art pieces that look like robots. Each statue has its own unique personality.  

Lundgren recalled that when he was a child, his mother used to play with him a creative game called “Squiggles.” She would draw a squiggle, or random line, and then Harold would have to create a picture from the squiggle. He explained that creating his robots is really part of that same creative perception.

“It’s not something I wake up with. Instead, it’s through a creative process,” he said, explaining how he thinks up new ideas for robots. “I use parts that are common, household items. Occasionally, I run across some extraordinary pieces. Usually [friends] give them to me.”

One friend gave Lundgren an old machine for testing insulin in blood. Lundgren thought one of the parts looked like a barrel to a machine gun - and, voila! Inspiration for a new robot.

His strangest robot is his newest piece, the Picasso Robot. The name says it all. Lundgren says while he was building it, he thought to himself, "If Picasso built a robot, what would it look like?"

Prior to making robots, Lundgren's artistic ventures ranged from cartooning as a hobby to making all kinds of three-dimensional art. He also likes carving and making arts and crafts to give away as Christmas presents.

So far Lundgren has made over 50 of his extraordinary robots. He laughs when he tells the story of his wife wanting to clean the house, so she prompted him to start giving some of the robots away.

Lundgren created a robot for the Habitat for Humanity ReStore as a thank-you gift for supplying him with so many unique objects. ReStore employees had even created a “Harold Box” for specialty items that Lundgren could use.

Lundgren has already sold several of his one-of-a-kind robots and has given away even more. He is building a special baseball robot to be auctioned off during an upcoming Scorpions game. The proceeds from the auction will go to Habitat for Humanity.

---

WHAT MAKES A BABY BORG?

Here are the parts used to make a robot inspired by the Borg, creatures from television’s "Star Trek":
 
7-inch circular saw blade
 Porcelain baby doll face
 Switches
 Capacitors
 Transistors
 Circuit boards
 Buttons
 Chains
 A working watch