The robot in Assembly Required was made in the spirit of an inventor with a surplus of imagination but of limited means. After numerous trips to hardware stores and junk shops to supplement Walter's own junk collection, He began building the robot by trial-and-error. This process took about two weeks.

Next Walter made a patent drawing, numbering each robot part in an exploded view, and showing the intended use of the invention in a two-panel cartoon. The parts of the disassembled robot were then carefully hidden in the surplus junk that frames the drawing.

After the shot was finished we were inspired to make a short stop-motion movie of the robot self-assembling.