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CALIFORNIA-To many of us, broken household items are just junk, but to one designer this trash can be transformed into delicate robotic sculptures.
Inspired by images from science fiction films, California photographer Larry Wong has designed a range of futuristic miniature droids called Mechanoids.
From insects to drones, his electronic figures are all compiled from a collection of broken, everyday items.
These include parts taken from broken VCRs, DVD drives, hard drives, power supplies and plugs and vacuum tubes.
Each Mechanoid is then fitted together using copper, steel and aluminum wires.
Wong also uses everyday tools, such as pliers and screwdrivers, to build his creatures.
The 38-year-old graphic designer and photographer from Pomona, California said his designs developed out of a fascination for electronics.
‘I take junk that would otherwise go into a landfill and turn it into art,’ explained Wong. ‘Looking at [the electronic] parts, I could see that some could possibly be an arm, leg or head for a robot.
‘After making my first robot, I was pleased with the way it turned out, so I continued making more.’
Wong’s Mechanoids range from between four and six inches in size, and because of this minature design, Wong admitted the construction can be fiddly and time-consuming.
Complicated humanoids, or more detailed creatures, can take up to six hours to complete, for example.
Yet the most time-consuming job is finding the right part for each leg, head or body.   ‘I reject parts if I don’t like their shape, colour, material or how it would look on the robot. ‘Proportion is very important to me; every part needs to be just the right shape and size.
‘Some people don’t understand what they’re looking at while others wonder about its functionality, whether it does anything. ‘Techies particularly enjoy this, I ask them to see how many parts they recognise and figure out where the parts came from.’ Many of Wong’s designs were based on the work of Swiss artist and set designer H.R. Giger.
Giger was part of the special effects team that won an award for the design of the 1979 science fiction film Alien.
He is famous for artwork that represents the human body and machines in a ‘cold interconnected relatonship’ that Giger calls biomechanism. Wong has so far created 20 of his own unique sculptures.