By Michelle A. Monroe

When engineer Matt Hobbs first saw BB-8 — the ball-shaped droid from "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens" — he was impressed by the CGI. It wasn’t until Matt attended a Star Wars fan event and saw a robotic version of BB-8 rolling onstage that he started thinking about how he could engineer something similar.

Now, eight years later, Matt has helped establish two online builders’ clubs — one for BB-8 and one for WALL-E — where hobbyists share ideas and suggestions for building robots. Matt also goes beyond building robots and goes on tours at children’s hospitals and schools with his full-size working replica of WALL-E, the Pixar robot who spent his days tidying up the planet, one piece of garbage at a time.

“WALL-E is by far my favorite robot that I’ve built,” said Matt, who was previously a manufacturing engineer on the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) sunshield and now works in multi-layered installation. “He inspires me because of everything he’s about. He’s just one little guy trying to help save the planet.”

Matt brings WALL-E, R2-D2, BB-8 and many other unique robots to comic conventions and schools to talk about robotics because the animatronic replica inspires people, especially children, to ask questions about STEM.

While his presentations are intended to inspire kids to get into robotics and aerospace, Matt said the inspiration can go both ways.

“I found out that because WALL-E isn’t verbal, he connects with some people who are autistic. Some children and adults with autism get lost in a moment with him,” Matt said. “I had one instance where a parent came to me crying saying they hadn’t heard their son speak in years, but their son opened up with this robot and said a few words. That inspired me to do more and more.”

Building a Buddy

Matt built his full-size WALL-E robot — who he dubbed WEBB-E — during one of the 11 years he worked on Webb while living in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2021, Matt relocated to Northrop Grumman’s Space Park campus in Redondo Beach, California, to transition to a new project. After moving to California, he built a second WALL-E because there were too many requests and events around the country for just one robot. The WALL-E builders’ club now has several new WALL-E robots around the world.

At work, Matt has shared photos and videos of his hobby as part of Northrop Grumman’s virtual Maker Gallery, where employees can highlight their creative pursuits — everything from art and furniture to food to, in Matt’s case, robots. Matt said he uses the company’s Space Park Fabrication Laboratory, known as the Fab Lab, not only for his work but also for his robot-building hobby. An engineer’s playground, the Fab Lab is a workshop that provides access to tools and equipment as well as guidance and training for creating objects or devices for the real world. Matt uses it to weld or cut acrylic pieces on droids such as his R2-D2.

“Every day, I’m learning at work,” said Matt. “There’s no slowing down and that’s my drive. I don’t want to be stagnant, and I don’t want to do the same things every day.”

When Webb launched on Dec. 25, 2021, Matt filmed his WALL-E watching the live broadcast. WALL-E’s robotic eyes widened at the scene, and he made whirring noises of awe.

“It was the best moment of his life,” said Matt, who reflected that, because he built WALL-E while working on Webb, seeing the launch was a culmination of efforts for him and his robot creation. “I treat him as a person. He’s like, ‘Yeah! We did that!’ I don’t know if I could have built it without him.”