Ridgefield Maker Builds Talking Robot for the Atomic Museum

Back in May I told you about Jason Morris, the 6'9" data analyst who built a life-sized Deathclaw in his barn and got it into a Smithsonian-affiliated museum. Today that museum launches its expanded Fallout exhibit, and Jason is in Las Vegas for it. This time he brought a robot that lights up, moves, and talks back.

Jason Morris has had a busy couple of weeks. A few weeks ago he and his wife held a showing of his newest piece in his studio, which is the barn behind their house. The next day they packed it into a truck and drove it to Las Vegas. Then they came home. Then they turned around and went back, because today, November 12, the National Atomic Testing Museum launches World of Fallout: Prepare for the Future, and Jason's robot is part of it.

If you missed the first story: Jason got a 3D printer in 2023, his projects outgrew the house, the family built a barn, and the barn now holds a life-sized xenomorph, a giant fork, a T-rex skull, and an unpainted Velma head. His Deathclaw went to the museum's original Fallout exhibit and his Reddit post about delivering it passed a million views. The whole story is here, and it's worth the read.

This Time, It Was a Commission

The Deathclaw started on a whim. The robot did not. The museum commissioned this one for the expansion, which adds two new galleries to the exhibit. The first is a Vault-Tec Welcome Center, and the full-size, interactive Mr. Handy robot is one of its featured pieces. That's Jason's.

If you've played Fallout 4, you'll know the type: a floating, three-armed robot butler with a cheerful British accent, the most famous of which is Codsworth. Fans love him. Now there's a life-sized one in Las Vegas, and it was built in a barn in Ridgefield.

This one also does more than stand there looking good. It lights up, it moves, and it's voice activated, so it responds when you talk to it.

It's also accurate in ways only fans will catch. In the games, a Mr. Handy has three arms: a grabber claw, a flamethrower, and a buzzsaw. On Jason's version, one of those arms carries a saw blade. He's a friendly robot butler. He is also armed.

The Friend Who Made It Talk

Jason built the robot itself, using the same method as his other big pieces: a welded skeleton, then printed sections fitted together, then paint and finishing by hand. The interactive part, meaning the lights, the movement, and the voice response, came from his friend Michael Hamilton, who used AI to bring it to life.

I met Michael at the showing in the barn. I've asked him for the details of how he pulled it off, and I'll add them here when I have them. For now: the robot talks, and Michael is why.

A Showing in the Barn, Then a Very Careful Drive

Jason's studio is the barn behind his house, the one the family built just to hold his work. Before Mr. Handy left town, Jason and his wife had people over to see him there. I was lucky enough to be one of them. Watching a room full of adults talk to a robot and wait to see what it would say back was one of the better nights I've had in this town, and that's saying something.

The next day, Jason and his wife carefully packed up Mr. Handy and all his parts, saw-blade arm included, loaded him into a truck, and drove him to Las Vegas themselves. No shipping company, no crossed fingers. They took it slow so he would arrive in one piece, and he did. Then they drove home, and now they're back in Vegas for the launch.

This Week in Vegas

The museum is closed to the public today for the private launch event, and Jason is on a panel as part of it. Tomorrow he's teaching a class at the museum called How to Make a Monster, which, given the Deathclaw, is a fair title. He texted me from Vegas to tell me, and I'm telling you.

So the guy who told me in May that he doesn't consider himself an artist is now speaking at a museum launch and teaching a class there the next day. I'll keep saying it: he's an artist.

Follow Along

Jason posts his work on Instagram as @dragonfoot3d, and you'll find him at dragonfoot3d.com. He sells smaller pieces on Etsy under dragonfoot3d, takes custom work at [email protected], and turns up at First Saturdays downtown now and then with magnets and a dinosaur skull.

So that's two pieces in a Smithsonian-affiliated museum, one of them a robot that talks, both built in a barn off a Ridgefield road. Go say something nice on his posts this week. He's earned it.