How to Make a Homemade Robot

With a few parts lying around, a homemade robot can be made with relatively little trouble and only a moderate level of expertise. With some wheels, several parts commonly found in radio-controlled cars, a controller and a couple common items, such as glue, your homemade robot may be ready to rove around sooner than you think.

Things You'll Need

• Wheel base/Remote control car Velcro pieces (2) Professional glue Battery Receiver/controller (4- to 6-way) Servos (2) Dual-lock tape

Instructions

1. Take stock of what you have lying around, such as old toys. Anything that can yield a simple wheel base for your robot can work, with variability completely allowed. One particular item to look for is an old remote control car, as this has a wheel base and also already contains many of the items you can utilize in your homemade robot. If you use an RC car, strip down any unnecessary parts, such as the plastic shell, and leave the wheel base and any working components.

2. Locate a four- or six-way controller and receiver combo for your homemade robot. The "ways" of the controller refer to the degrees of movement it allows in your robot. Also, have on hand a nickel cadmium battery (or a lead acid one if it was salvageable from the RC car), as well as two servos, or motors.

3. Take two pieces of velcro and attach them to either side of the base of the robot using professional strength glue.

4. Attach the battery to the underside of the robot base to the piece of velcro. Then, attach the receiver to the other side of the robot in the same manner.

5. Use dual-lock or similar heavy-duty tape to attach two servos near the perimeter of the wheel base, one on opposite sides from each other.

6. Wire all the components together and feed them into the receiver. Take stock of the receiver. There are channels on the end of the device. The wires from each component must be fed to and connected to the end of each channel separately. The servos can be attached to adjacent channels, but the battery should be attached at the opposite end of the receiver.

7. Add in any parts that you desire to give your homemade robot personality or flair. All these pieces are optional, however, as you already have a working homemade robot on hand. Consider salvaging pieces from old toys and attaching them to your robot via glue or cord. Give thought to juicing up your robot by adding a ramming or puncturing weapon that can deal damage and upgrade it to battle bot status. Let your imagination run wild.