How to Build a Small Simple Robot

Constructing something with your own hands always carries with it a sense of accomplishment that merely buying something can never provide. Whether it's a chair, a house of cards or a painting, you can always look upon your creation with pride, knowing that you and you alone are responsible for its existence.

Robots are one of the more challenging and complicated gadgets mankind has ever devised, but if you're a do-it-yourselfer whose expectations (and budget) are low, then you can create your own robot, too.

Things You'll Need

• Sturdy wire (at least 12 inches)
• Adhesive foam
• 1.5v to 3.0v solar cell
• Pager or cell phone unbalanced motor
• Small-voltage switch (if desired)
• Solder and soldering iron

Instructions

1. Bend the wire into a sturdy frame for your robot. Bases constructed like this are generally of the three-or-more-legs design, mimicking insects, for their stability.
   Leave a flat base at the "top" of your robot's legs as a mounting platform for your components.

2. Lay a strip of adhesive foam across the flat part of your robot's leg base. This forms the mounting surface for your other components, so be sure it is firmly attached to the base before moving on to other steps. It should also not extend beyond the edges of the base in any direction more than any other, as this will cause instability in the completed robot.

3. Attach the solar cell to the adhesive foam at the rear of the base, as far away from the "face" of the robot as possible. Extend the leads of the wires from the solar cell forward, making sure that they will be long enough to reach the pager motor when it is attached.
   Make sure the solar cell is evenly situated on the foam and on the base as this, too, will cause instability if it is off-center.

4. Stick the pager motor to the front of the robot, with the motor's shaft facing "forward". This is what will cause your robot's movement, so it is imperative that the motor be situated correctly; this entails ensuring that the motor is centered on the foam and far enough forward that the spinning motor shaft will not impact the base or any other components.

5. Solder the solar cell leads to the pager motor carefully. Once the second lead comes into contact with the motor's terminal the robot should begin to buzz, making soldering difficult. Counter this by moving the robot to a surface where the buzzing will be dampened enough for you to solder without interference. Alternately, you could add a switch to the circuit between the solar panel and one of the motor's terminals, to serve as a shut-off for the robot.

Tips & Warnings

• You can decorate your robot with googly-eyes, sparkles, or pretty much anything else you can think of. Just be careful not to over-burden the mechanism, to avoid slowing the robot down.

• Your robot is solar-powered; without a strong, even light source, it won't move.

References

• BEAM Vibrobots