How to Find Robot Parts
Without fancy machines or multi-billion-dollar government grants, creating a robot of your own might seem like impossibility itself, due to the lack of materials. However, a rising trend of "technojunk" robot enthusiasts have popularized small-time robotics stores and salvaged components as the best sources of parts for hobbyists.
By re-purposing broken electronics or purchasing pieces from hobby-specific junkshops, the weekend robo-warrior can find all the pieces they'll ever need for a fraction of the full price.
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Instructions
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Tear apart broken or outmoded electronics like cell phones, DVD players, computers, pagers, calculators, etc. You'll find a veritable buffet of solar cells, motors, power sources, wiring, resistors, capacitors, and other tasty tidbits to build your mechanical companion. Just make sure, in the case of broken electronics, that the "broken" component isn't the one you're trying to scavenge from the appliance's corpse.
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Purchase your components either piecemeal or in "kit" form from sites like www.robotmarketplace.com and www.robotstore.com. These hobbyist sites offer a wide selection of pieces, parts, doodads and whatchamajiggers for every conceivable home robot project, and usually at reasonable prices. They also typically offer how-to guides on various types of robot constructions, and a forum for hobbyists to discuss problems and ask each other questions.
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Browse the internet forums for robot hobbyist pages. Enthusiasts are forever asking each other where the best place to find cheap supplies is, and you can benefit from this knowledge just as much as anyone else. If the forum you find seems to be full of professionals but no one is asking where to get parts, simply sign up for the site (it's usually free), and post your question for the other robo-thusiasts to answer.
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