How to… Make a Mini Robot
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Today I have a fabulous fun little Mini Robot craft for you! It is absolutely riveting and both my little ones love the final result, as well as the tweens next door. I think this really is something for all age groups! A few weeks ago, Em from Unruly Media invited me to one of their events to make a mini robot. Em designed this robot herself and shared it with a group of their contacts. I grabbed my neighbour and off we went. We had a wonderful evening and have been playing with our robots ever since… And you know what, it isn’t that hard!!!
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I have amended the instructions from Em slightly, as I found you could simplify it just a little, to make it more suitable for homecrafting. But overall it is all Em’s brainchild.
Materials: 2 x bits of wire, 1 x 3v motor, 1 x AA battery, 3 x beads (a third one too if wanted), 2 x pieces of foamboard (or more if desired), Some legs (your choice what materials – we used paper clips, the instructions so toothbrush heads, the above show drawing pins). A Hot Glue Gun.
1. Securing the battery to your motor: Glue the bigger piece of foamboard onto the Motor with the metal contacts at the top. Glue the bigger piece of foamboard onto the Motor with the metal contacts at the top.
2. Unbalancer: Now this step may seem a little random.. but what you are doing is “unbalancing” the motor, which in turn creates the movement of the little thing. So make sure you don’t skip this bit! Glue a small piece of foam board onto the end of the motor to help unbalance your robot. You can also stick a bead on if you wish. Leave this all to dry for a couple of minutes.
3. Legs: You now need to stick your robots legs onto the bottom of the motor. If using toothbrushes, you might want to stick some foamboard in between. Leave to dry for a couple of minutes.
4. Connecting to your Motor: You can either “twist” them on or solder them on. Soldering will probably give your little robot more longevity, but isn’t strictly necessary.
Take your pieces of wire and solder one of each onto a metal contact on the motor. This is quite fiddly so be careful. The best technique is to hold the iron on the metal Contact and bring the solder towards it, letting it melt onto the contact and form a seal. Make sure that you frequently wipe the solder iron with a sponge to get any burnt solder off it.
At this point your little robot should look something like this.
5. Connecting to the Battery: Using your hot glue one of your wires to one end of your battery, your choice which one. It is very important that you create a contact between the wire and the battery – too much glue and you will seal the wire… for some reason, I “just couldn’t get this bit right”, so on MY mini robot, I used some electrical tape. Glueing is better though.
6. Eyes: Now stick your robot’s eyes on the appropriate end of the battery. Either end is fine, just choose and end that you like!
7. Final Connection: Now to make your robot move! Take your second wire and stick it to the non wired end of your battery using some tape. By doing this rather than using the glue gun you have flexibility on when the motor is on or off.
And there you have it! Your own mini robot!
Here is what we made:
And the neighbour’s boy saw ours. Went off. Found “some bits” and made:
And he is only 8!!!! How cool?
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Category: Guest Post, How To's, Kids Craft
oh wow, that looks amazing! I want to make one. xx
These look amazing and great fun!
Thank you Emma and Isil. They were great to make and my 2yrs old in particularly loved playing with it.. It was called our bee (due to the sound it makes when on!)
love these, we made \’bristlebots\’ a couple of years ago from tooth brush heads and watch batteries, the kids loved how fast they moved.
Oooh they sound fun!
great idea to use watch batteries!
That is fab! You must be very proud.
Happy new year.
Thank you! We had lost of fun! And it is easier than you think!
My Son\’s 7th Birthday this weekend and we\’re having a robot party … Great timing, I am sure we can squeeze this one in
off to find some cheap motors …..
These look great,Thanks for joining us at Creative Mondays
These are great! I made one of these for a library program last summer and the kids just loved watching it walking around. Great post!
These look so fun!!!! My kids have hex bugs we bought from the store. These robots remind of them. We ARE going to make these. Thanks for sharing!
We did it! Chaos, noise, pizza, Lego robots and a mini electronics project … what more can a 7yo want for his birthday party. Total joy
Lots more inspiration
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/wallaceandgromit/hands-on/
Oh wow! Sounds fabulous!! Have you got a picture!?
Where\’d you buy your motors?
In the UK:
http://www.rapidonline.com/Electrical-Power/3V-13100-Rpm-Dc-Motor-37-0140/?sid=c90f44ef-fed6-41df-b63b-97d155687604
Or http://www.maplin.co.uk/small-motor-3738
I don\’t have a soldering iron, how can I do this.
Yes, you can make this without a soldering iron! The official instructions say use one, but you can attach the wires to the motor by twisting the wire on and attach the wire to the battery with tape and the hot glue gun. My robot does not use a soldering iron! Have fun!
Hello, just wanted to say \’thank you sooooo much\’ for these instructions. We spent a lovely afternoon making one with our son yesterday and he is thrilled to pieces with the robot he made. He\’s even taken it to \’show and tell\’ at school today. Thank you so much!
Aaaaah I am SOOOO CHUFFED! Thank you for coming back and letting me know! Hooray for Mini Robots!
Awesome!! I have been searching for hours for a science project for my 3rd grader! We were given a motor and 2 AA batteries and told to do something with it. This will be perfect for her! Thank You!!
it was really awesome i would really like to make one.
Amazing project. I’m loving the idea of a mini robot! I am looking for great engineering and technology posts for a week-long linky I’m hosting this week. Would love if you could link up this idea!
http://www.stemmom.org/2013/02/stem-themed-linky-party-2.html
Darci the STEM Mom
Oooh thanks will pop by!
This is awesome!
Most important thing to be kept in mind when working with soldering iron is not to touch the tip of the iron as it is extremely hot. Soldering material used for the purpose is an alloy of tin and lead and is called flux. Before you put solder over the required area, heat up the surface to be soldered by touching the tip of the hot iron. Application of the solder is called “tinning”since percentage of tin is more in the flux. However, flux can be of various types depending upon the things to be soldered.
Or you could just not use a soldering iron, but a hot glue gun!
hey they are cool