robots

November 19, 2018

Basket Bots

The first week in December Canada Learning Code sponsors a Code Week the first week in December.  I know a lot of units meet in places were accessing computers would be difficult.  My unit meets in a church basement and even cell signal is really iffy. So I liked that Canada Learning Code has included a number of unplugged activity that still teach the basics of coding.  BasketBots involves pairing the girls off.  Once girl will be the robot and do just what the partner (the programmer) tells her to do.  The aim is to have the bot throw a ball though a basket ball hoop.  If you don’t meet in a room suitable for ball throwing, you could instead Do the Robot  which is basically the same activity but with random activities like opening a book, or opening a door.

October 7, 2014

Bristlebot

A Bristlebot is a simple electric “robot” that is a staple of maker fairs. The idea was originally developed by Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories.  You can buy kits for making Bristlebots but I’m pretty sure that if you shop around for the parts (most of which are available at a good dollar store) you can cut the cost in half.

Materials:

  • One toothbrush – you want to pick a cheep one with straight up and down bristle or angled all in one direction.
  • Some double sided tape
  • coin battery
  • vibrating motor – these are made to make mobile phones vibrate and are available off E-bay or from some hobby stores.
  • googly eyes or other small decoration (optional)

Tools:

  • bolt cutters or garden sheers
  • eye protection
  • wire strippers
  • scissors

Putting them together

  1. Cut the head off the toothbrush with the bolt cutters.  Wear eye protection for this step as things could go flying.  For Sparks or Brownies you may want to do this step at home before the meeting.
  2. Use the wire strippers to strip off a 1 cm length of wire from both of the leads on the motor.
  3. Cut a piece of double sided tape the same length as the toothbrush head and apply it.  Peel off the backing.
  4. Apply the motor so one of it’s two wires are stuck to the tape and the other one is in the air.
  5. Stick the coin battery, larger side down over the wire stuck to the tape.
  6. Using a scrap of double sided tape or a small piece of duct tape, tape the second wire to the top of the battery.
  7. Customize your bristlebot with eyes, antenna etc.
  8. Let your bristlebot go on a smooth surface such as a table top or a tile floor.