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Description

A lot of fun to make and a great first “robotics” project for young robot enthusiasts.

Resources

Materials:
Blank or unwanted CD or dvd
Dome-shaped lid from Slurpie or similar drink
2 “AAA” battery holder (affiliate link)
2 “AAA” batteries
1.5-3 V DC Motor (affiliate link)
SPST (single pole single throw) switch ( be sure it’s labeled push-on/push-off, not momentary)
Short piece of wire (I used 22 gauge, but it’s not really important)
Pencil with eraser
2 Googly eyes (optional)
Supplies & Tools:

Wire cutters
Wire strippers
Needle nose pliers
Hot glue gun
Tape (I used electrical, but any kind will work)
Craft knife or other cutting tool
Safe surface cutting on
Scissors for cutting tape if needed

Instructions

Cut a short piece of wire (only a couple inches long is fine).
Next, adjust the screw and nut on your wire strippers so that the hole is about the size of the metal core within your wire.

Use the wire strippers to pull the outer layer off the wire.

Use the needle nose pliers to bend the ends of short wire to make it easier to attach the wire to the motor and switch.

Use the needle nose pliers to bend one end of the wire around one of the motor’s 2 lead and the other end of the wire around one of the switches leads.

Next use the same technique to connect one of the wires coming from the battery pack to the motor’s free lead and the other wire coming from the battery pack to the switches free lead. You should end up with your 3 components (motor, switch, battery pack) in a big circle. It doesn’t matter which order or orientation the pieces are in.
Next cut the eraser off of the pencil.

Push the eraser into the motor.

Hot glue the motor onto the cd with the eraser sticking through the hole. It doesn’t matter which side of the CD faces up.

Next, tape the battery pack to the motor and CD

Tape the dome lid over the motor and battery pack with the switch sticking through the hole in the top. (Note: At this point, if you’re paying attention, you’ll realize that our switch has magically changed from black to red. That’s because in my carelessness, I accidentally bought a “momentary” switch instead of a push-on/push-off switch, so the wigglebot only worked when we held down the button. We had to make another trip to the electronics store to remedy the situation.)

Glue on some googly eyes.

Website: https://researchparent.com/homemade-wobblebot/

Tags

• electrical
• Electronics
• make
• robot

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