If you are just joining us, we previously completed Part 1 of the Brownie Designing Robots badge! We broke the badge into two meetings because it really does require that much time if you are focused on what they are learning and not just completing the badge.
We searched and searched the internet to find an easy and affordable robot idea for the second part of this badge. It can be hard to find the right supplies but you're in luck, we have included them for you in this post!
Create your prototype
The idea came from a fantastic tutorial on bristlebots. You can find the tutorial here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Bristlebot-1/ They do a great job of explaining and providing pictures along the way.
What you need:
- Wire stripper
- Scissors
- garden shears
- toothbrush
- double sided foam tape
- vibrating motor
- small battery Caution!!! Do not let little children swallow these.
- googly eyes
- pipe cleaners
Before the meeting:
Before your meeting, you will want to cut the toothbrushes down with your garden shears. You will also want to prepare the motors by stripping about 1/2 inch off of the end of each wire with your wire stripper. I also separated the materials into ziplock bags for each girl so distribution during the meeting would be easy.
We started the meeting explaining what we were going to do and then we showed the video below to the girls. We always have great success with video media and the girls' attention span!!
We then handed each girl a ziplock sandwich bag with all of the supplies they would need to create their bots.
With the instructables website up on the projector screen (or you can print it out), we did each step together.
Debug
Oh were there bugs!!! Not just Bug Bots, but obstacles with constructing and getting them to work. But ya know what? That is the purpose of the last step!! Trial and Error. Isn't that what engineering and life is all about?
The bug doesn't work?
Here are a couple ideas to troubleshoot a bot that doesn't work...
- There is an object (probably a finger or googly eye) blocking the motor from spinning
- the wire attached to the foam tape is submerged into the tape and is not conducting electricity
- The wire is not properly touching the other end of the battery.
And there ya have it! You have successfully completed the Designing Robots badge!!! I hope you found this section helpful and if you are looking for Part 1 you can find it here: Designing Robots Part 1. Leave us some love in the comments below and let us know what you would like to see next!!