How to Build a Simple Robot - Beetle Robot

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The following article will show you how to build a simple robot, called "The Beetle Robot", created by Jerome Demers. It's great for beginners and is easy to do. Before starting, I suggest you to read the complete tutorial below. This will greatly lower the chances of you making a mistake. This is the Beetle Robot v. 3 you are going to build:

Tools Needed:

• soldering iron ( here's a helpful tutorial on soldering )
• electronic solder
• diagonal cutter
• Mini glue gun

Components for the robot

• 2x - small DC motors
• 2x - small paperclips
• 2x - big paperclips
• 2x - batteries AAA or AA
• 1x - AA battery holder or AAA battery holder
• 1x - 2 cm of heat shrink
• 1x - wooden pearl (for the caster)
• 1x - meter of electric wire
• 2x - Sub-mini lever SPDT switches

Here are the serial numbers of the components and tools from RadioShack .

Most of the components can be bought for much cheaper at Digi-Key, Jameco, or similar. At RobotShop, you can find the dual AA battery holder and the small DC motor. You can also find these components at any good electronic component store. Here are all the parts needed for the construction the beetle robot:

1. Cut the electric wire in pieces of 6 cm each, 13 times.

Strip 1 cm at each end.

2. Regroup all the components.

 3. Solder each wire to each components except the two batteries.

4. Take the battery holder and make a connection to the connection.

This will give a third connection.See picture below.

The blue wire is the third connections

5. Turn the battery holder up side down so the batteries point to the ground. Glue the two switches on the battery holder in a V form.

6. Glue the motor beside each switch so that the shaft touches the ground

7. Take the big paperclip and make the caster like the picture below.

You can make a nice looking caster or a normal one

I prefer the nice one

8. How to make the connection

9. Take the small paper clip and bend them to make antenna.

Glue them to the switches and don't put to much glue.

Add 1 cm of heat shrink to the shaft of each motor.

10. Add the batteries in the battery holder and put it on a flat surface to see your creation take life. Congratulations!

There is a comprehensive debugging tutorial on Jerome's site, in French. A Google translation is here.