Which metal for self-charging station contacts

Community General Discussions
1

Hi!

I'm building a simple robot based on Raspberry Pi and I want to make it self-charging.

Something like this seems nice:

http://schursastrophotography.com/robotics/sweepbotmain.html

My question is what kind of metal to use for the contacts.
Is brass a good choice?

Something like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/new-Thin-latten-flitter-gold-brass-sheet-Yellow-copper-foil-Brass-plate-0-5mm-thickness-200mm/32740368272.html


What kind of metal is used for battery contacts in consumer electronics?

Cheers,

Leonti 

2

Nickel or plated

Brass will oxidize over time. Nickel is used for battery pack contacts and should be available as thin rolls or strips. (Gold) plated metal has the benefit of being free of corrosion or oxidation, but it’s not very cheap obviously.

3

Docking Station

For indoor use, a really quick approach is to recycle a robotic vacuum and its corresponding docking station. There are many first and second generation Roombas available online which take care of that entirely. You can always gut them and create your own enclosure, but must (though not all) of the electronics can be recycled.