This DIY robot was fun to make and surprisingly easy to make. It went off without a hitch, except for cutting the toothbrush end off.
My husband came up with an ingenious way to use friction and heat while bending it back and forth with pliers to cut it. My son trimmed the rough edge with scissors (not really necessary) and then we started the project.
Brush Bots: Turn a Toothbrush into a Robot!
- cell phone vibrating motor
- toothbrush (used is fine)
- 3-volt battery (we used these for our Homopolar Motor project)
- double sided foam tape
- small rubber band
- glue
- scissors
- decorations (googly eyes, pipe cleaners, pom poms)
It might seem hard to find a cell phone vibrating motor, but I found one at Amazon. 5 pieces for $6.
The 3 volt battery is the flat lithium kind. 2 for $1.50 at Amazon.
These are our few hints to build your Brush Bot:
- Make sure the red wire is touching double stick tape and the blue wire to the side.
- The positive side of the battery faces down.
- Now put blue wire on top.
- Tape down.
- Decorate. The decorations help balance the Brush Bot.
Create a maze for your Brush Bot too using a cardboard box.
This science project is from Monsanto Online Engagement: Vimeo.com/MonsantoSTEM/BrushBots.
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Nice balancing work! We had trouble getting ours to stay upright when we made one of these a while back.
Hi MaryAnne,
It only balanced when we stuck the decorations on it though we had to decorate it based on weight distribution! I was surprised by how easy and fun this project was to do. Usually, the science experiments turn out to be a lot harder to execute than it seems.
Thanks for the links to the motors and batteries! I’ve been wanting to do this experiment with my boys but didn’t know what size motors and batteries to buy. Pinned
Hi Mother of 3,
The motor is surprisingly easy to buy and the size battery makes a huge difference. Of course, our issue was cutting off the brush part of the toothbrush. Hopefully, you will have an easier time.