Robots are made to go and do what humans either can not, or do not want to do. They are used in hundreds of ways from exploring Mars, to working tirelessly on a manufacturing line, to providing companionship. Not to mention they make great movie characters! Try your hand at building a robot with one of our robotics science and engineering projects.
[# Video Name="IA.Robotics" Value="HtmlUrlAnchor" #]
Have you ever wanted to build your very own robot from scratch? Bristlebots are a cheap, easy, and fun-to-build robot made from the head of a toothbrush, a battery, and a small motor. Once completed, they buzz along the top of a table like bugs. How can you make a bristlebot go faster? In this project, you will build bristlebots from two different types of toothbrushes, and race them against each other to find out.
Read more
Robotics_p010
+ More Details
- Less Details
Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
A kit is available for your convenience from our partner
.
Cost
Low ($20 - $50)
Safety
Adult supervision is required when cutting the head off a toothbrush.
Do you like drawing or painting? What if you could build a robot that creates its own art? In this project, you will create your own Art Bot, a robot with markers for "legs" that wobbles across a piece of paper, creating drawings as it moves. You can then customize your robot to change how it draws. This is a beginner-level project with no robotics experience necessary, so if you want to try building your own robot, this is a great place to start!
Read more
Robotics_p014
+ More Details
- Less Details
Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
A kit is available for your convenience from our partner
.
Cost
Low ($20 - $50)
Safety
Adult supervision is required when using a hobby knife.
Vibrobots are fun little robots built from common household supplies, that are powered by vibrating motors. In this engineering project, you will design and built your own vibrobot. Would you rather have a robot that skitters quickly across a table or one that spins wildly in circles? How about a sumo-wrestling bot that can push others out of its way? The choice is up to you!
Read more
Robotics_p030
+ More Details
- Less Details
Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
A kit is available for your convenience from our partner
.
Have you ever heard of the NASA Mars rovers Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity? How about the "bomb squad" robots that police and the military use? These are places that are hard for us to reach (Mars), or dangerous for us to be near (explosives). Because the human operators are usually far away from the robot, driving one is different from driving a car. Operators rely on information sent back from the robot, including pictures and video. In this project, you will build your own simple…
Read more
Robotics_p015
+ More Details
- Less Details
Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
This project requires a radio-controlled toy car and a wireless video camera. See the Materials and Equipment list for details.
Have you ever seen a robot dance? In this project you will build your own simple flipping, tumbling robot that can dance around on the floor or a tabletop! If you have never made a robot before and would like to get started with a fun, easy project, this is a great place to begin. You will follow directions to make a basic robot, and then make your own additions to make it even better!
Read more
Robotics_p027
+ More Details
- Less Details
Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
This project requires robotics parts from an electronics vendor. See the Materials and Equipment list for details. Estimated project time includes shipping for the parts.
Cost
Low ($20 - $50)
Safety
Adult supervision is required when using a hot glue gun or super glue.
The world's oceans are home to the most strange and amazing creatures. What do scientists know about these deep-sea animals and how can they study them easily? One way to learn about these animals in their homes is to use underwater robots. Underwater robots can record data that would be difficult for humans to gather. But what are robots and how are they made? In this robotics engineering project, you will discover what makes up a simple robot and build and test your own underwater robot.
Read more
Robotics_p002
+ More Details
- Less Details
Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
To build an underwater robot you will need a motor and a model boat propeller. See the Materials and Equipment list for details.
Cost
Low ($20 - $50)
Safety
You will need glue and epoxy to waterproof the motor for the robot. Follow the instructions that come with the glue and epoxy and always work in a well-ventilated area. If you have a latex allergy, you will have to exercise great caution with the balloon and ask a volunteer to help you. Keep fingers away from the spinning propeller to prevent injury. Do not test the robot in saltwater.
"How do you frighten a grasshopper? And what does that have to do with light?" These are a couple of questions you're probably asking yourself after reading the title. Well, The Frightened Grasshopper Solar-Powered Bug is actually a toy grasshopper that vibrates when it is placed in sunlight or near a lightbulb. It stores up the energy from light, and converts it into motion. You will use this fun toy to explore how the brightness of the light affects the motion of the solar-powered insect.
Read more
Elec_p061
+ More Details
- Less Details
Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
The Frightened Grasshopper toy needs to be ordered from online. See the Materials and Equipment list for details.
Cost
Low ($20 - $50)
Safety
Adult supervision is required. The lightbulbs will be hot, so use caution to avoid getting burned by the bulbs. The Frightened Grasshopper toy should be assembled with the help of an adult since it is fragile and has some small parts.
You have probably heard about using renewable energy sources like wind and solar power to provide electricity to homes and buildings, as well as hybrid or fully electric cars that use less (or zero) gasoline. But what about solar-powered robots? As robots become more common, it is increasingly important to use "green" energy sources to power them. In this project, you will build and test a popular robot called a bristlebot — a tiny robot made using toothbrushes—that can operate on…
Read more
Robotics_p026
+ More Details
- Less Details
Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
A kit containing all the electronics parts needed for this project can be found in a kit from our partner
.
Imagine how cool it would be to build a robot hand that could grasp a ball or pick up a toy. In this
robotics engineering project, you will learn how to use drinking straws, sewing thread, and a little
glue to make a remarkably lifelike and useful robot hand. What will you design your robot hand to do?
Pick up a can? Move around a ping pong ball? It is up to you! With these starting instructions, you can
design any type of hand. You will simulate human finger anatomy as the basis for a…
Read more
Robotics_p001
+ More Details
- Less Details
Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
Readily available.
Cost
Low ($20 - $50)
Safety
Adult supervision is suggested for parts of this project. Use caution with sharp knives and glue.
What do you consider creepy? Clowns? Zombies? Video game characters with jerky movement? In 1970, a roboticist by the
name of Masahiro Mori suggested that people are "creeped out" by robots that are almost, but not exactly, humanlike.
He called this phenomena the uncanny valley. But researchers are still exploring and defining the uncanny valley.
In this science project, you can do your own exploration—just try not to creep your friends out too badly!
Read more
