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" #]
How easy is it for you to walk along and follow a line that is painted on the ground? Simple, right? You might be able to follow a line without giving it much thought, but how could a robot do that? In this project, you will build your own automatic line-following robot that can race around a track that you create. This technology has plenty of real-world applications—maybe one day you could help design self-driving cars!
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Robotics_p023
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Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
You will need to know how to use a breadboard to do this project. See the Science Buddies reference [# ProjectGuide Name="Breadboard.Tutorial" Value="HtmlAnchor" #] if you have not used a breadboard before.
Material Availability
A kit for this project is available from our partner
.
Cost
High ($100 - $150)
Safety
Short circuits can get very hot and present a burn hazard. Be careful to follow the directions in the Procedure in order to avoid short circuits when building your robot.
In the animal kingdom, many different critters use whiskers to help them find their way around in the dark, through murky waters, or even to help them hunt prey. Whiskers can be very useful when the animals cannot rely on sight. Did you know that you can also build a robot that uses "whiskers" to find its way around? This project will show you how to build a simple robot that uses whiskers as "bump sensors" to help the robot detect when it is about to bump into an obstacle, so it can turn…
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Robotics_p028
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Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
You will need to know how to use a breadboard to do this project. See the Science Buddies reference [# ProjectGuide Name="Breadboard.Tutorial" Value="HtmlAnchor" #] if you have not used a breadboard before.
Material Availability
A kit is available from our partner
.
Cost
High ($100 - $150)
Safety
Short circuits can get very hot and present a burn hazard. Be careful to avoid short circuits when building your robot. See the Procedure for more information.
Imagine how cool it would be to have your own motorized robot hand. Well, stop imagining and turn that
daydream into reality! Start out by designing and building a robot hand. The Science Buddies project
Grasping With Straws: Make a Robot Hand Using Drinking Straws
shows you a simple way to make a robot
hand with drinking straws, or you can design a robot hand from any other materials you think are suitable. Your hand design will need sewing threads, or some other mechanism, for motors to…
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Robotics_p003
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Time Required
Long (2-4 weeks)
Prerequisites
Once the hand is assembled, adding the servo motors, connecting the microprocessor, and writing the code for the microprocessor will require familiarity with a hobbyist microprocessor board (like ones using [# ProjectGuide Name="ProjectGuide.Robotics.Arduino" Value="HtmlAnchor" HtmlText="Arduino" #]TM, PIC®, or similar). The student should be comfortable with connecting, programming, and testing projects on these boards.
Material Availability
Readily available
Cost
High ($100 - $150)
Safety
Adult supervision is suggested for parts of this project. Use caution with sharp knives, glue, and soldering. Low voltage (from a battery or power supply) is involved.
Are you an artist, or do you enjoy the process of making art? What kind of art do you create? Do only humans make art? Not all the time. Robots can create art, too. Robots can be programmed and "taught" to do all kinds of things, such as delivering medications to hospital patients or putting together a car on an assembly line. The Vangobot™, shown in the video below, paints pictures with brushes and paint, and in a distinct, unique style—just like a human artist.
Watch…
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Robotics_p007
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Time Required
Long (2-4 weeks)
Prerequisites
Programming experience is needed to do this project.
Material Availability
This project requires a robotics platform like VEX®, LEGO® Mindstorms® or Arduino®.
Cost
Very High (over $150)
Safety
Use caution with tools when assembling the robot. Minor injury is possible.
