Easy "Leftover" Robot

When I was more of a beginner, I could not find many robotic Instructables for beginners,so I wanted to publish one for all the other beginners like me. Also, check out this site for more ideas like mine.

Tools and Electronics

Soldering iron and equipment - Here

Hot glue gun and glue sticks - Here

Heat shrink tubing - Here

Heat gun/hair dryer - Here

Deburring tool (opt.) - Here

Drill - Here

Marker (opt.) - Here

Hacksaw

Laser light (opt.)

Wire stripper

Electrical tape

2 medium wheels

1 sandwich/leftovers container

2 3v rated motors

2 AA battery packs

4 AA batteries

2 cylindrical pieces of plastic with holes in the center (for the motor axles)

First, take your first 2 motors and find the positive (red), and ground (black) wires and strip them with your wire stripper.Put a piece of heat shrink tubing on each one.Then, twist them together with your first two battery packs WITHOUT the batteries and solder them together.

Take a hair dryer/heat gun and shrink the tubing until taut. Glue the motors down to the lid of the disposable food container with hot glue and make sure they are both spinning the same way. If they are not, take them off and either desolder the wires and flip them around or switch them around on the lid.

This is the hardest step of the robot. Take your hot glue gun and glue the pieces of plastic completely straight to the motor shafts. Then, glue the wheels to the pieces of plastic, aka couplers. Turn the motors on and make sure they do not vibrate too much.If they do, take them back off again (hot glue is not permanent), and glue them back on perfectly, completely straight again. Test again and repeat process until satisfactory.

Drill one hole in the side of the box. Shine the laser light straight through the box to the other side and make a mark with your marker where the light was. Make another hole on the mark and adjust both to your motor's needs. A utility/craft knife (like a X-ACTO knife) might be helpful. I did it that way.

After your robot is wired, glued, and drilled, put the lid on and do a final "checkup" on your robot, name it (I named mine Leftover, because I made it out of leftover parts), decorate it as wished, and elevate your robot on some books or something that keeps your robot wheels off the ground. Turn your motors on and make sure they are soldered properly and both turning the same way. Turn your motors off and put the robot on the ground. Turn the robot on and let it go!

If your robot doesn't work, take whatever steps you need to fix it, it will work, I tell you :)

Analyze it, figure out what needs fixing, and fix it. That is my process, and it might work for you too.

After all that hard work, turn on your robot, get a doughnut (or whatever), and enjoy the show!

Thank you for reading, and I always like tips and tricks to improve.

Merry Making, g3holliday