Toothbrush Bot

Make a simple moving robot with an old vibrating tooth brush and some art supplies. We're using a vibrating tooth brush because it has a vibrating motor inside it. This is the same type of motor that is inside a game controller or phone & makes the device vibrate when you get a message or crash your race car in the game. The actual motor looks something like the photo above. It has two wires that allow it to be hooked up to a battery and other controls, like a switch to turn it on and off. We're leaving the motor inside the toothbrush & using the rest as our robot's body.

• Old vibrating toothbrush
• Hot glue &/or tape
• Craft supplies to decorate your bot

Any eyes will work but if you have googley eyes they're extra fun since they wiggle around once the motor is on.

You want your bot to stand up well and not fall over. A tripod is a nice solid base so we added a paper straw bent in half to hold our bot upright. There are lots of things you could use instead- just make sure they're strong- like a popsicle stick or dried up marker. Glue your legs on but make sure you don't cover the on/off switch. Test your bot to make sure the legs are in a good spot.

NOTE: If you are glueing onto rubber the hot glue does not hold very well. We ended up covering our glue spot with tape to keep it secure.

We used a paper clip for our arms & antenna. See how we unfolded the paper clip in the first photo. Be careful cutting a paper clip- normal scissors will not cut it and you could damage your scissors. You'll need wire cutters to cut the clip shorter. Pliers can also help you bend the clip if you don't have the finger strength. You could also us a pipe cleaner, which will bend and cut much easier.

We added foil tape to our bot but tape and aluminum foil work just as well. You can look all around in your arts & crafts drawer and your recycling bin for other fun things to add.

Test out your bot often to make sure you're not adding too much weight. If you add too many things your bot might not move any more.

Happy robot-ing!