What is the purpose of bristles? Most commonly, bristles are used to make brushes which are further used for cleaning purposes, be it on teeth, clothes, utensils, or floors. We have multiple brushes at home to clean a variety of things.

But did you know you can make an easy STEM robot project using these brushes easily available at home?

In this blog post, let’s make a bristle robot or brush robot that moves with the concept of motor vibration.

Things you need to make Bristlebot

Havi Elements
Power
Motor

Accessories
Power bank with USB cable
Gearless motor

Craft material
Scrub brush – very light weight and neither too small nor too big. Lighter the brush, better the output.
Glue stick
Skewer sticks
Double-sided tape
Card paper
Sketch pen
Cutter

You can get the Elements & accessories from Havi’s robotics starter kit.

The making of Bristlebot

Step 1
Cut one small piece of glue stick using cutter(Get the help of elder if required)

Step 2
Insert the gearless motor shaft in the center of the glue stick piece.

Step 3
Take some pieces of skewers and make legs, tail and other part of your robot. Join them using the glue and stick them using double-sided tape at appropriate places of the brush. Your robot should look great and real now!

Step 4
Snap the circuit: Power + Motor
Connect power bank with Power Element with USB cable.

Step 5
Stick the power bank over the scrub brush.

Step 6
Connect gearless motor with Motor Element. Stick the gearless motor with power bank as shown in the image.

Step 7
Cut the card paper in circular shape. Paint with a sketch pen to make the eyes for bristle bot. Stick the eyes on the bristle bot at the side USB cable connection is.

Turn the Power ON. Your bristle bot is ready.

How does a bristle bot works?

The bristlebot works on a concept of motor vibration. The DC motor’s shaft has a piece of glue stick. The motion of the piece causes a bit heavier than usual vibration and the vibration moves the entire brushbot. Just like the phone moves on table when it vibrates.

Try:
Try removing the piece of glue stick and then see what happens.
Also try increasing the length of the glue stick and observe what happens.

You can also use multiple toothbrushes to make bristlebot instead of a scrub brush. You can use at least 4 brush heads, joined using icecream stick to create a frame.

What else can you use to decorate your bristlebot? Share your ideas with us.

Want to make few more easy and simple robots yourself? Know more on 4 Basic Robots for Beginners – Simple and Easy to Make with Step by Step Guide