[whoosh] [ding] Hi this is Ben Finio from Science Buddies and this video will show you
how to build a bristlebot, a tiny vibrating robot built on the head of a toothbrush.
To build your bristlebot, you will need a coin cell battery and vibration motor supplied
in your science buddies bristlebot kit.
You will also need a toothbrush and a piece of double sided foam tape.
Get an adult to help you cut the head off a toothbrush using a pair of scissors or pliers.
To build your robot, first take a piece of double-sided foam tape and place it on the
top of one end of the toothbrush.
Press down firmly and then peel off the paper backing.
Next, take your coin cell battery and place it on top of the double sided foam tape.
Again, press down firmly to make sure it sticks.
Bend the two wires on the battery back, kind of like antenna on a little bug.
Then pluck off the two small pieces of insulation on the end of each wire.
Now, take the vibration motor, flip it over, and peel off the paper backing on the bottom.
The motor has a built-in sticky adhesive so you don’t need a piece of tape for it.
You can place it directly on top of the toothbrush behind the battery.
Make sure that both the motor and the battery are centered on top of the toothbrush, as
this will help prevent your robot from falling over.
Now that you have the battery and motor attached to your toothbrush, it’s time to connect
their wires to make a circuit and turn your robot on.
You’ll notice that they each have two wires.
Now normally in electronics, red stands for positive, and black, or sometimes blue, stands
for negative, and it’s important to get the color coding right and make sure your
wires match.
While it doesn’t actually matter for this robot because it will still work if you connect
the wires backwards, it’s still a good habit to get into.
So what you’re going to do, is take the two red wires and twist the exposed metal
ends together.
Make sure you twist them tightly so they don’t come apart.
Now you’ll notice that the robot isn’t moving yet.
This is because I do not have a complete circuit, or a closed circuit, where electricity can
flow in a complete path from positive to negative.
The circuit is broken because the blue and black wires are not connected yet.
As soon as I touch the exposed metal parts of those two wires together, you’ll hear
the robot start to vibrate [buzzing noise].
So to turn your robot on, twist together the exposed metal parts of the blue and black
wires.
When you put the robot down, it should start to move around the table [buzzing noise].
It’s also important to avoid short circuits by letting the metal parts of the red and
black wires touch each other directly.
This will cause the battery to drain very quickly and prevent electricity from flowing
through the motor so your robot will not move.
Notice that when I touch the red and black wires together directly, the robot stops vibrating,
and again this will drain the battery very quickly, so make sure you don’t let that
happen.
If your robot stops moving at any point, it’s probably because two of the wires came disconnected.
Notice how here, I didn’t twist my blue and black wires tightly enough, so they came
apart and my robot stopped moving.
So keep an eye out for short circuits, and make sure that your wires stay connected,
and your robot should work just fine.
Finally, if your robot falls over, double check to make sure the battery and the motor
are centered on top of the toothbrush.
You can decorate your bristlebot, for example by adding googly eyes.
You can also build two bristlebots since your kit comes with two batteries and two motors.
For example, you could build a second one using a different type of toothbrush, like
this one with slanted bristles, and then race them together to see which one is faster.
To turn your robot off, just disconnect one of the wires.
Have fun playing with your brand new bristlebot.
For directions for this and thousands of other science and engineering projects, visit us
online at www.sciencebuddies.org.