Introduction: Drumbot

By Jim Demello
About: I am an American teaching English at Shangluo University, Shaanxi. I like making machines that do interesting but fairly useless things - I call them Quixotic Machines.

Drumbot is an Arduino Uno controlled servo with arm that bangs on some surface like an empty cardboard box to simulate drum machine or metronome.

Step 1: How to Build a Drumbot

The drumbot or drum machine or metronome is simply a microservo arm that bangs on some surface and is controlled by an Arduino Uno and two 10k potentiometers that control the servo arm angle and speed.


The program I used was first programmed online in Wokwi and includes a working ciruit with wiring diagram. Link to my software and wiring circuit is here: https://wokwi.com/projects/381508100050892801


The software can be easily modified to provide more of a rhythm with stronger downbeats on different beats in a measure but I left it in metronome mode so that it can be used with any time signature.


I added a round pencil erasure to the drum stick to provide a heavier beat on the drum surface. It even allows the drumstick to bounce if you want it to.