DIY PIXAR: M-O (Microbe Obliterator) Cleaner Bot

Step 2 Materials

Ok, there's probably a simpler way to build this robot, but I really wanted to add in as much features to my M-O as there were in the film (ie motorized rollerball, extendable arms, rotating scrub brush, etc). I ended up doing a lot of part hunting for various electronic stores, flea markets and craft stores in order to get all of the parts I needed for my robot.

Materials:
1) Clean N Go M-O toy (I remember I bought mine at Toys R Us.  Not sure if they still sell them but you can definitely get them on eBay)
2) Computer mouse ball(s)
3) Wooden Dowels (around 1/2 inch diameter)
4) Black Felt (or unless you want to get creative with your brushes, see step 6)
5) Thin plastic sheet (like from empty pastry containers)
6) small brass nails
7) thin black wire tubing
8) those small plastic quarter machine capsules you can find at supermarkets
9) Clear plastic tubing (I got mine at Tap Plastics)
10) Small Rubberbands (you can also use the tips from water balloons)
11) Large plastic drinking straw
oh and also a straightened paperclip


Electronics
1) Computer fan motors (needs to be really really small, like close to 1/2'' in diameter)
2) Small DC hobby motors (like those found in some RC vehicles)
2) thin insulated wire
3) 1.5 volt watch batteries (like those used for LED throwies)
4) Small switches

Tools:
1) Dremel
2) Electric Drill w/ old drill bits (like ones you probably won't care to see again)
3) Metal Vice
4) Super Glue & Epoxy
5) Pliers, tweezers and wire cutters
6) Screwdriver kit
7) Hot Glue
8) Soldering Iron

Comments

[Matrix-technician]

This is absolutely amazing!. One of my favorite character robots on this site! I must have one of these! Also a sugesstion. If and when i make mine i thought about using a higher grade micro motor. such as you find in rc helicopters. How well did these cheap motors perform? If the seemed to do alright let me know. I would be much happier using a cheap motor i fit works just fine.

[SHIFT!]

Although I'm pretty sure they shouldn't cost more than $5 each or so.

[SHIFT!]

Hmmm, not sure. I used mine from a 1.5 micro dc motor that came from mini rc cars not helicopters so I wouldn't know. I just bought two cars, both of which cost $15 each at my local hobby shop and they both contained a total of 2 motors separate.

[ms10]

i liked it
where did you got all these things from

[tech industries]

just a couple suggestions: 1.what if you added some type of double gyroscope inside so the whole thing could balance on just the mousewheel, at least for a short period of time 2.you could attach a servo to the mouse-ball container so it could act as some sort of steering 3. using a microcontroller (such as an arduino nano) programmed to clean at regular intervals, like a mini-roomba 4. shape the the cleaning head so it resembles the blades of an impeller; that way, you could have some pump action which could actually be used to draw some disinfectant from the backpack (presumably to be used when cleaning) I just wanted to run these by you and anyone else who comments on this instructable, as I was thinking of making one of these myself

[SHIFT!]

Thanks for your comments and suggestions Tech Industries! My main thing with building this robot was 1) Make it as Movie Accurate as possible and 2) Make it actually function. I was originally thinking about using a gyroscopic balancer on him, or at least making him bottom heavy so he can move upright, but the problem I found while doing so was that the electronics to move his rollerball around wouldn't be small enough to fit nicely inside his torso, and I would have to create some kind of extruding base (which I didn't want to do). I know it doesn't quite look like it from the pictures, but I actually had a few problems getting all of the basic electronics to fit in him already, so I had to make a few sacrifices to make it fit. I also wasn't really interested in adding any sort of addendum to the Water Backpack, as that wasn't really in the movie. I did, however, make several interchangeable Sponge and Mop brushes for wet and dry cleaning.

I will probably build a larger scale version of M-O during the summer, which should have a balancing gyroscope.

[account3r2]

its 1.5 volt not watt

[SHIFT!]

Point duly noted, thanks for the correction.