Simple Bots: Rolly

This Simple Bot was inspired by a work by artist James Rouvelle, called Colony, in which a bunch of odd-shaped ellipsoids self-propel around their environment. It is my understanding that his bots were made by placing a vibrating motor freely inside of a Styrofoam ball that was then coated to give it an irregular shape. This dynamic makes his orbs fluctuate between wobbling in place and jerkily moving around the room. While this is a cool interaction, I was more interested in making something that had a more regular motion and was able to roll steadily about. Towards this end, I have created Rolly Bot. To simply explain, Rolly is basically an over-sized tennis ball with an over-sized bristlebot placed inside. This allows Rolly to be rolled in whatever direction the bristlebot inside so chooses to drive.

Step 1: Go get stuff

You will need:

(x1) An over-sized tennis ball
(x1) AAA double battery holder
(x2) AAA batteries
(x1) Vibrating motor***
(x1) Small scrub brush
(x2) Zip ties
(x1) Cutting pliers
(x1) Razor blade
(x1) Coping saw or hacksaw (not pictured)
(x1) paper

***My vibrating motor came from a back massager from Walgreens. You can learn to make your own here.

Comments

[oldmechanic]

Wouldnt it be cool if it was remote control and had a GPS Chip???!!!

[Husham Samir]

awesome project!!

[That One Eegit]

would it be possible to use a smaller bristlebot in a normal sized tennis ball?

[wooohhhoooo9]

yes i tried it. you use a toothbrush to replace the scrub brush..and the batteries, i got them from a watch

[x-The Queen-x]

How to run Is there a key to the on and off ?

[x-The Queen-x]

Please Help me I have a project about it

[x-The Queen-x]

Do you still work to be completed on battery power ?

[building_boy]

Hollow out a golfball and make it rc!

cheating!

[D_zeno]

Where can I get/buy these kind of motors you used?

[Dearden805]

You can buy them at radioshack for real cheap

[BnKSeth]

Try any console controller like an XBOX controller or PS2 controller. It helped me :)

[TigrisLi]

You can find a vibrating motor in a electric toothbrush

[huksin]

i think in a cellphone that's what i got

[Lawlzdeep]

A switch that can't get turned on/off accidentally would be a nice addition

[amklose]

Does the bristlebot inside ever fall over?

[Lawlzdeep]

It seems that if the center of gravity is low enough it will always correct itself, that is if the bristlebot is big enough to never fall fully on its side without bumping into the inside of the ball.

[dmac208]

many times in guessing

[AnnaZed]

That rolly robot is just so utterly charming. Even though I am an extreme neophyte I think that I could make that.

Question: do you think that it would endure the attentions of a feisty cat?

[morad10s]

in the controls of the play station these engines are.

[The Dark Lord]

9V is overkill. i tested it, and it was faster than fireworks on the 4th of July.

[The Dark Lord]

i will make one, and i will freak out my dogs. [and cats]

[carlpogi_11]

im gonna make one and i will prank my friends hehe

[Arc Trooper 5555]

I'm putting a 9V battery in mine! :)

[randofo]

If you are using a pager motor, a 9V battery is far too much. Even for a motor of this size, a 9V battery is a tad much. Normally these motors take 3V to 4.5V. You might overheat and burn out the motor.

[Arc Trooper 5555]

I was joking and I have a much larger motor.

[randofo]

*Whoops. You left the pager motor comment on a different Instructable :-)

Nonetheless, 9V might be too much.

[ukkr]

Remove a ps2 controller and u will ind thos moters

[mara0192]

can anyone give me a website/part number of a motor like this, i'm new torobots and making things and i don't know where to look or what to search for one like this

[randofo]

This one was removed from a $5 personal massager from Walgreens. You can also pull them out of any gaming controller with a rumble pack. A vibrating motor like this is not something you could typically buy somewhere. You can make them out of any standard motor pretty easily by attaching any weight off-centered to the motor shaft.

[chrizw123]

Personal massager, eh?;) lol

[typomaniac]

this is pretty cool :-)
i have a general question: How do i find out, which is the right voltage for my motor? i do have some lying around but i do not know which voltage i should apply ...

thank you!

tm

[kevin.cwiok]

I got everything hooked up and wired correctly and even put a push button on there to power it off and on ,new batteries also, however, when i remove the paper and turn the button on, the motor spins slowly or it just stalls. I'm sure the push button isn't putting up any resistance because it's merely there to complete the circuit. Do you have any suggestions for why it could be doing that?

[randofo]

Is anything getting in the way off the eccentric weight. How large is the motor? Maybe you are under-powering it.

[kevin.cwiok]

I got it. It was the voltage after all. Another battery made it work perfectly. The motor said 3-6V so that extra battery really made a difference. Cool idea and it was perfect for my first project. thanks for your help!

[kevin.cwiok]

Nothing is in the way of the weight and I'm using the motor from one of the massagers from CVS which looks practically identical to yours so I'm assuming 3V. I'm using 2 AA's. Should I try it with 4 of them?

[Waren-Neutron]

you have know simple robots.

[Waren-Neutron]

you such a good work

[Pirondizzle]

What brand/type of back massager did you get to take the vibrating motor from? I can't find one that works with the AAA battery pack.

[thekid]

I have old Xbox controllers that are broken and i just used those. any rumble controller should have come :-)

[randofo]

I don't remember. You can use AA batteries. It doesn't matter particularly what type of batteries the motor uses.