Robot

Make Your Own Robot!

Depending on the age and skill level of students you can try one of two different robot building projects.

Build a robot from household items

Let younger kids enjoy building a robot from everyday household items. It's lots of fun and is sure to keep their attention.

What you'll need:

• Useful materials include soft drink lids, old boxes, tin foil, ice cream containers, old clothing, various material, straws, paper and crayons.

General instructions:

• You'll need quite a lot of materials (depending on how many children will be taking part). A good idea is to start off with unused cardboard boxes and go from there. The children can glue or tape boxes together to form the general shape of a robot before attaching other items to complete the project. There is room for a wide variety of ideas on this project so if you have an idea that you think will work then give it a go!

Build a robot using electronics equipment or a robotics kit set

For older groups of children you can try a robot building project using real electronics equipment or a robotics kit set.

What you'll need:

• There are a number of great robotics kit sets out there as well as the always dependable Lego Mindstorms NXT which offers plenty of scope for robot building challenges.

General instructions:

• Rather than just letting them build any type of robot, give them a fun challenge which can serve as the inspiration behind the design of their robot as well as the focus of any program they make using a computer. This challenge could involve a race of some type, robots that use sensors to find something, a test of strength or building a robot that responds to some form of human input. As well as designing and building their robot, students will have to think about how they will program it as well.
• This project can be further developed into a great science fair project focusing on technology. You could research what kind of artificial intelligence your robot is capable of as well as any physical limitations it has that stop it from performing required tasks.