Building Bots
From Found Parts
“Found parts” are things you find around the house — or garage or hardware
store or any place else — that are just begging to be used in your next robot.
Found parts can help reduce the costs of building a bot. Plus, if the part can be
used as-is without cutting, it makes building the robot easier. You don’t need as
many tools for construction.
www.servomagazine.com/index.php?/magazine/article/june2011_McComb
Toys are among the most popular form of found parts. If you’ve been building automatons for any length of time, no doubt you’ve got a few repurposed K’NEX
or Erector sets driving around your living room. There’s
virtually no limit to the number and type of found items
you can use in your robotics projects — either as the body
of the robot or as a main part.
In this article, I’ll talk about making a small robot using
a pre-shaped piece of metal commonly found at any home
improvement store. It’s already in the shape and size for a
bot, so there’s nothing to cut. You’ll drill a few extra holes,
mount some motors and a caster, and you’re done.
Construction time is 30 minutes or less.
Introducing the “No-cut”
Robot Base Philosophy
Of all the aspects of robot building, cutting stuff up is
my least favorite — especially if it involves metal. Many
robot designs use stock metal of some kind: U-channel,
tubing, strips, or large plates that must be cut down to size.
FIGURE 1. Design layout for the Mini T-Bot. It uses a 6”
T-shaped galvanized steel strap, found in the
lumber section of your nearby hardware or home
improvement store.
42 SERVO 06.2011
