This Month at my Son’s Elementary School, they are learning about recycling and taking care of the Planet. The kids were asked to make a RecycleBot out of any materials such as cans, boxes, bottles (glass and/or plastic), bottle caps, cardboard, electronics, metal, paper, eggs cartons, etc.
After looking around the house, he found a few recyclable materials that would work for his school project.
RecycleBot (Front).RecycleBot (Side).
My Son found a small LED light that changes color at Kohl’s and has a wire attached to it with a switch at the end, to turn it on momentarily (pictured below).
RecycleBot (Back).RecycleBot (Front).
Materials/Tools Needed:
Yogurt Cups
Ice cream Cups
Cardboard Pieces
Fishing Wire
Sports Drink Container
Spray Paint Cover
It was such a fun project which my Son completed with the assistance of his Father.
On a Saturday morning while in the garage organizing, we found some of the sprinklers that had been used on the home and which I replaced to run a Drip Watering System instead. They where not much by themselves but gave me an idea which had been working itself on my head for a while. I knew what I wanted it to look like and after talking to my son about it, We decided that it should stand on our front yard and that the eyes and chest should light up (Like Iron Man).
I used plastic piping for the fingers, some of the skinnier sprinklers for the arms and the thicker sprinklers for the legs. To screw everything together I used a drill bit to make a preliminary hole to make it easier to screw the pieces together easier. All together it took about 6 to 8 hours to assemble which some of that time used up by trial and error on part placement.
For the electronic part of the project I decided to use a Solar Light that I got from the local 99¢ Only Stores and which I hacked into to remove the LED and be able to run 4 LEDs from it. I placed all 4 LEDs in parallel and gave them plenty of wire to be able to run them from the Chest all the way to the Head for the eyes. I also attached a second battery holder in parallel to provide the system extra power.
Sprinkler Robot Sculpture.
My boy really enjoyed working on the project as well as working on the routing of the wiring which he called “Open Chest Surgery”. As you can see from the picture, the bot stands at about 4 foot.
Ever since I was a little boy I have had a fascination with the electro-mechanical from steam works to electronics and to robotics. I am always thinking of new things to make/build.
OG (Original) ‘Bot
This was the first creation that was spawned by this parts which stood out from the rest. You can look at thousands of parts and at times, they come together to form a unique figure. This was the first creation that screamed to come out of my brain and materialize into what you see before you. All the parts were scavenged from scraps and drilled together to form this Bot. It has a 9Volt battery to power the lights and a toggle switch to turn it ON and OFF.
OG (Original) ‘Bot
Electro Tester
This Bot was built to help me do my work faster and more efficiently. It has a connection and switches to run 110Volts to test leads and also a 24Volt transformer to test leads. My testing required to verify that 24 Volts where present on the output of the units, so I wired the eyes to function on 24 Volts. So, if the unit output was good, then the eyes would light up. If not, then they would stay off. When working with power you need to have fuses to protect your equipment and this bot has one fuse per line. This Bot was not only my most useful creation, but also the most requested by my co-workers.
Electro Tester
Impact Bug
After coming across this a couple of Impact Sprinklers I noticed the top section looked like the top read area of a bug and so, the Impact Bug was born. This Bug is powered by a 3Volt battery attached to a toggle switch to power the eyes. This became a great gift idea for co-workers who were moving along after their contracts where up.
Impact Bug
Music ‘Bot
The evolution of the OG ‘Bot after about 8 different variations in style. This ‘Bot was a present for a co-workers birthday and it went to a good home.
Music ‘Bot
Robot Hand
This hand/arm was built for a Science Fair project for a co-worker. He wanted to build a hand that could grip an empty soda can and lift it. After some deliberation and some research on the internet, the Robot Hand was born. Each finger can move independently from the others or all together by pulling on all 5 wires at once. The springs for finger joints help the fingers to straighten up while the double string on the thumb allowed up to not only pick an empty can, but also a full can of soda and hold it while all 5 wires where being pulled on.
By JM Perez
