Bottle Lid Bots

Step 1: Bottle Lid Bots (easy for Kids, No Solder)

Make a fun little bot with your kids that moves around the table as it vibrates! They are super easy to make and kid friendly!

Materials:

-water bottle lid

-coin cell battery

-small vibration motor 3V

-foam mounting stickers

-decorations (google eyes, pipecleaners, etc)

-glue dots or hot glue for decorations

-electrical tape

Step 2: Prepping the Bot

Attach enough foam mounting pieces on top of the bottle lid to fit both the coin cell battery and the vibrate motor. Only put the foam on one half of the bottle lid so that there is still room for your decorations on the other half.

Tape the positive end of the motor (red wire) to the positive side of the battery (look for the + symbol). Next, stick the battery on the foam (positive side down) so that the positive motor wire is trapped between the battery and foam. Press the battery firmly to the foam so that it will stay and keep a good connection with the wire.

Step 3: Completing Your Circuit

Now that the battery is stuck to the foam piece with half of the motor attached to it, we need to finish our circuit. Circuits need to be a complete circle to work -the wires in our circuit need to go from the battery to the motor and back. The electrons in the battery want to move from the negative side to the positive side of the battery. When the electrons move through the circle of wires and the motor to get to the positive side of the battery, the flow of electrons give the motor the power to work!

So let's get our bot working and tested before decorating. Stick the motor on the remaining area of foam beside the battery, but make sure that the end of the motor is free to move. Place some electrical tape on the negative wire lead of the motor (black or blue...not the red one) and tape it down on top of the battery (the negative side). Your motor should start vibrating and cause the water bottle lid to buzz around the table!

If your bot is not working, check these things:

-make sure the battery is + side down and that the red wire is underneath attached to the + side

-are the exposed ends of both wires directly touching the battery? try pressing them together more

-is the battery dead? maybe try a new battery!

Remember to un-tape the negative wire when you aren't using your bot to turn it off and save the battery.

Step 4: Decorate and Enjoy!

Now that your bot is working you can decorate it however you want! I put googly eyes on mine, and the students I am doing this with will also be using googly eyes. Feel free to let your creativity go crazy: add pipecleaners, paper wings, or anything else you can think of!