How to Build a Model of a Swarm Robot

Making a Single Swarm Robot

1. Cut two 4−6 inches (−15 cm) pieces of 16 - 24 gauge wire. Any kind of wire you have available is fine. Some options are using a wire hanger, annealed wire, galvanized, electrical copper wire, or even pipe cleaners.

2. Bend both wire pieces at the middle; one shaped like a U and the other shaped like an M. These will be your swarm robot's legs.

3. Cut a 1 inch by 2.5 inch thin piece of plastic, wood, or aluminum. This will be the body of your swarm robot.

4. Get a small DC powered universal brush motor. You can find them and salvage from small electrical toys, purchase online, or from your local hobby store. They are some of the cheapest, most simple and easiest to power and run. They can run from as little as 1.5 volts up to 12 volts depending on their size.

5. Solder one terminal of the motor to a 3 inch thin electrical wire. For this build it won't matter which side you pick since universal motors run on either polarity (+ -) or (- +) and current charge (A/C. or D/C).

6. Solder a 6–8 inch (15.2–20.3 cm) thin electrical wire to the other end of the motor.

7. If you're able to find a small switch, solder one end of the switch terminal to one of the electrical wires on the motor. This is an option if you want to turn on and off your robot without having to pull the cable, battery off.

8. Attach the motor to the body of the swarm robot with a hot glue gun. Attach or glue a single blade propeller to the motor shaft. This will cause the motor to run out of balance and shake and vibrate the entire frame of the robot.

9. Glue the wire legs to the body.

10. Tape one wire from the motor and the other end/switch) to a AAA battery.

11. Turn the swarm robot on and place it down on a flat surface.

12. Watch it shake around and roll like a swarming ant or termite.