Brain Boggling BUZZY bots
This class outline is divided into units; you may choose to do some or all of the units depending on
the resources and requirements in your classroom.
These units are designed as suggestions and it is easy to adjust the content/depth of subject for each
unit according to the age of your students and their specific learning needs/styles.
Tips
Have your students work in small groups (~4) and encourage them to teach each other within the
group, you will also find this useful where materials or tools such as soldering irons are limited.
The ultimate combined goal of testing/competing the bots in teams should encourage co-operation
within these groups.
For ease of classroom management during bot assembly you may want to divide your class into
larger groups working on different units i.e. some researching while others are building.
Units (we recommend units 1, 4 &6 are completed as a minimum).
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Introduction – what is a bristlebot?
‘Extra’ Research (Science, Biology, Biomechanics).
‘Extra’ Circuits (Science).
The BUZZY Build (Science, Technology).
‘Extra’ Designing for a purpose (Design, Technology, Science).
The test
‘Extra’ Research (Technology).
Duration
We recommend the basic BUZZY unit takes two - three classes to complete. Extras are easily added
to extend the unit or a simplified version may be completed in just one lesson depending on class
size and resources available.
Materials
BUZZY Bristlebot kits (Recommend 1 per student or one between 2)
Soldering irons
Solder
Internet access or printed instructions for BUZZY assembly.
Optional:
Spare button cell batteries (1.5V, LR44)
BUZZY extras (3V batteries, red LED’s, 100Ω resistors)
©Bristlebotics LTD www.bristlebotics.com
1. Introduction
Introduce your class to bristlebots (maybe have some demonstration bots on your desk as students
come in). Ask and answer in a simple way questions such as:
“What is a bristlebot?”
A bristlebot is a robot based on a vibration motor and a brush with angled bristles, they
come in all shapes and sizes.
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You might also have your students do a quick internet search to see what kinds of bristlebots
are out there. Some variations are; Scrubbing brush bots, micro bots, bots with multiple
brushes and even a steam powered bristlebot.
“How do they work?”
The vibration motor provides movement in all directions (See link to motor specs below),
and this is translated to the bristles of the brush. Because some of these vibrations are up and down
and the bristles of the brush are angled the bristles create forward movement (tap on a soft brush
with angled bristles to demonstrate the forward movement that results).
“How might you find out which is the best bristlebot?”
Do a quick brainstorm – what are some tests you could use once your bristlebots are made
to find out how strong/ stable/ fast your bristlebot is? What other qualities might be useful in a
bristlebot, and how might you measure these? - You’ll come back to this in unit 6.
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With older students you might put these questions on the board for students to revisit in
more depth (i.e. the physics of bristlebots).
Talk briefly about the relationship between structure and function in man-made structures (like
bristlebots) and living things. The basic principle is that if structure and materials are well
designed/evolved then little or no computing power (brain or electronic) is required to make them
do what they need to do.
“You don’t need a brain if you’ve got a great body”
©Bristlebotics LTD www.bristlebotics.com
2. Research (Science, Biology, Biomechanics)
Brainstorm simple animals (with small brains) that move in a similar way to bristlebots.
Observational exercise
Collect some of these animals in the classroom for your students to observe and have them do a
compare and contrast brainstorm (qualitative study) of their animal vs bristlebot behaviour. This can
be as simple or in-depth as you choose, in accordance with the age and ability of your students.
NB - Seamonkeys (Brine shrimp, genus Artemia) are easy to work with (and you can buy them
from Toyworld™) but many aquatic animals are great for this and a scoop from a healthy
marine environment or water trough can provide all sorts of interesting discoveries.
Assign one of these ‘simple’ animals to each of your teams and have them investigate further.
Have them collect 5 facts about the animal (ie What kind of animal it is, where it lives, what it eats,
what eats it, how many legs) and design a poster.
Facilitate a discussion on biomechanics. What are we learning from nature? Use the ‘Animals and
robots’ page (http://www.bristlebotics.com/teaching-resources/animals-and-robots) to find out
about some of these amazing projects around the world.
©Bristlebotics LTD www.bristlebotics.com
3. Circuits (Science).
BUZZY uses a circuit board to hold the components in place, making it easier to build a successful
bristlebot. The connections between the components are embedded in the board instead of being
wires you can easily see, and get tangled up in.
Give each student/group a BUZZY circuit board to look at and see if they can untangle the circuit and
draw it out.
You might want to remind your students of the conventions for drawing circuits and the symbols for
the components in the circuit. You can draw these yourself or grab a free digital copy of circuit
components here: http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/symbol.htm
BUZZY Circuit:
Download JPG’s here - http://www.bristlebotics.com/teaching-resources
You might ask the students about the direction the electrons flow, talk about what components are
directional (The LED) and what happens if components are put in the wrong way around. You could
also talk about the properties of the individual components, or have your students answer the
following questions in their groups ie:
 Why you need a resistor when you put an LED in the circuit?
 How does the motor work? (you could pull one apart and see what’s inside, more info on the
BUZZY motor here: http://www.precisionmicrodrives.com/application-notes-technicalguides/application-bulletins/ab-004-understanding-erm-characteristics-for-vibrationapplications ).
 What effects would a more powerful battery have? BUZZY is supplied with a 1.5V LR44
Button cell battery, this will power the motor but not an LED – why not? Using a 3V battery
will also speed up the motor making the bot go faster – why is this?
©Bristlebotics LTD www.bristlebotics.com
4. The BUZZY Build (Science, Technology).
Step-by-step instructions for building a 'bristlebotics' BUZZY bot are available on the bristlebotics
website at http://www.bristlebotics.com/buzzy/buzzy-builder
You can also download copies to print and use, with or without pictures:
http://www.bristlebotics.com/files/1355973538_Buzzy%20Builder.pdf
http://www.bristlebotics.com/files/1355973656_Buzzy%20builder%20basic.pdf
The assembly of a BUZZY bot requires some simple electronics soldering. This may seem daunting if
you are not familiar with it but don’t panic. If all you want to do is assemble a BUZZY bot all basic
soldering essentials are included in the instructions.
Work through each of the joins with small groups of students, then encourage them to work in their
groups with the step-by-step instructions to complete their bots.
If you want to learn more about soldering the easiest way to learn is from someone who knows. Ask
your colleagues or check out your local maker-space to see if someone can teach you.
It’s not always possible to have a real live teacher, fortunately there are heaps of great tutorials and
tips online, do some googling and take a look around.
NB. Most electronics soldering tutorials feature materials and techniques that you don’t need for a
simple project like the BUZZY (like more complicated soldering irons and flux), so don’t let them
confuse you.
These are a couple of good soldering tutorials:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtwX_x4sOro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsVcS0E_--8
©Bristlebotics LTD www.bristlebotics.com
5. Designing for a purpose (Design, Technology, Science).
Do part one of section 6 and design how the bots will be tested.
Ideally there will be the same number of tests as there are bots in a team so each bot can represent
their team in a particular test, and therefore be designed/ modified with that test in mind.
Do a class brainstorm on the kinds of things to consider in each test. Think about both parts of the
BUZZY bot.
 BUZZY unit
 Toothbrush head
Think about things like…
BUZZY unit (check out http://www.bristlebotics.com/buzzy/tips-and-tricks-2 for more ideas)
 Shape
 How it is mounted on the brush
 Where the motor is mounted (centre of gravity)
 What kind of battery is used (ie the 3V hack - http://www.bristlebotics.com/buzzy/3v-hackled )
Toothbrushes (check out http://www.bristlebotics.com/toothbrushes for more ideas)
 Width of the brush
 How straight/bent/splayed the bristles are
 How hard the bristles are
Extras
 What happens if you add a tail?
 What happens if you change the shape of the bot (ie put a cover on it?).
Have your students work in their teams to refine their bots according to how they are doing to be
tested, creating a team of specialised ‘athletes’.
©Bristlebotics LTD www.bristlebotics.com
6. The test
Part 1 – design the test
How are you going to find out which bot is the best? Have your students design a series of
competitions to test their bots, remind them of the criteria in unit 1 – Speed, Strength, Stability –
and any others they came up with. These could be scientifically designed (fair tests) using
quantitative measurement or more simple competitions between the bots (like a sports
tournament).
Ask your students to decide what conditions (and rules) these tests are to be held under and what
will determine the winner in each event/test.
Consider:
 Surface (i.e. floor, desktop, purpose built arena).
 Type of maze (NB – does it have square or rounded corners?).
 What kinds of batteries may be used.
 What kind of additional materials are allowed?
Tests/competitions we like:
 Demolition derby – Strength and Stability
 Tug of war – Strength
 Racing – Speed and directionality
 Painting – Directionality and brush design
 Maze navigation – Shape, speed and directionality (and luck).
And build your testing arena. The best testing arenas are simple.
Suggestions:
 Test your bots on a smooth surface like a wooden or lino floor or classroom desk
 Thin tubes of rolled up newspaper make great barriers for a straight racetrack or to stop
bots falling off the edge of the table (just blu-tak or tape them in place).
 Lego is great for building mazes, but basic bots aren’t very good at getting out of corners.
Part 2 – test your bots
This is what you’ve all been working towards – the big day! You may even have the teams design
flags to compete under and add to the sense of occasion.
Draw up a scoreboard to tally the results of each test/competition.
Which bot is the:
 Strongest.
 Fastest.
 Most stable.
Have each of the winners of each category tell the class what features of the bot made it so good at
its test/competition. Announce a winning team (or first second and third).
©Bristlebotics LTD www.bristlebotics.com
7. Research (Technology).
Have your teams choose a material /part involved in bristlebot construction, or an incredible
material found in their home or classroom to find out more about, such as:
 Blu-tak
 Solder
 Button cell batteries
 Motor
 Circuit board
 Toothbrush
Direct research using these basic starting points
 What is it?

Where does it come from?
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What properties does it have?

What it is used for
Ask your students to report their findings to the class
You could even get them to shape their findings into a micro-article.
Find out how to write and submit a micro-article here:
http://www.bristlebotics.com/files/1358886420_Micro%20article%20outline.pdf
Submit it for the bristlebotics incredible materials page:
http://www.bristlebotics.com/teaching-resources/incredible-materials
©Bristlebotics LTD www.bristlebotics.com
Online resources
www.bristlebotics.com
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The BUZZY Circuit JPG:
http://www.bristlebotics.com/files/1358978440_BUZZY%20circuit.jpg
Building a BUZZY bot: http://www.bristlebotics.com/buzzy/buzzy-builder
Refining a BUZZY bot: http://www.bristlebotics.com/buzzy/tips-and-tricks-2
Hacking a different battery and an LED onto a BUZZY bot:
http://www.bristlebotics.com/buzzy/3v-hack-led
Biomechanics, what are we learning from nature: http://www.bristlebotics.com/teachingresources/animals-and-robots
Incredible materials: http://www.bristlebotics.com/teaching-resources/incredible-materials
Download circuit component symbols
http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/symbol.htm
Learn about vibrating motors
http://www.precisionmicrodrives.com/vibrating-vibrator-vibration-motors/pancake-shaftless-coinvibration-motors
http://www.precisionmicrodrives.com/application-notes-technical-guides/application-bulletins/ab004-understanding-erm-characteristics-for-vibration-applications
http://vimeo.com/52234163
Other interesting Bristlebots
http://rosiefuller.wordpress.com/2012/10/27/bristlebot/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS6vxmDTyN8
http://blog.makezine.com/2011/11/22/gift-singularity-steam-powered-boilerbot/
http://www.genomicon.com/2009/06/return-of-the-bristlebot/
Learn to solder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtwX_x4sOro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsVcS0E_--8
©Bristlebotics LTD www.bristlebotics.com