Robot Building for Beginners, Third Edition

CHAPTER 24 ■ BODY BUILDING

It might be beneficial to attach some clear plastic, like a piece of an overhead transparency, into the
window so that dirt, small objects, and fingers don’t bend or soil the sensors when the lid is in place on the
robot. Unfortunately, polypropylene’s amazing chemical resistance characteristics and the lid’s flexibility
make it difficult to glue anything in place. Furthermore, even clear plastic might reflect some of the light
back into the sensors, reducing the robot’s line-following vision.

Finishing Touches

Add any remaining parts, like the couplers and wheels, to the robot. Install a 9 V battery and put the lid on.
Now’s a good time to add stickers, a nameplate, pipe cleaners, or funny eyes. Perhaps stick an army man
to the top to lead the way, or a racecar driver to steer. There’s also enough room on the inside to toss in some
knick-knacks.

Ready to Roll

In this chapter, you’ve seen one option for a robot body for the line-following robot. By all means,
experiment with other fun and interesting robot body materials.
Although it may seem that the robot is now finished, there’s still some effort you need to invest in testing
and tweaking. In the next chapter, you’ll enter the final, critical stage of robot building.

Figure 24-31. Window ground out of front of container lid

Using the grinding-stone accessory on a variable-speed rotary tool, carve out a window in the lid for the

sensors to be able to see the floor (see top of Figure 24-31). The robot can run without the window, but not as

well since only blue light will pass through the lid.