Ever wonder how a cell phone vibrates? What mechanism could be in such a tiny space to make the entire phone jiggle around? Well, there’s a tiny motor inside with an off-center weight on the shaft, called an eccentric drive.
You can still see eccentric drive mechanisms in older steam engines where the rotational motion is converted to liner? movement. Eccentrics are also found on tandem bicycles with timing chains.
Kids can make this robot in less than five minutes, but it will take hours to get all their modifications and adjustments just right. This robot works by wobbling, and the sloppier the kids are in their construction, the better the robot dances around. Play with the placement of the weight (battery pack) and the legs. Add more skewers, adjust their position and angle until you get it dancing without toppling over.
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I used a GIANT clothes pin for my third jigglebot, and it is very fun watching it jiggle around on the table, and I enjoy changing the position\angle of the skewers to see the different things it would do. Thank you for the fun, Aurora!!!
My second jigglebot goes in a circle AND a straight line, depending on if it hits a slight crack in the floor or not. My first one did not do much, just shaking [I used different things for weights].
you could attach little sponges to the ends of the legs to make a jiggle-cleaner!!!
We had fun making this. My daughter’s jiggle bot when leaned forward would spin in a circle in place… but if you leaned it back so that front stick wasn’t touching the ground, it spun in a big circle around the room! We tried adding or removing a stick to see how it changed how it moved. My son’s would spin in a small circle… or if we removed a stick, it would just jiggle around randomly and even come straight for you! Thanks so much for this.
I just attached a bell to my jigglebot and that worked!!!! oh by the way my sister [one of them] says this is terrifying. I can’t wait to show this to my other siblings! Thank you Aurora for making science fun.
It worked!!! I also added a switch to make turning it off and on easier.And my motor, battery pack, and switch were all snap circuits! I still used alligator clip leads though.
This was so much fun! My son was thrilled. We made two other projects from this unit as well. Fantastic! Thanks so much!
I’ll have my team connect with you right away!
it took us a month to get the parts in 🙂 (we live in very northern Canada) – and now it says i don’t have access to this lesson? I bought the curriculum specifically to do this with the kids, and we watched the video so long ago 🙂 – help!? 🙂
I send you one free of charge during your second month of enrollment as a surprise!
Where do I buy the blacl plastic gear pully
We thought you might appreciate this idea.
We started using adhesive velcro to attach motors.
It’s adhesive on one side and velcro on the other.
Works for attaching batteries and motors that
you can detach and use on another project.
Batteries and motors are more stable and re-useable!
Hope you like the idea & find it helpful 🙂
Sure – what did you have in mind?
can i make it do something else?
We changed the design by adding markers as feet to make a design. We also clamped a coin in the clothespin to make it jiggle more. It is a jigglebot that draws!
Yes, it kinda does – never really saw that before! 🙂
hey aurora! it looks kinda like an att walker from star wars!
Thanks, that comment I posted was a year ago but it works now. I used a foam ball for the body.
Raena, age 11
My son built a cleaning and racing type. again, thanks!
You need a weight on the end to flop around to give you that eccentric drive motion. What if you hot-glued it to the shaft?
My jigglebot is not juggeling 🙁 I’m sad………………….. I didn’t put a clothespin in it because I don’t know how! Could you help please? 😀
My 11 year old built this all by himself this afternoon. Dad helped to cut the legs shorter..again, thanks for the fun Aurora!!
Awww…
My son said, “Wow! This is better than a new toy!”
My kids had a great time making their jigglebots! What a great activity! This activity was challenging enough for my 8 year old, yet simple enough for my 5 year old to have fun. We can’t wait to do more!
We had great success with this robot. The boys were trying it out on all types of surfaces and changing the amount of legs. We didn’t have a gear pulley…the clothespin/drill/glue method worked just fine.
We used floral foam, which doesn’t seem to hold as well as regular Styrofoam. Since hot glue wouldn’t hold to the open cell foam, I used electrical zip ties to hold the motor on. It will rattle loose at times, but just pull the zip tie tighter, and go again.
You can get zip ties at most places that sell electrical equipment.
I used my a drill to make a hole slightly smaller than the motor shaft. It has a nice snug fit and works great. The tool I used is a Dremel which is handy for these experiments.
Mailed it today! THANK YOU!!!
“Where can we buy a gear pulley? Thanks ”
Okay, if you REALLY want to, you can send a SASE to us with a check for $2, we’ll pop in two gear pulleys for you and ship it right out. We’re not set up to fulfill small orders like this, but I’ll have someone keep an eye out for these. Supercharged Science, 585 Luneta Drive, San Luis Obispo, CA 93405.
Where can we buy a gear pulley? Thanks