Here's how to build your own basic mini robot bug

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If you are looking for a little distraction for an hour or two, you might want to consider making this little curiosity? All you'll need is an old wooden peg, some paperclips, batteries, LEDs, and a buzzer. 

Let's find out how to do it. 

As you can imagine, you'll need some tools and materials before you get started.

Materials and gear needed

• 1 no. wooden peg
• 2 no. disk batteries
• 1 no. buzzer
• 3 no. paperclips
• 2 no. red LEDs
• Soldering kit
• Electrical wires, resistors, and soldering gear
• Hot glue gun

With all your gear in hand, let's get on with the build.

Step 1: Begin the build

The first step is to take your buzzer and connect its wires to the batteries. When you complete the circuit, the buzzer should activate immediately. If not, check the batteries have charged, or the wiring of the buzzer and repair/replace as needed.

Once the parts are working as they should, take the buzzer and clamp it in the jaws of the wooden peg. You want the buzzer to sit within the main large opening of the peg as shown below. 

With that done, add some blobs of hot glue to the peg underneath the buzzer and glue the LEDs into place as needed. Ensure the terminals of the LEDs are pointing upwards and fairly close to the buzzer. 

Glue the other LED into place opposite the first in much the same fashion. These will form the "eyes" of the mini robot bug.

Step 2: Complete the wiring

With that done, take some lengths of wire, and connect them to each of the terminals of the two LEDs. For ease of reference, use one black and one red-colored wire to connect the adjacent terminals of the LEDs together as shown below. 

With that done, connect each of the wires of the buzzer to each of the LED wire loops. In this case, connect the red wire from the buzzer to the red wire circuit of the LEDs, and the blue wire to the black wires of the LEDs. 

Solder the wire connections together once you are happy with the circuitry. Take care when doing this as to not damage the delicate circuitry of the LEDs. 

Step 3: Finish the bug

With the main body of the robot bug and wiring now complete, we can now finish the robot. To do this, take your paper clips. 

Unbend them to make roughly C-shape and cut off any excess parts as needed. These will form the main pair of legs for the robot bug. 

Rinse and repeat to make two other identical sets of legs. With that done, take the legs and glue them into place on the underside of the robot bug as shown. 

With that done, our little robot bug is basically complete. Now, all we need to do is connect the batteries to the robot. Tape them into place on the remaining exposed wires of the bug and secure them into place on the body of the bug. 

With that done, the buzzer should immediately activate. Place the bug onto a flat surface, and watch your little robot bug "buzz" it's a merry way around the place at random. 

Simple, yet effective. If desired, you could now add some more decorative features to the bug, but it is basically good to go. Alternatively, you could consider making your own little swarm of them? 

If you enjoyed this little project, perhaps you'd be interested in some more basic DIY robots? How about, for example, your own DIY floor cleaning drone?