Robot Made From an Old RC Car!!!

You might have old things in your home, which you are not using. But instead of throwing it away, you may want to create something useful from it, or even use it to make a new project.

Most people think making a project with electronic parts requires very expensive tools and parts, but actually you can build electronic projects with things you already have and were planning to throw them away in trash.

I wanted to create a good starter project for people, who are interested in electronics and robotics, but cannot afford very expensive tools and components. I also wanted to make instructions as detailed as possible, so even if you never made a electronics project before, you will be able to build it easily.

To build this robot, you will need:

1. Old RC car (remote is not needed)
2. Shoe box
3. Hot glue gun
4. Screwdriver
5. 3 pencils (one for drawing, two for robot)
6. Box cutter
7. Scissors
8. Ruler
9. Wire stripper
10. Tape (double sided tape, paper tape, electrical tape)
11. Wire cutter
12. Paint and paint brush

First start by disassembling the RC car, remove the batteries and then remove 4 screws with screwdriver. Then lift up the top part carefully. Remove electronic parts from the car, other parts will not be needed. Lastly cut of the motherboard and only keep two motors (make sure you do not cut the wires on the motors), switch, wires and batteries.

Grab the shoe box and disassemble it. Then cut of the side parts with box cutter or scissors. After that take a big cardboard piece, which will be the base. Place two motors on the cardboard, about 7cm apart and trace them with a pencil. Then draw a box around the motors (i used the double sided tapes diameter to draw lines on the motor). After that draw two lines on top and bottom 1cm from the box. Then draw two lines on left and right side 2cm from the motor and the box. Lastly cut it out. Then place two motors on the base and glue it on (make sure you place glues after you place the motor, so you do not glue on the moving parts).

To make the wheels, take four small cardboard pieces. i used electrical tape (which has smaller diameter than double sided tape) to trace the wheels. Then cut them out. take two pieces and in the middle pierce small holes. Then take another piece of cardboard and cut two strips 2cm wide each. Then hot glue the strips on the pierced circle parts. After that glue the part on the motor. Lastly glue the other two circle parts on the wheel.

Two make the battery, you will need three AA batteries and four wires. First strip wires and place them on the battery and tape it with paper tape. Then cut 6 small cardboard squares and put double sided tape on them. Attach these squares on the ends of the battery and secure them with electrical tape as tight as possible, so the wires will make connection with the battery. Diagram will help you with wiring the battery.

First take the switch and attach two wires on it and secure it with electrical tape (make sure the two wires are not touching each other). Take one wire from each motor on the same side and wire them together. Wire the switch to the positive wire of the battery. Now wire battery to the motors and test if it works. Use diagram to wire everything correctly. Lastly secure the battery on the front of the base with double sided tape.

First take a piece of cardboard, then cut out two rectangle parts. After that draw a rectangle on the cardboard 1 cm from the walls. Then i traced circle with double sided tape. Lastly cut out the circle part.

Take two pieces of cardboard. Then draw rectangle on the cardboard pieces and cut them out. These will be the walls. Take another piece of cardboard. Draw rectangle and cut it out, this will be the top piece. Take one of the wall parts and cut out small square to fit in the switch.

Take the wall parts and glue them on the base. You can keep the walls together with paper tape when gluing and later it the tape off. Then carefully glue the switch on the wall, where you cut the small square. Lastly check if everything works and glue the top part on.

Take a piece of cardboard. Trace two small circles on it and cut them out. Then glue them together and pierce a hole in the middle with a pencil. After that cut two small rectangles. Take a pencil and cut off a small piece and glue it on the rectangle. Slide the circle in and glue the second rectangle piece. Then take another cardboard piece and cut out a rectangle. Bend it 90 degrees and attach the glued parts on it. After that glue the caster wheel on the base. Lastly glue triangle pieces to make caster wheel strong.

Take a big cardboard piece. Draw two rectangles 12cmx20cm, two 2cmx20cm and one 2cmx12cm. Glue these parts together and glue them on the base.

Take a piece of cardboard. Draw 4 rectangles and cut them out. Glue two parts together at 90 degrees. You can round the edges to make it look better. Pierce a hole on the side of the body with a pencil. Cut two small pencil end and glue them on the arm pieces. Take another cardboard piece and cut a rectangle out. Then cut out two triangle pieces and glue them on the rectangle piece. After that glue the arm parts on the rectangle. Lastly place the arm on the robot. Now only part left is painting!

First draw designs on the robot with a pencil. Then paint the robot and let it dry. That is it, your robot is finished! I hope you had fun building your own robot. Hopefully this project inspires you to build more and better projects. This is actually how i built my first project, by taking parts from old toys and making something cool with them. Over the time i made more advance projects and gained lots of experience. I also learned lot from my mistakes. Mistakes are normal when making projects, like damaging motors, burning out components, using wrong parts and etc. Important thing is to learn from your mistakes, so you will make better projects. I hope my project inspires you to make more amazing electronics projects :)