Roller-bot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Roller-Bot' is a non-intelligent light activated robot built upon a small paint roller. The rollerbot is a design that exemplifies the concept of minimal-engineering and is a copyrighted design developed in 1999, by Paul L. Discher, Director of Engineering Science Laboratories, Department of Electrical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
The Roller-bot project employed 10 mechanical and electrical components to create a powered non-intelligent robot vehicle activated by a flashlight or other a non-visible light source. Beside requiring no tools for final assembly this project only used 10 discrete components.
The project employed a rubber band drive belt that transfered rotation to the body of a paint roller cover. Controling and powering the motor was a photo-cell and a single transistor acting as a light activated switch which applied DC electrical power from an on-board 9v battery.
Roller-Bot I was the first generation of the project followed by slight design improvements with Roller-Bot II 5 months later. Both projects were administrated in "make-and-take" publicity projects in which the "kits" were given away free to student participants on the campus of Washington University.
