Tech Time offers Bristlebot playtime

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By Laura Drinan

Hometown Weekly Reporter

The Dover Town Library’s Community Room was abuzz with Bristlebots on February 8.

Bristlebots, thumb-sized vibrating robots made from a toothbrush head, double-sided tape, a battery, and a pager motor, have become quite popular at Tech Time, one of the library’s STEAM-based programs for children 8 to thirteen years old.

With a kit that included all of the materials, Lauren Berghman, library assistant and young adult librarian, showed the children how to build a Bristlebot. While the tiny robots only require a few materials, the children added pipe cleaner legs to make the bots go in various directions, and they added googly eyes just for fun.

They spent time envisioning their designs and perfecting their execution. One boy made pipe cleaner antennae for his Bristlebot, placing the googly eyes at the very tips of the pipe cleaners. Another even chose to create a bot with three toothbrush heads connected to one another to analyze how it moves with two extra sets of bristles.

As they finished constructing their Bristlebots, the children set to work testing them. One boy even held the Bristlebot to his cheek, relaying to his friends that it felt like a “face massage with static shock.”

Lauren challenged them to adjust the pipe cleaner legs to see how it affected the Bristlebots’ movement. However, some of the children decided to build a LEGO arena instead and pit the bots against each other, incorporating jail cells into the arena’s design.

“Even if they’re just playing with them, they’re still exploring and seeing why it’s not connecting or turning on,” said Lauren, happy to see the children experimenting with and tweaking their Bristlebots.

Head of Children’s Services Nancy Tegeler stopped into the Community Room to see the children’s Bristlebots, suggesting that they make a maze out of LEGOs for the bots to navigate, too.

With endless ways to design and play, the children’s introduction to the world of Bristlebots seemed just the beginning to a lifelong interest in technology.