How-To: Simple rolly bot

Randy Sarafan writes:

This Simple Bot was inspired by a work by artist James Rouvelle called Colony in which a bunch odd shaped ovals self-propel around their environment. It is my understanding that his bots were made by placing a vibrating motor freely inside of a Styrofoam ball that was then coated to give it an irregular shape. This dynamic makes his orbs fluctuate between wobbling in place and jerkily moving around the room. While this is a cool interaction, I was more interested in making something that had a more regular motion and was able to roll steadily about. Towards this end I have created Rolly Bot. To simply explain, Rolly is basically an over-sized tennis ball with an over-sized bristlebot placed inside. This allows Rolly to be rolled in whatever direction the bristlebot inside so chooses to drive.