Adorable Robot Built Around a Credit Card Body

If you’re worried about your credit card “walking off,” now there’s another explanation than simple theft.

If you’re the creator of this credit card robot, it can literally walk off by itself. On the other hand, it looks like it would be very hard to use in a reader, so that might be a deterrent to the ‘bot deciding to rack up your credit card debt.

The robot is cleverly designed to stick six tiny servos in between two credit cards (or similarly sized pieces of plastic) to form a body. There is also another servo sticking out of the top of the bot to pan an ultrasonic sensor left and right for navigation.

Control is accomplished with an Arduino-compatible board along with a sensor shield that conveniently has ports for several servo connectors. An infrared system is also installed for a human to give it commands.

As seen in the video below, the middle servos tilt the body to the left or to the right, allowing the weight to rest on the correct set of front and back (paperclip) legs, which then power the robot forward. The middle servos then reverse position, allowing one set of legs to move back into position, while the other set powers the contraption forward. Turning is accomplished in a similar manner, although the servo sequence is different.

And we all thought that the sentient robot revolution would lead to violence, not mere larceny!