Use the vibrator in a smartphone to power toothbrush head based motion.

Cut the heads of 4 toothbrushes. Clip them to the 4 corners of your smartphone. Download our special app that vibrates the phone different ways to control the cellphone-bot as it veers around a table top.
-- JesusHChrist, Oct 08 2014

I like it.

I'm not sure you'll get any directional controllability. The phone vibrator is just a small electric motor with an eccentric weight on the shaft, so it can only vibrate in one way, possibly at different speeds.

Of course, if you glued three phones to the corners of a triangular base, all pointing in different directions, you might get something very interesting. With some fancy software, the system could learn to exploit resonances and whatever, and might be capable of quite precise control.

Make it so.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 08 2014


That link is just wrong, [21Q].
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 08 2014


If you use the type of toothbrush that has slanted bristles, the phone will tend to move away from the slant. Steering is an issue, however.
-- MechE, Oct 08 2014



random, halfbakery