Swhole Animal Builds a Rideable Giant Hexbug From Brooms and Motors

Hexbugs start as tiny plastic toys that scurry around floors on the strength of a single vibrating motor and a few angled bristles. One maker took that basic idea and scaled it up until a person could climb aboard. The result, shown in a recent video, looks more like a moving plywood platform than a finished robot, yet it does travel under its own power once someone sits down.

Construction began with regular brooms. They were cut up and set on a piece of flat plywood so that all of the bristles pointed slightly to the back, as if someone had sat on an old lawnmower with a lot of confidence. A couple of the old vibration motors used in early smartphones, as well as one or two larger 100-watt units, were taped and Velcroed to the board. A battery pack weighing between 30 and 35 pounds powered the entire thing. When the motors rotate, the entire device begins to tremble and shimmy. The bristles angled back operated similarly to a Hexbug Nano, though he’d never considered trying it before.

Early testing with only one motor and a single row of bristles proved to be somewhat problematic. The apparatus would flex under strain, and the motion was too weak to support even a light rider. Adding a second motor and a few additional rows of bristles helped traction slightly, but the plywood still bent so much that the bristles became misaligned. Directional control remained a huge issue because the thing would not turn on purpose, as if it had its own mind, and would simply veer off in an entirely different direction anytime it became uneven. The noise it created led the builder to reduce the recording volume close to zero.

The next thing they tried was a tiny skateboard-sized version, believing it would be simple to scale it back, but the tremendous vibration of that tiny device left you with numb, stiff ankles for a while, so they immediately abandoned that concept. The larger platform still shook violently, thus the battery pack became warm when carried in a backpack. Even so, with both motors running, it could trudge along at approximately a mile per hour with a human on board. After watching the video, some people suggested trying a few various things, such as bending the bristles further using a heat gun, adding another sheet of plywood to strengthen the thing up, and angling the bristle rows in a bit more so you could guide it easier.

The finished machine is somewhat rough in many ways. It’s loud, moves slowly, and basically requires you to be really cautious when getting on it so it stays upright. The same mechanism that allows a little toy to zip across the desk can now transport a full-sized human across the floor. If you can get your hands on some brooms, motors, and plywood, you can practically do the same thing, although the vibration levels are still very high, so don’t stay on it for too long.