A simple robot that scuttles along on the bristles of a toothbrush might be a step towards creating a generation of robotics engineers in Dunedin.
Dunedin company Bristlebotics went into business at the start of the year. It sells bristlebots - tiny battery-powered robots that move by vibrating the bristles of a toothbrush head.
Co-founder Mike Paulin has been making bristlebots for years. His house is full of them.
An associate professor in zoology at the University of Otago, Dr Paulin has occasionally used them in demonstrations of movement for his students.
''I was looking for some simple way I could get biology students interested in robotics,'' he said.
Dr Paulin found the design for the do-it-yourself robots on the internet but Bristlebotics was born when he was put in touch with Kamahi Electronics owner Edwin Nieman, after a colleague suggested he could get his bots made professionally.
Bristlebotics sells parts for simple robots and ready-assembled robots with light sensors.
Bristlebots were not just child's play - Harvard University had recently used large numbers of them in a study on swarm behaviour, Dr Paulin said.
In the long term, Dr Paulin hoped bristlebots could be instrumental in developing robotics in Dunedin.
The children interested in bristlebots now could possibly be employed as robotics engineers in 15 years' time, he said.
''The sky's the limit,'' he said.
Bristlebotics designer-educator Sofie Welvaert said the company was developing lesson plans to fit in with the New Zealand curriculum in the hope the education sector would begin to use the bots to teach.
She was to travel to Wellington to promote the bristlebots at the ''Makertorium'', a showcase of inventions hosted at Te Papa.
The company sells two models of bristlebots, the newer model ''Io Moth Bristlebot'' has light sensors and can be programmed to six different behaviours by waving a finger in different patterns in front of it.
Aimed at intermediate-level children, the appearance of the bristlebots can be easily redesigned.
Some of the more inventive ideas for customising the robots include giving them the appearance of a horse-shoe crab, a dragon, or even one of Santa's reindeer. In addition to looks, using different bristles can result in different movements.
- by Jonathan Chilton-Towle
