Solarbotics Herbie the Mousebot v2

Herbie the Mousebot is a 9-volt battery-powered light-following robot that loves to chase flash light beams. What sets aside the new version is that it can see much better now – and reacts to both LED and incandescent light. Cats ask for him by name!

And with it’s enhanced functional whiskers and tail sensors, it doesn’t get stuck in corners or under obstacles while chasing those lights around. Cats ask for him by name! These little robots are so quick, you (or your four legged friends*) will have to run to keep up to them! 

Herbie comes as a build-it-yourself kit that does not use any microprocessors or programming – all the parts and excellent documentation to put him together are included. The instructions contain many pictures and simple descriptions to make the building process easy and fun, especially for beginners. 

Parts List:

• 1 – Herbie PCB (3 Pieces)
• 1 – Herbie Battery Board
• 1 – LM386 IC
• 1 – 8-Pin IC Socket (for the LM386)
• 2 – Photocells
• 1 – 3904 Transistor
• 1 – Relay
• 1 – Power Switch
• 1 – Tail Spring Sensor
• 1 – 4.7k Resistor (Yellow / Purple / Red)
• 1 – Double Sided Sticky Tape (”DSST”)
• 2 – Motors
• 2 – Rubber Tires
• 1 – 22µF Capacitor
• 1 – Paperclip
• 1 – Nose Bead
• 2 – Whisker Wires, 30cm (12”)
• 1 – Heat Shrink, 1/4” length of 1/8” dia.

Soldering and tools required but not included:

• Basic Soldering Equipment
• Eye protection (goggles)
• Needle-nose pliers
• Fine snips
• Medium/heavy duty snips
• Small File
• Parts:
• Scissors / Knife
• Masking Tape
• Flashlight (for testing)

Originally invented by Randy Sargent, Herbie was built from spare parts as an entry for a robot competition. Herbie is such an elegant, clever design using very few parts, it’s been featured in as a construction project in “Junkbot, Bugbots, and Bots on Wheels”, “Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Robots” and “MAKE” Magazine.

 *Don’t let your pets chew on Herbie, he is made of electronics and not good for eating!