This is a project I call the buggyBot, not because it won't do what you ask it, but because I want to build a little buggy that runs around the room and gets itself into trouble...

I came up with the idea of using wire robot frames by looking at some of the creative bodies people built out of junk and wires, and extra components. I could see the advantages, you could change the whole body by grabbing and twisting.

I thought the process could be used for more "traditional" bot bodies. I also had a couple of Toshiba 8080 (Yeh, I know what you're thinking) H Bridges I wanted to play with. This is the Wire Body Bot I created.

Yes, it looks like you are tying together steel bars and the cement trucks are due any moment.

But what's really happening is that the tie wires will be soldered into place. So tie it together, make it square, and get ready to tack solder, readjust, and then solder things into place using the solder to make a mechanical "weld."

Get it right here, it's hard to straighten after the solder is in place.

As you make each connection solid by soldering, do a pair of solid connections, then recheck while the rest of the interconnections in the frame are just tack soldered. Checking squareness before you make the solid solder "weld."

Now we are ready for the next steps. We have the frame complete, the battery pack rests nicely in a little cradle formed by bending up the wires in the frame so they stick up and will provide a place to slide a motor control board into place.

Now I take the motor control board and wire it up... The board uses a picAxe 14M which has some extra pins I use to drive the tail lights.

I know, it's silly but fun... I can drive up to a stop, set the turn signals and drive off in the appropriate direction. I just wanted to use those stacked LED assemblies I found at the parts store. Just for fun!

A bent buggy bot. Once I started testing, I was very happy this was a wire frame bot body... Because, to optimize the steering, provide the best traction, and basically, to get the thing to work, I had to do some chassis bending.

The result is a shortened wheelbase, but it performs pretty well.