Minion Tea Maker

An eight-year-old LearnOBots student who loves tea wanted a robot that would make it for her. She put her two favourite things together, tea and Minions, and designed the Minion Tea Maker.

What it does

• Three strengths: light, medium and strong, picked with buttons on the robot's side.

• The Minion holds the tea bag over the cup while the tea brews.

• When the tea is ready, it beeps and an LED lights up, so nobody has to stand and watch the cup.

How a build like this works

In general terms: each button tells a small controller which strength was chosen, and the controller turns that choice into a brewing time. A motor moves the arm that holds the tea bag, a timer counts down, and at the end the controller switches on a buzzer and a light. Light, medium and strong are simply three different timings for the same steps.

What it teaches

• Inputs and outputs: buttons in; a motor, a buzzer and an LED out.

• Sequencing and timing: the same steps, run for different lengths of time.

• Designing for a user: one person's real routine shaped the whole build.

• Making it fun: a character turns a gadget into something people want to use.

Build your own

Start with a simple timer that beeps and lights an LED after a set time, then add buttons for different times. Our Arduino Starter Kit guide in the Fix-it Corner covers the first steps: making a light blink and a buzzer beep.

Built by LearnOBots students at a LearnOBots STEAM programme.