Okay, so I gotta tell you about this crazy project I cooked up – a bathroom cleaning machine! Yeah, sounds nuts, but hear me out.

The Idea: It all started with me dreading cleaning the bathroom. Seriously, who enjoys scrubbing tiles and dealing with grime? So, I thought, why not automate it? I envisioned a little robot that could roam around the bathroom, spraying cleaner, scrubbing surfaces, and generally keeping things sparkling.

The Planning Phase: First things first, I needed a base. I wasn’t about to build a robot from scratch, so I grabbed an old remote control car from my garage. It was clunky, but it had a motor and wheels, which was a good start. Next, I figured out the cleaning part. I bought a small spray bottle and some tubing, planning to attach it to the car and use a small pump to spray the cleaning solution. For scrubbing, I initially thought about using a spinning brush, but it seemed too complicated. I ended up opting for a simple sponge attached to a small servo motor to move it back and forth.

The Build: This is where things got interesting (and messy!).

• The Chassis: I ripped off the car's original body and started attaching things. The spray bottle went on top, secured with zip ties and duct tape – classy, I know.
• The Sprayer: I bodged together a little pump using parts from an old aquarium air pump. Wired it up to a spare button on the remote control. Crude but effective, I thought.
• The Scrubber: The servo motor was a pain to mount. I ended up using hot glue (lots of it) to stick it to the front of the car. The sponge was attached to the servo arm with – you guessed it – more hot glue.
• The Power: I used a separate battery pack for the pump and servo. Didn't want to overload the car's original motor. More wires and more mess!

Testing (and Lots of Fixing): Okay, so the first test run was a disaster. The car spun in circles, the sprayer leaked everywhere, and the sponge just sort of flopped around. Back to the drawing board!

• Steering Issues: I realised the car's steering was too sensitive. I added some weights to the front to give it more stability. That helped a bit.
• Sprayer Problems: The pump was too powerful and sprayed the cleaning solution like a fire hose. I added a resistor to slow it down. Still leaked a bit, but much better.
• Scrubber Fails: The servo wasn't strong enough to actually scrub anything. I upgraded to a slightly more powerful one. Still not perfect, but it could at least move the sponge.

The Final-ish Result: After a week of tinkering, I had something that vaguely resembled a bathroom cleaning machine. It was ugly, noisy, and not exactly efficient, but it did spray cleaner and move a sponge around. I wouldn't say it "cleaned" the bathroom, but it definitely spread the cleaning solution around... which is a start, right?

Learnings:

• Robotics is harder than it looks!
• Hot glue and zip ties are your best friends (and worst enemies).
• Small motors are surprisingly weak.
• I still hate cleaning the bathroom.

Next Steps? Well, I'm not giving up yet. I'm thinking about adding sensors to help it navigate, maybe a better scrubbing mechanism, and definitely a nicer enclosure. Who knows, maybe one day I'll actually have a fully functional bathroom cleaning robot. For now, it's just a fun (and frustrating) project.

Conclusion: Building this thing was a real learning experience. It was messy, time-consuming, and ultimately not that practical. But hey, I had fun, learned a lot about electronics and mechanics, and now I have a weird little robot that... well, it exists. And that's good enough for me (for now!).