Example starter BOMs
A bill of materials (BOM) lists every part, quantity, vendor, and lead time. Even a toy module deserves one. These examples are starting points to adapt. We don’t list prices, because they change. Get current quotes.
| Category | Examples | Starter sources |
|---|---|---|
| Mechanical structure | 3D-print filament, acrylic, plywood | Makerspace, Craftcloud |
| Fasteners | M2/M3 screws, heat-set inserts | McMaster-Carr , local hardware |
| Magnets | Neodymium discs or blocks of known grade | K&J Magnetics |
| Electronics | MCU boards, motors, IR LEDs, sensors | Mouser , Adafruit , SparkFun , Pololu |
| PCBs | Custom rigid or flex boards | JLCPCB , PCBWay , OSH Park |
| Lab reagents (supervised) | Buffers, oligos | Through a school or university, see DNA nanotech |
A. Magnetic tile kit (10 tiles)
- PLA filament (about 100 g)
- 40 neodymium disc magnets, press-fit size matched to your CAD
- CA glue or epoxy (use with ventilation)
- Optional acrylic base tray
- Notebook and phone camera for data
B. Three ESP32 “swarmlets”
- 3 ESP32 development boards
- 3 vibration motors or continuous-rotation servos
- Protected battery packs and a proper charger
- Jumper wires, headers, IR or bump sensors
- 3D-printed chassis
The software (local rules, communication) is the hard part, not the parts.
C. Design-only DNA origami
- caDNAno or scadnano
- oxDNA web server to simulate the design
- The Rothemund 2006 paper (author PDF )
Cost: mostly time. Wet-lab work adds vendor and facility costs under supervision.
What is hard to buy (plan around it)
| Hard item | Why | Starter workaround |
|---|---|---|
| Custom chips (ASICs) | Huge one-time cost | Use commodity microcontrollers |
| Exotic nanomaterials | Purity, handling, sometimes export rules | Start with macro demos and suspended particles |
| Research-only modular robots | Not retail products | Simulate, or build simple magnetic modules |
| Bulk DNA origami | Not a routine commodity | Design-only, plus literature study |
| Zero-defect connectors | Physics and wear | Design for error tolerance (a swarm lesson) |
Open designs to start from
- Classroom capillary and floating-tile projects (FloaTiles , UCSD MRSEC activities )
- Modular robot papers that release CAD in their supplements
- Kilobot documentation via Harvard SSR
- Claytronics and programmable-matter papers for mechanism ideas (CMU hub ). This is a vision, not a store.
Watch: what electronics manufacturing looks like
PCB factories are real. Programmable-matter factories aren’t, yet.
Try this (BOM exercise)
- Pick Exp 7 from Experiments or a 5-module magnet chain.
- Make a spreadsheet with part, quantity, vendor link, lead time, and hazard note.
- Mark each line buy / borrow / print / skip.
- Share the BOM with a mentor before ordering magnets or batteries.
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