I want to build a robot?

Question

I am wanting to build robots as a hobby, for now. Where is the best place to start this new hobby of mine?

Answer 1

umm i dont really know the way i build robots is by the F.I.R.S.T. robotics competiiton but it sonly a high school competition and its very cool

Answer 2

Take a look on BEAM robotics, its a small and simple kind of robots, but with a very interesting concept! You can start out simple and move on to the more sophisticated kinds. Most BEAM robots mimic insects and there behaviour.

The point is to create small robots that can survive on there own when placed in a random enviroment with simple but efficient design mostly built by scratch and simple parts found in walkmans etc..
An example is the so called "photovore", an easy robot to start and very interesting to watch.
They:
-provide there own energy making them indepent from human (e.g solar panel on the back)
-keep looking for better energy sources (light seeking behaviour)
-make sure they don't get trapped on the way (obstacle avoiding)

Anyway I'll give you some links, BEAM its really worth looking into and I'm sure you'll love it!

some good place to start: some good general info here
http://www.geocities.com/southbeach/6897...

This site is like a library of BEAM, contains lots of links & info:
http://www.solarbotics.net/

I think its more fun to built your bots from scratch but if you like you can buy kits and parts here (take a look on there gallery as well, good pics!)
http://www.solarbotics.com

A good FLED photovore tutorial: (an ugly bot, you can make it look much nicer, but good tutorial)
http://raysbeambots.solarbotics.net/fled...

anyway this should get you starting, good luck.

Answer 3

the heart of a robot's control is in the micro controller used...its absolutely important for u to understand the working of a micro controller and learning to program it. once u r confident about that, u can always integrate a micro controller with, say, a simple motor etc. to control mechanical motion in Ur robot...

A good, simple micro controller to start with is the 8051...u can also try a simple 8 bit ATMEL model...many of them come with self help kits. There is one book written by Mazdi, for the 8051 micro controllers which i found really useful, try to get a copy of that... lots of ideas for robots based on these controllers are available on line

Answer 4

IN YOUR GARAGE WHERE NO ONE CAN SEE WHAT THE HECK YOU ARE DOING

Answer 5

then build..........