Want to learn robotics? follow these tutorials and get making robots fast.
Shown below is a video of a robot that uses the perceived vanishing point of an image to navigate through a corridor. The robot, based on an iRobot Create, uses a standard webcam and video processing to locate the vanishing point of what it sees, and navigates towards that point. Such navigation wo…
The Visual Lego software project allows you to gain full control of your NXT brick via .NET (Visual Basic, C#, etc.). This software wrapper allows you to access all the bricks functionality over the serial bluetooth link. The library, written by Bram Fokke, is almost complete. It can be downloaded…
RoombaDevTools.com is a great way to get started hacking your Roomba. You can read a review of the RooStick (at left) over at TodBot.com. It allows you to easily connect your computers USB port up to the Roomba's serial hacker interface. Other nifty products include the RooTooth, which lets you c…
In this article, Jean-Christophe shows you how to maximize the utility you get out of a Sharp GPD12 rangefinder. Overview: This application note is intended to provide a good overview of the Sharp GP2D12 sensor (Fig. 1) and its use, especially for dynamics application. I hope it will…
Craig Gardner shows you how to build an infrared remote decoder - control your robot with a TV remote! Adding a form of remote control to your robot can be fun but radio can sometimes be over kill. Infrared such as used for your TV, VCR and other equipment is a simple way to add control to a proj…
Do not miss the new, up-to-date and detailed How to Build a Robot - Grand Tutorial Series This article lists some ideas for starting a simple robot. A good read for beginners. If you like this article, check out this. How to Build A Simple Robot, The Beetle Robot. This is the first of a series o…
Here's a nifty hack to add a shaft encoder directly into a servo box. Parts:1. Servo - Preferrably a Futaba or Tower Systems2. Drill3. Photointerrupter - Rat. Shack #276-142 (NOT the package with the diode and transistor separate),or any standard 'U' shaped photointerrupter …
This article shows how to use an ADC chip on your next project. Introduction For this this project you can either choose to use the MAX186 or the MAX187. The differences between these two chips are described below. The MAX187 is an 12 bit o…
This article shows how to hook up a LCD screen to your microcontroller. LCD displays are a great way to add output to your robot - they can be a very useful debugging aid and also can make controlling the robot much easier (setting options, vi…
One of the single most expensive components that go to make up an amateur mobile robot is its power source. Of course, I'm speaking of the batteries that supply the current necessary to power motors, sensors and processors on board the robot (unless any of you have worked the bugs out of cold fusio…
