My name is Dushyant and I live in India. I have had a fascination for working with robots and maybe even making some myself some day, but the popular belief in my country is that making a robot requires a lot of skill and monetary investment. Which is why I never thought of actually being able to do this ie making robots.
So I was looking through videos on youtube today and came upon fritsl's awesome robot (the drummer one). And I came on to this website and realised that it was not that difficult to make robots all by yourself after all :) I read the start here page a bit, and realised I would need some things to start off with.
Like someone else posted in this particular forum before me, I would also like to start off with making a simple bulb blink, and then move on to making multiple bulbs blink, then making them blink in a sequential order, and so on, then move on to bigger and better things, such as making small robots etc :)
Now, I don't think I'll get any of the convenient processors in my country, therefore I will have to import them, which means I will have to buy them from the picaxe website and have it all shipped, so...
I was just asking what are ALL the things I should buy which would help me in my quest to make a robot about as decent as the drummer one? Moving up the cycles I mean, making small things work, then small robots, and then something complex as the drummer?
All I have right now is a Pentium IV computer, thats it, so if someone can, please help me with getting all the things in one go since I don't want to keep paying for shipping over and over.
I’d say that if you buy the parts from the “start here”-project you are quite well off. I could have made a simpler “start here-project” - but it is made as it is, to enable you to get at as far as possible with one investment.
If anything, buy 2 of everything - but else, that kit will set you in the position of developing so much that you can make your own choises later.
And the extras that may come in handy will be things you can find (bulp/LED’s, motors, more switches etc…) Only thing I can think of would be a light-dependant resistor - just for the sake of it, they cost nothing, so get some while you order anyway - and you can make your robot chase light or something later
Hey Fritsl! It’s good to be welcomed by the guy himself who motivated me into coming here in the first place.
So alright then, I’ll buy two of everything that is asked for in the guide. I can get LED’s here, as well as small bulbs, and maybe I’ll get a lot of motors and switches from in there. And a light dependant resistor like you said.
Screw xboxes and PS3’s dude, THIS is the real deal. I am not going to buy my console anymore and I’ll invest my time in these things instead, which is actually a worthwhile investment.
I have a newbie question though friend, what would I require to program these chips? Will my Pentium IV processor be enough or any other thing? I don’t want to miss out on even one little part if you can understand my position here
"Screw xboxes and PS3’s dude, THIS is the real deal." Yeah!
In the “start here”, you will be guided to buy a Picaxe starter-kit. That you should only buy once, and then get an extra board / an extra 28x2 chip - but read and you will understand.
Kit includes cable & CD & Software, it is complete, you will do fine with your PC and the walkthrough Just dive in.
I don’t know what you mean by switches, I searched for “switch” on the begin here page and didn’t see anything on that term, can you please elaborate a bit there?
OKay, you need to learn 31 assembler commands, but with PicAxe, you’d have to learn BASIC. OKay, you need to build hardware, but you could easily fabricate a Pic motor drive board with a 2803 for under US$5.
