Hello!
I have recently purchased a home and used a large number of z-wave sensors/devices to make my home a smart home. I just installed z-wave garage doors and I have an idea.
I would like to create a system/robot that does the following: Monday morning at 7:00am have the garage door open A robot that is essentially a flat tray that hold 3 bins would turn on, drive out the curb on a set path and park itself.’ Garage door closes when the robot leaves. I…inform the trash people to please place the 3 garbage bins back on the tray when they are done. At 3:00 the same monday the robot drives back up the driveway, garage door opens to let it in and then closes behind it.
I have no experience in creating robots…but I’m assuming this can be done, and will take a year+ to get right.
I’d be happy with some guidance, kits and advice. I’ll photo-log my entire journey. 
Thank you!
Hi,
This is a great idea!
As you already seem to have realized, this will require much research, trial & error and work to get this right.
Since you are starting with no experience in robotics, the best way to get started would be to prototype the various issues (and their solutions) to your idea with a smaller/simpler system.
Your first step should be to identify all the main tasks that need to be achieved for this idea to work, such as:
]Interacting using the Z-Wave protocol/:m]
]Creating a robotic platform that can move the weight of three bins/:m]
]Creating a system for the robot to know its position/reliably go to the right locations at the right time/:m]
Of course, once you’ve identified all the various high-level goals, you will need to establish all that is needed for each to succeed. This is where lots of reading, trial & error will be required.
To get a quick overview of how to make a mobile robot, we recommend that you check out our series of articles titles How To Make a Robot. They most likely go over all the typical questions you will have about how to get started.
As for the Z-Wave protocol/technology, it seems to be proprietary and require subscription. You can read more about it here. You may also want to check out OpenZWave and see if that is useful for you.
Once you have a better idea of what you want to get started on first, feel free to let us know and we’ll gladly recommend products that you may need.
Sincerely,