New to robotics

Hey everyone!

It all started one day with me being slightly hung over and finding a Robot magazine.

I saw the Lynxmotion ad, and the bipeds I think got me hooked. Especially the “Pete” robot I saw on the ad.
I know that its probably going to be a nightmare and a half as a starting bot to use a biped, but I have always had a thing for biped bots.

What kind of skills do I need to pick up that would coincide with robotics? I am interested in doing mech warfare later on down the road.
Oh, and I haven’t the slightest clue what I am doing with circuit cards or programming.

Hello there,
Getting into robotics for me has been quite an experience. Your going to need a lot of time and patience, and money.
First off you need to find a Micro-controller that suits your needs. The micro controller is the “brain” of what will become your robot.
I personally use an Arduino micro controller, and the easiest to start up with in my opinion is the Arduino Uno. The arduino has a huge fanbase and has, again in my opinion, one of the more simple and robust programming languages.

To simplify, you’re going to need…

1 x Microcontroller (Arduino, Basic Stamp, Orangutan, Arc, etc.

1 x computer with proper compiler (the arduino comes with a free compiler)

Some basic coding experience, the knowledge to write

“int D2Pminus(float deg){
return(1500 - deg * 10);
}”

and know what it means.

The equipment, cables, and power supply.

A plan, the BRAT is the perfect beginning Biped, there are others though you don’t have to reinvent the wheel…

My first robot was a simple three wheeled rover that i added onto until it became very complex.

Trust me, when i bought enough parts to build my Scout (and i dont recommend you do that as a begging project) i thought it wouldnt be that hard, just throw some code together and BAM! Robot. It will be a long and very difficult but rewarding journey.

I have been working on my Scout for quite some time (6+months) and have only just completed the inverse kinematic algorithms… if i forgot to mention, you may need to know some higher level math if you plan on going down the IK path. Pete, i believe, does use an inverse kinematic algorithm to power his limbs.

Anyway, hope i havent scared you off, and let me know if i can help, or if i’m wrong in some way :mrgreen: