Hi, I'm a biginner in robotics, so I don't know what are the basics that I should learn, or start with, so please can you guide.
Google is your friend?
Dear: Imatience
You should know google is your friend. Why start this simple of a forum when you could start researching yourself and or maybe take a class? Thank you.
From: Noah
Thank you 
There are no
Thank you :)
There are no stupid questions. Ask here.
**Did I offend your knowledge? **
Dear: Impatience
Well I appreciate the thank you but you just said “There are no stupid questions here.” Did you feel that I offended you in anyway because I know 100% there are no stupid questions I just don’t know why you just restated that to me? Thank you.
From: Noah
You can divide your project
You can divide your project into 3 categories.
1. hardware
2. electronics
3. programming
Its best to plan everything out beforehand, but if you’ve got junk lying around the house, you can start right away.
the HARDWARE is the platform that will address robot locomotion, how will it move around. lets just say you use an RC car that you have lying around.
the ELECTRONICS covers how will your motors move, they need a circuit called a MOTOR DRIVER (you can build it youself, use an IC like SN754410, or buy a ready made one like pololu DRV8835), which in the RC car, is the ESC. If you are using a toy RC car, the motor driver is integrated into the circuit board. you will have to “hack” that board to determine what areas you can zap with electricity to make the car go forward, reverse, left, and right. How will the robot be powered? ususally a battery, you can use the one from the RC car. How can the robot sense the outside world? You will need some sensors. Im not sure if these are household items, but you can buy cheap ultrasonic, IR, even laser distance reangefinders on ebay, coming straight from china. expect 30-40 days for it to arrive. what onboard robot computer will be the brain of the robot? a popular one is Arduino (and its many clones, which are significantly cheaper). So lets say you hook up the sensors to the Arduino, motors to the motor driver then to the arduino. And you connect the battery to the motor driver and arduino. Your robot has sensors, wheels, a brain, and power, but it still wont do anything.
PROGRAMMING. You will have to perform Arduino learning examples, there are many online. As you become better at making the arduino do what you want. It will be easier to obtain many peoples freely available robot code online, and analyze and understand it, and tweak it into your own robot. You don’t have to memorize any code. you will be able, over time, to recognize what blocks of code are doing, and implement it into your own code.
P.S. use your soldering iron in a well ventilated area, i use this (see below). You will know what tools you need when you get stuck and can’t proceed with your project. Good luck!
Getting started
I teach an intro to robotics course so I have seen the getting started delimia. Some students like to start with their “strong” suit and add incrementally. Others want to do the most intimidating first.
I think an all inclusive kit such as the Tadpole makes a great introduction. It contains the mechanicals, electricals, and tutorials for building and programming. Almost every online shop offers a similar product. Expect to pay about $75US for the kits plus cables and batteries.
If software is your weakest talent you might want to start with something in the Arduino family. Most amount of tutorials and examples.
I would do a online search for robot club in your neighborhood. I live in a rural area and the nearest active club is about 100 miles (160km) away so it is not very practical for me so I use (abuse) sites such as LMR.
Searching online
Google searches lead to Let’s Make Robots where we welcome beginners and experts alike. The question is certainly valid and Let’s Make Robots is an excellent place to get feedback from the community as to where / how to get started. Not everyone knows where / how to find the appropriate solutions / approaches, nor is it easy to know what information to trust as much of it is not impartial. Although there are a number of other forum posts on LMR which discuss the same topic of how / where to get started, there is quite a lot of information to go through, and older posts may be out of date.
Very sorry Ben.
Dear: CBenson
I am very sorry. I will rephrase and give more helpful advice. Thank you I didn’t realize that was offensive.
From: Noah
One book I like
One book I like is
He has some great advice, and the book is well written. I recommend it.
If you don’t want to read and have little or no experience with electronics at all, my suggestion is to start with a kit. It will have directions, all the parts so you aren’t trying to figure out what you need and you will have immediate success. Building your own custom robot from scratch requires a lot of on the fly engineering and reengineering. It is fun, but can be a bit daunting as a complete newby.
Our benefactors www.robotshop.com has an incredible selection of robot kits.
I also like the kits that www.servocity.com has as well.
Regards,
Bill
Here is some helpful advice.
Dear: Impatience
Just to let you know building a robot is easy. I’d recomend reading a book. Try this on for size.
This book I read and loved. Enjoy!!!
From: Noah
Uhm, impatience is not what
Uhm, impatience is not what you should have:) Waiting for parts or cold logical thinking is a big part.
Be warned that at the beginning it is frustrating and expensive to get in, but then it gets funnier and cheaper as you go. Show and tell with others helps the mood and logging your progress here helps to find best solutions.
As skills mechanics, electronics, programming are the keys, 3d modeling helps if you have a 3d printer, data mining if you want cheaper materials