I need some help desiding what my next robot project should be. Anyone have any great ideas. I would like to keep the cost relatively low.
Hrm…
Something like this ends up bringing more questions than answers.
I’d like to ask:
What’s your exact price range?
What’s your experience?
Do you want autonomous control, or manual?
What parts do you already have?
How simple/complicated do you want it to be?
Do you want a firm backing in programming (like the walkers have), or do you want to forge your own path?
But, since even those answers won’t narrow it down too much, I’ll just list some ideas that you can throw out if they don’t suit you:
Servo Snake
I saw Mark Tilden’s (popular robo-guy) servo snake a while back and it got me pretty interested. I think MIT (or maybe some other college) is making their own servo snake, now, and I saw some pics of it doing rather neat things.
Ball Factories
Ok, so they aren’t really robots, per se, but they are really fun. 
I’m sure that servos, motors, and the like will come in handy.
It’ll mean a lot of making your own parts, though.
Useful Devices
You can make a robot that goes out and fetches the mail, gets you drinks, walks the dog, etc.
Battle Bots
I have always wanted to build a battle bot and mount an arc welder on it. I fancy thinking that this is a new idea, but for all I know, it could be a common weapon, illegal in the tournaments, or simply impossible to do. (I don’t really know how an arc welder works… I’ll put that on my “To Learn” list and file it in the “Distant Future” folder.)
You lost me, what would be the point of the arc welder? Attach the ground to your opponent, weld them to the floor and render them incapacitated? 
That’d be fun to program, make a robot lay a perfect bead!
You guys are killing me with this humor.
It does help soothe the pain of waiting on the good stuff to come though. 
This will be my first project also so i know where you are coming from. I chose the walking stick for my first walker. a much better first time atempt than a biped. I say jump in with one foot till you learn more then go at it with both feet. Thants my opinion anyway.
Forrest
You should always follow your gut. You are doing the right thing. I look forward to seeing everyones projects down the road. It will be alot of fun.
About the feet thing…
There’s a ton of foot sayings that will agree with you…
namely:
“Put your best foot foreward.”
“Look before you leap.”
“One foot in the grave.”
“Two left feet.”
…and undoubtedly others which I have forgotten.
Yet, in my book, they’re all overridden by the age old saying:
“Two feet are better than one.”
True, but as i said my opinion. Anyway i would rather have a hard time with the walking stick and figure things out as far as electronics then on to the better things like bipeds with the knowledge ive learned from the walking stick. Not arguing, just proving my point of view.
forrest
Lol, I’m not arguing either, I just enjoy cracking jokes.
I bow to your (probably smarter) idea of taking smaller steps, but concede that I am too impatient to follow suit.
Oh, and Jrdrag, I did warn you that I had no idea how arc welders worked. My hope was to either super-heat the electrical components or hit them with a greater amount of electricity than they can handle. Would it do either of those?
However, that ‘stick em like glue’ scenario does have its apeals.
What kind of power input does an arc welder need?
How small can you get them?
See what you did?!?!?!
I have too many things to learn!
Stop getting me interested in new things, lol.
First you would have to figure out how to ground your opponent to the negative end of your welder rig. you will be passing current from the positive end “the stinger” of the welder to the grounded object. on the end of the stinger is a welding rod that heats up and melts with the host metal. Lots of amps. May not be legal in an organized event. more than likely you will zap “fry” his and maybe your electronics. I was a welder for 3 years in my early years.
forrest.
I would like to keep the price range below 200 dollars. I already have the Mini-ABB and the SCC-32. The snake design sounds really neat. Also, in the future I would like to build a battle bot. (there have been a lot of puns in this forum )