If you want to learn robotics because it’s cool – we agree with you. it’s very cool to turn earth into something that does your bidding! Consider this, humans mine the earth for minerals, elements, and compounds; then we use these raw materials to construct computers, motors, wheels, sensors and other hardware. With the right skills we can combine these parts together and build a robot to perform some action! Wow! Humans literally take earth and make it do our bidding. Incredible eh?! If you find robotics exciting, then we are very alike, and the only difference between us at this point is our skill set.
We are not the right environment for your very first steps in learning robotics. However, since we all are robotics fans, once we get a robot built and acting cool, we will invite you to take a look at it. We promise. Send us an email with the subject line reading “I want to see the robot”, and when the first robot is ready, you will get to see it.
As of right now, we do not have the resources to invest in people who are at the beginning of their robotics journey. Sorry; we still have so much to learn and achieve ourselves that we cannot invest in your first steps. There are tons of resources online for beginners.
Truth be told, there are many paths you can take to develop the skills needed to build robots. Rather than laying out a path to follow (as everyone has different circumstances), here is a list of what we believe you need to learn to get a decent foundation to get going with robots:
Learn a programming language and write some code. Python seems like an easier type language to learn. There are a sea of tutorials online.
Learn a bit about basic electrical theory. What is AC and DC? You need to be able to create a very simple circuit. Focus on over-current protection!
Learn a bit about actuators and their characteristics. Focus on DC solenoids, DC motors, stepper motors.
Take apart a bicycle and put it back together. What? Yep, do it. This will teach you about hand tools, and a ton of mechanical principles like “don’t force it”, and “use the right tool for the job”. After you put the bike back together, use it frequently to get accurate feedback about the kind of mechanical skills you still need to improve.
Learn a bit about a means to make two computers communicate. You can learn about Serial communication, Ethernet, whatever. You need to make two computers communicate.
If you can do all these things and understand how everything works, you will be able to wire a motor to power through a relay, and wire the relay coil to an Arduino output. Next you should be able to write a PC program to communicate with your Arduino; meaning you download code into your Arduino that can communicate with code running on your PC. Implement your custom communication protocol and now your PC can give commands to turn on and off a motor. If you can carry out these tasks and want to build a robot, come see us with a plan for your robot, and we will help you.