Robotics project and other updates
Yes, I realise it has been nearly a year since I last posted on my blog. To be honest, I stopped because I no longer had anything of interest to say. I want to keep the blog full of quality content, and so I didn’t want to ramble about my life, since that most likely doesn’t interest many of you. Instead, I plan on using this blog to post more news thats important to me, and to voice my opinion on such goings on. Also, it will be my place to update any of my future projects, such as the potato canon.
So, about the robotics. I’ve liked the idea of robots for a long time, and I’m itching to try build something. It will be very basic and largely just to teach myself about more electronics. Can anyone provide any ideas for me? I want to do a full design before I go out and buy anything, or build anything for that matter. My friend Takumi suggested Meccano parts for the physical arrangements, and it seems like a very good idea. I see they also have nice wheels and so on, even some small electric motors. What household objects are worth raiding for parts? I’d like to get everything I can for free, as I can see this project getting very expensive very quickly.
As for an update on my life, I’m currently studying Electrical Engineering at the University of Cape Town in the Western Cape, South Africa. Really enjoying it at the moment, although exams have been keeping me busy. I have a 4 year contract with my bursar Fluor Corp, and I will work for them when I finish my degree.
If anyone has anything they’d like to see on my blog, in keeping with the themes of course, I will consider it. Just let me know by posting on the site. For now though, its back to Matlab revision.
4 comments so far
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dude have you checked out the Lego Mindstorms kits? quite pricey though.
I suggest starting out basic by building a vehicle and modifying/adding to it from there.
Yeah I have, the new Mindstorm is nice, but very expensive. Also, I won’t learn much by just buying a robot. I want to build it myself.
Dude, build an RC model car or something, but do the electronics and controls etc. yourself. Just to get the basics of robotics and robotic manipulation I reckon its a good starting point.
The essence of robotics lies in the control algorithms, aka the electronics. YOu need to cut out spending time developing mechanicals, and spend more time on figuring how to get your bot to do shit. Meccano is a good start wrt mechanicals. Lego mindstorms might also be a good start, but I believe that at your level, you will very very quickly outgrow the programming potential of the mindstorm setup. You will then probably get stuck into PIC programming, which is a stepping stone to full microprocessor programming. Then the fun will really begin.