Newbie Robotics Projects

Factual Questions
1

Not sure which forum this belongs in, so I’ll try here, and risk the moderators’ wraths.

I’ve been thinking, lately, about getting into some robotics projects mostly because I’m getting burnt out on the pure software projects at home that I’ve been tending to get myself into of late.

At the risk of being immodest, I think I would be somewhat unsatisfied and unchallenged with a kit that sported no sensors of some nature (mechanical, electrical). I’ve been writing embedded software for some years now at work, so I’m familiar with realtime systems, interrupt level and driver gunk, multithreading, sensor polling, etc, etc, at the software side, both in assembler, and C/C++.

While I’m not a control theory guru, and generally a software guy, I can (albeit painfully sometimes) solder connections, and hook up an oscilloscope or logic analyzer, and I’ve taken the time to self-augment my education where too feeble to proceed.

I’m forced to admit I have to be realistic in cost about my geeky toys, both software and hardware, but some minimally decent gear is presumably required to not get hideously frustrated.

So, my question is:

What kinds of software and equipment am I likely to need to be able to start playing in robotics projects? Can anyone recommend some good but nontrivial kits? In the absence of kits, are there clubs or stores that cater to basic parts? (sensors, motors, CPU, etc) Anyone care to share their trials and tribulations with similar ventures?

2

I highly recommend Mobile Robots. It’s on my bookshelf.

3

Here’s a good start: http://www.lynxmotion.com/

They have a number of kits as well as individual parts and links to robotics clubs.

Also realize you can get some software programs that allow you to program robots (some are games but allow a fair bit of latitude). One such game is Roboforge ( http://www.roboforge.com ). Yes, your goal is to blow other things up but it is cheap compared to building your own robot and might give you some ideas before moving into real robotics (not for sci-fi/warrior robots but rather what types of programming they respond best to).

4

I personally did the same thing a few years ago (got sick of software only hobby projects and wanted to do robotics), and settled on Lego Mindstorms. I like it because it’s much more flexible than most of the robot kits out there. For example, the basic kit can build most of the kits on the lynxmotion.com site for a lot less money. I was also turned off by the fact that a lot of the “robot” kits out there are really just glamorized R/C cars.

Don’t even bother with the Mindstorms software. Get and install http://www.baumfamily.org/nqc/ NQC, it’s a c-like programming language for the mindstorms brick. There are also IDEs and a ton of other support software out there for it, not to mention tons of websites with designs, ideas and code. There are also several books on the subject.

Of course, if your goal is to spend hours trying to debug analog circuts, this probably isn’t the route to go. If you want to actually have something that can walk around the room after an afternoon of tinkering, it’s great.

That’s not to say it’s trivial or just a kids toy. I recently built a prototype CNC mill that took the better part of three weeks and more than 1000 pieces to complete.

Actually, I’ve also been looking at non-lego do-it-yourself CNC mills. I’ve found some places like http://www.hobbycnc.com/ that sell kits, and other places and people that sell plans. That might be something to look at if you have an aversion to buying things for yourself at Toys R Us.

5

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I’ll start looking into these websites. :slight_smile:

6

You might also check out http://www.nutsvolts.com/
There is (or was) a regular robotics column/article.

If you don’t want to solder and stuff, I’ll second the recomendations for Lego Mindstorms. Tho not from direct experience.

The BASIC STamp is popular, but with you experience you may be better off with doing the assembly code directly (poke* around at http://www.rentron.com/pic.htm )

Brian
who with extreme willpower has not bought LM yet
*pun intended

7

What aspects of robots? Building (designing) them or programming them? Big world of difference in the industrial world, and then there are all sorts of specialties therein. For example, drive systems, geometry, I/O, electronics on the hardware side, or kernal-level stuff (all the fancy math), OS level stuff (make it work), and user-level stuff (program the moves).

8

I’m okay with soldering. I’ve heard the MindStorms stuff is really cool, but also quite expensive of which to get a sufficiently interesting quantity. However, after some minor words of praise here, I’ll take a look.

9

Actually, I’m getting interested in all of those aspects, Balthisar. My strength, obviously, is in the software side of things, and I’ve been all over the map in the software related categories you’ve mentioned.

I’m unlikely to spin my own custom microcontroller on a Xilinx chip, mind, but I suspect I could find existing generic hardware for controlling the robot. Heck, some sort of interface via wires or wireless just to a PC would work for me, if I can’t find an on-robot solution.

10

Personally I’ve gone on ebay and gotten a few of the old Robotix kits. Quite often the motors don’t work so be careful what you bid on. I put my own brain and driver in place of the robotix switches. A PIC chip and a few transistors is really all you need.

Motors tend to be one of the most expensive parts. I’ve found that the cheap cordless screwdrivers are a good source for motors that are already geared down to something usable and have a fair amount of torque behind them as well.