Getting started in robotics

[audiemurphy]

Hi! I'm new here. I am also new to robotics, but I would really like to get into it more. I was wondering what is a good starting point. I know nothing about programming.

[cdraptor]

Well robotics is composed of a number of skills - electronics, mechanical and programming. I come from a programming background and I've learned a heck of a lot about the electronics in pushing myself to develop some ground up things. Mechanical for me is the most complex and I'm relying a lot on kits and companies such as Lynxmotion for brackets and hardware pieces.

Since you say you don't have a lot of knowledge in programming you could look at the Lego Mindstorms NXT - you program the logic of the NXT with their NXT-G programming environment which is very graphically based. Following the examples well help you gather a better understanding of programming logic, loops, conditionals and using variables, etc.

Another approach is to look at Basic Stamp or Basic Atom and getting a development board kit - they have a nice Basic Stamp Kit at Radio Shack where you can learn how to utilize the Basic Stamp to interact with electronic circuits. It comes with a Servo and examples on how to utilize PWM to control servos - so if you have skills in electronics this is nice way to interface a microprocessor and programming to that. Basic is a very easy language which on the microprocessor can provide a great deal of functionality.

One of the nicest overall kits if your not very concerned about the electronics is the Bioloid Kit - if you get the comprehensive kit you can build a variety of Robots including a full-size Bioloid - I have this kit and it was a great learning example of how you can combine servos to create various robot activities.

The BRAT kit from Lynxmotion is another great kit, it comes with the servo controller SSC-32 you connect to the PC and can control that with very simple commands. You can also buy the Sequencer program from Lynxmotion that makes it even easier to use. One thing I really like about the Lynxmotion is getting the BRAT your in the first step of being able to buy additional SES (Servo Erector Set) hardware components, moving around/swaping out servos - adding on something like Bot Board which you can put a Basic Stamp, Basic Atom or Atom Pro to create basic code to drive the servo controller board or servos directly. It's a really nice kit for experimentation.

Links for you:
http://mindstorms.lego.com/eng/default.aspx - Lego NXT

http://www.robotis.com/ - Robotis Bioloid (you can buy on Robosavvy)

http://www.lynxmotion.com/ - Lynxmotion

[audiemurphy]

Thanks. I'll have to look into those. I know a little bit about electronics, so that should help. What programming language is usually used to program humanoids? Also, how does bioloid do in competition?

[Droid Works]

Parallax offers very inexpensive robot kits this give you the basic understanding of micro processors, sensors and programing. here is the site if your interested.

http://www.parallax.com/