Robotics Kits

[Floppyman]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some physics projects that in tie computers into them and came across robotics today. This is starting to interest me. Does anyone know of some good robotics kits out there where I would need to build a robot first and then program it via a computer? I do have quite a bit of CS/Physics experience so I'm not too worried about the programming and building. It would be great if it would be a little bit of a challenge. Also, for right now let's say money is no issue (well within reasonable limits anyhow) All suggestions are welcome. TIA.

[j4ck]

When I was an undergraduate, I did some programming with one of the Basic Stamp microchips offered by Parallax corporation:
http://www.parallax.com/index.asp

These little suckers allow you to do all sorts of amazing things with stepper motors, lights, sounds, servos, etc. This means that you could use the Basic Stamp chip to control a robot that you construct all on your own, or you could use it to control a robot kit that you buy. There is a lot of good information on the Parallax site. I encourage you to look around there.

Here is a link on the Parallax site to a robotics company that they partner with: http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/r...hexcrawler.asp
You will notice that you can buy their "Hexcrawler" robot kit, or if you want to save money, you can visit the "robot component shop" to build your own robot piecemeal: http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/r...nents_shop.asp

Cool, huh?

[sdkfz]

Are the Lego kits to far to the consumer side for you? I understand that they can be made pretty complex

http://mindstorms.lego.com/eng/defau...mindstorms.com

[Floppyman]

Thanks for the replies guys. These sites give me some good ideas to get started with. Are there any good books out there for people just starting out with robotics? I'm afraid I'm going to get lost if I just jump right in the middle and don't have at least a little bit of background knowledge. Plus, I think it will aid me in planning the details of my project. Thanks gain.

[mattg2k4]

Yeah, there's lots of good books. I personally would recomend:

"Building Robot Drive Trains" Dennis Clark and Michael Owings. It really touches all bases, from construction, to batteries, motors, some of the basic electronics, and probably some other stuff I can't remember. It is easy to understand, and I highly recomend it if you don't know very much yet.

"Robot Builder's Bonanza" Gordon McComb. It is more complex and in depth than the previous, so if you feel you know some basics you might start with this one. It contains several complete plans for robots.

[i486]

The lego robotics version 2.0 can be made pretty complex. I would recommend this kit to start out.

[mattg2k4]

Yeah, I played with lego robots a bit, they're nice. They let you get into the building and programming of robots without learning a lot of electronics and advanced C or assembly programming. Plus, everything fits together very nicely.

If you get comfortable with those and want to go into microcontrollers like PIC and Atmel I know a couple good sites and books (for PIC anyway). I'd post the links now but I haven't reinstalled my bookmarks yet and it's late at night.

[Floppyman]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies. I've been looking at the LEGO Mindstorms kits. I'm wondering whether they would be too easy though. I'm an undergrad in college and have a pretty solid background in CS/Physics/Math so far. What do you guys think? Should I start with Mindstorms, or move on to something like the Hexcrawler right away? Thanks again.

[j4ck]

I am not familiar with Mindstorms, but if you like doing some simple programming then I can vouch for the Crawler. Messing around with those Basic Stamp microcontrollers is an absolute blast. You can even program them to play little songs.