Robot Subjects and Links

Updated Sept 2012

Simulation

Robotics Simulation Environments: Experiment with movement, communication and control amongst groups of bots. Projects include:

 

3d Modeling

For prototyping, planning, simulation, engineering, and of course, marketing.

 

  • Blender
  • Sketchup
  • Solidworks
  • Autocad
  • OpenSCAD
  • Art Of Illusion
  • Meshlab

 

 

3d Printing

 

How to Get Started

There are many aspects to the world of robotics. Some of the major specialties include:
  • mechanical engineering
  • electrical / circuits
  • computer programming
  • embedded programming
  • 3d modeling
  • simulation
  • parts & procurement
  • manufacturing overseas 
  • promotion, marketing, sales

 

Platforms

Atmel, Parallax, and some other companies manufacture various chips that allow you to program them on your computer and load the code onto the chip. The chip is then connected to the robot's sensors and motors, which it controls.

Other products use the chips above, along with more circutry to build a more complete 'board'. They generally offer to handle more of the details involved with controling motors or communicating with a computer during operation.

Manufacturers

Direct links to makers of various parts.

Sensors

Things that detect the physical world: sight, sound, touch, temperature, etc...

Actuators

Things that move or create some sort of action in the physical world.

Forums

Some of the most helpful information can be found in forum archives and by asking knowledgeable people for help.

Info

These very comprehensive resources are from the Usenet newsgroups on robotics.

Toys

Don't be fooled! You can take these apart and rebuild 'em bigger and better!

Programming

At some point you will want to give your chip/board/robot some instructions for what to do. Depending on the platform and the setup, you'll have a few options to do this. You may have to learn a language such as C, Basic, Java, Logo, or Python.

 
This is called "autofabrik" and is apparently building lego cars.

Projects

These personal projects show off the creativity of their inventors.

PRopaganda

Explore the industry and keep up to date with the state of the art. These pages are mainly written by enthusiasts like you.

Suppliers

Things to buy: books, chips, boards, resistors, soldering iron, interfaces, software, motors, servos, complete robots, robotic arms, and many, many more.

Learning

Formal (classes) or informal (personal projects) show you how to use the equipment linked to on this page.

Link Lists

For even more time spent on the web...

Articles

Hydraulics and Pneumatics magazine articles