Page 37 - Robot Builder's Bonanza

6 WELCOME TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF ROBOTICS!

• Kids respond to robots in ways that can actually help them to develop interpersonal skills.
There are even some robots used as therapy for children with certain learning and social
disorders

MOST OF ALL, ROBOTICS IS FUN!

It’s okay to build robots just for kicks. Really!
Challenge yourself to a new project, and enjoy a hobby shared by many others worldwide.
Share your designs on a blog or forum. Enter a competition to see whose robot is fastest or
strongest. Post a video of your robot on YouTube, and show it off.

The Building- Block Approach

Robots are made of many individual parts that act as modules or subsystems. So a great way
to learn about amateur- made robots is to construct individual components, then combine
them to make a finished, fully functional machine.
The robots you create are made from building blocks, so making changes and updates to
them is relatively simple. When designed and constructed properly, the building blocks, like
those in Figure 1-3, may be shared among a variety of robots. To save time and money, it’s
not unusual to reuse parts as you experiment with new robot designs.
Most of the building- block designs presented
in this book are complete, working subsystems.
Some operate without ever being attached to a
robot or control computer. The way you con-
nect the modules is up to you. You can experi-
ment with each part, altering it and improving
upon it. When it works the way you want, incor-
porate it into your robot or save it for a future
project.

Lower Costs, Better Bots

Homebrew robotics used to be expensive and
time consuming. Weak electronic brains limited
what the finished robot could do. No longer.
Amateur robots are now:

• Lower cost. It’s possible to build a fairly sophis-
ticated autonomous robot for less than $75,
with only ordinary tools. Similar robots used to
cost $500 or $600 and required specialized
gear to make.
Figure 1-3 The basic building blocks of a fully • Simpler. Thanks to ready- made sensors, spe-
functional robot include a computer control or other cialty electronics, and prefab parts, it’s much
central processor, a drive system for mobility, and easier to construct robots by putting together
various sensors. construction blocks.

01-chapter-1.indd 6 4/21/11 11:42 AM