im a complete novice as far as robotics is concerned and am looking for a good project to learn the basics. iv been adviced to use an arduino kit but there seems to be allot of differant ones out there.
could anyone recommend a good kit which will contain everything i need? I aready have tools on order (soldering iron, screw drivers, dremel etc.) just need a good kit with clear, educational instructions. i dont really mind what the robot does as long as i learn from it. maybe a line follower of a collision avoider.
my budget is £300 but that is flexable. really appreciate any help that can be given. thanks.
Thanks for the advice guys. The Zumo looks great but its a little underwhelming on the construction side of things. looks pretty much like a few clicks and your done.
Will i learn anything other than programming from these machines? or are they as simple as they look?
Eightshot:
Thanks for the advice guys. The Zumo looks great but its a little underwhelming on the construction side of things. looks pretty much like a few clicks and your done.
Will i learn anything other than programming from these machines? or are they as simple as they look?
I've got a Zumo and yep it's minutes' work to assemble mechanically. If you want more on the mechanical side, you can go as basic or complex as you like if you build something from scratch. Meccano (= Erector set) is a good base for that: then you could start with a chassis of your own design. Beauty of that kind of thing is that it's totally flexible.
I didn't get a Zumo shield: so I had / have more to do on the electronics side. Again, more flexible. When I last worked on mine I had the motors driven by a Pololu 2130 and I have still to fit some of their line follower sensors. Last I did was add Wixels to give control from PC over wireless USB.
Bottom line I think is, the more of a complete kit you buy the less scope you have for experimenting... YMWV
Hi all,
I too have a Zumo, yes 10 minutes and it's done!! What a disapointment! But I have obstacle detection with U/S sensor, speed control with PWM, An LCD for various messages, a Tilt switch in case it climbs a bit too high and lands on it's back. I need to add better direction control, so a right/left turn is something like 90 degs, based on time (Delay) it varies with battery power! I really need to try the HMC5883 but it scares my a bit, looked at a few bits of code all seem very complex and I can't see one that just gives you N,S E and west, etc..
I used a cheap Nano, this I like for it's size, it's on a expansion shield with lots of headers for signals, etc.
Thanks for the advice all. really appreciate the input. im still a bit stumped as to what im going to get. im leaning toward the zumo but would like to get some soldering done so that i feel like I've really built something. that may or may not sound daft
Thanks terry, ill probaby be getting a few things like those starter sets along the line. but for now im restraining my creativity and sticking with kits. Once i have a basic knowledge of how to do everything at a decent enough level im going to be building my own machine from scratch. This is all really for the learning experiance more than anything else.
Again, thanks for all the help. more suggestions are of course welcome.
Thanks for the advice all. really appreciate the input. im still a bit stumped as to what im going to get. im leaning toward the zumo but would like to get some soldering done so that i feel like I've really built something. that may or may not sound daft smiley
No that don't sound silly, the real fun is in the building, make a few compremises, make a few mistakes, we all do it and it's the only way to really learn anything!!
The Zumo's great fun, I too did'nt go for the shield, but made my own, on a proto-shield-board on this I have motor driver module, buzzer, battery checking, U/S object detection, and I2c LCD, etc all running on 4 x AA Nihm. I am about to start unsing Li-ion/poly batteries at 3.7v each.. (once they arrive from China).
Round bots are popular, here's a couple of pics of what I'm working on now, on the paper is my circuit (PCB layout) for the IR transcevers to detect a black line for line follwing or detecting the edge of the table, in hope that it will not fall off.
Cactusface:
on a proto-shield-board on this I have motor driver module, buzzer, battery checking, U/S object detection, and I2c LCD, etc all running on 4 x AA Nihm.
haha, i have no idea what half of that is Totally new to this, remember.
Hi Eightshot,
Then all the more reason to get stuck in!! All these things I mentioned are in the forum, look them up!, lots of threads on all these subjects. You can't always learn from a book, you need to get started, the forum will help you, but no ones going to give you private lessons, well I might at a price!!
Try to get a better idea of what you want this buggy to do, and where you want it to do it, smooth floor or carpet? or in the Garden? if you take a look at my site, there's a bot I build using Tamiya parts (I'm also a model builder) a Tamiya twin motor/gearbox (£9ish) Tamiya wheel/track set (£9ish) and Tamiya base plates, then all you need is any Arduino, a motor driver (and or shield) and some simple sensors, etc.
Hi Cactus. in all honestly, my only goal at the moment is to learn.
Iv settled on the zumo for now as it seems a fairly basic kit which i learn some programming from (i've been trying to learn C++ but i hear that should translate to java knowledge quite easily). for the first few builds it will be purely a learning experiance with kits. after that ive already started working on some mechanical plans for my own build (im a CG artist/games designer by trade[3ds max if that means anything to you.]) I think my biggest weakness is going to be the programming to start with, as such maybe not getting too bogged down with construction is the best way to go.
Totally new to this, remember. 
) so will let you know how it goes.