Where to begin with programming for robotics?

Question

Ok so i've been interested in robotics for a while and had a project in mind. Building a small remote controlled vehicle-robot/ unmanned vehicle-robot. Hopefully with the ability to read in data from sensory devices(gps,thermometer etc) and write the data to some kind of device. The idea(s) had been on the backburner for a while until i just read the following article.

So my question is this. Where should I begin. I have absolutely no experience in this at all other than a few google searches and my project idea. I would like to play around with programming the micro controller boards. I know some java .net languages and some C.

Any help on where to begin?

How do you design the robot, what steps do you go through from start to finish.

Thanks.

Solution 1

If you are interested in the programming side you can start with something like Lego MINDSTORMS. If you are more interested in the electronics side you may want to check out some of the kits on Parallax and The Robot Store.

You will find a mix of languages and platforms so really pick your favorite languages and find something in your price range. Robotics can be very fun (and very time consuming.)

BTW, you can make a pretty cool robot with just an RC car and a BASIC Stamp. And if you have a parallel port on your computer you can interface your computer to the RC car for even more power.

Solution 2

Lego Mindstorms is a surprisingly robust system, and lets you focus more on what you'd actually like to accomplish. There are systems which will let you program in something other than the visual language that comes with the kit, which I preferred.

Or you can get a starter kit from VEX, which will include either a PIC or a Cortex microcontroller, along with a programming system. The VEX kit is like an Erector set with brains and motors. :-)

Solution 3

The Arduino is a very popular platform among hobbyists. It's basically a programmable board with several inputs and outputs. I highly recommend starting out with it for its ease of use and large support community.

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments

Several people have made tutorials on building robots with an Arduino as the controller. This one is pretty cool.

Solution 4

Robocode is a robotics simulation game, but it's a good place for a Java developer to start.

I can also recommend the books Linux Robotics: Programming Smarter Robots and Robot Builder's Bonanza for really good start-to-finish guides on building and programming robots.

Myke Predko also has a good book called Programming Robot Controllers.

Solution 5

Microsoft have Robotocs Developer Studio.

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