Robotics

BEAM robotics is generally very inexpensive (a few dollars per robot), and (relatively) simple, so that might be a good place to start. Do you know any electronics yet?

EDIT: Also, if you do decide to learn BEAM robotics, I'd recommend starting by learning about the Nv (nervous) and the Nu (neural) neurons. They're pretty much the basic components of every BEAM robot. There is a BEAM robotics encyclopedia here.

Hey, I haven't tried this myself but I've researched the area of available robots a whole bunch and to spare you the trouble let me inform you of what I've found out:

Go get a basic STAMP robot kit, manufactured by Parralax.
If you are less ambitious, you can get a complete one, and just program it.
If you are more ambitious, the basic stamp can easily be attached to any creation of your own.

Oh, I'm sorry I forgot about the price. These kits cost about 199 dollars. Perhaps you're after somehting cheaper, but if I were to invest in anything it's a basic stamp even if it's pricier than the rest.

There's much more available documentation about it than any other kit, since it's muchly used by universities.

I would not buy a kit myself, though, since I'm incredibly ambitious. I would only buy the basic stamp and assemble the entire robot myself, which is actually cheaper to start with (since it's like 50 bucks). Altough building everything myself would in the end probably be more expensive, you don't pay any huge sums of money at a single time which allows you to back out easily.

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Original post by Roboguy Do you know any electronics yet?

Err... no, I know nothing. Well, very little, anyway. I think trying to assemble anything myself would be beyond me, and by the time you've got shipping to the UK and customs charges on that STAMP kit, tis gonna be somewhat out of my price range :(

The (well, it looks the same to me) same kit thingy is only $150 at radioshack, here. Pity they don't ship to the UK

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Original post by Charli Quote: Original post by Roboguy Do you know any electronics yet? Err... no, I know nothing. Well, very little, anyway. I think trying to assemble anything myself would be beyond me, and by the time you've got shipping to the UK and customs charges on that STAMP kit, tis gonna be somewhat out of my price range :(

STAMP chips are horribly overpriced. Picaxe chips use the same language (simplified BASIC) and are a fraction of the cost. Not to mention that RevEd are British, so you'll pay very little for postage and packaging. I've used them quite a lot and really like them for the ease of use and they come with some great functions (IR comms, serial comms, PS/2 keyboard support, that sort of thing).

I'd recomend taking a look at PICAXE microcontrollers. They're cheap, easy to setup (the documentation provided is written so that people in secondary school studying electronics GCSE can understand it) and they're programmed using a simple BASIC style language. There's a little robot project kit available from that website you might want to take a look at.

Though before jumping into robotics I would suggest you study the principles of electronics as well as practical skills such as soldering.

[edit]Curse you Ben and your fiendish typing skills [razz][/edit]

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Original post by Monder Though before jumping into robotics I would suggest you study the principles of electronics as well as practical skills such as soldering.

I can solder, which is something I guess. But I only know electronics up to as far as they teach you at physics GCSE, to say, not an awful lot.

uh-oh! Turns out my previous investigation had a big hole in it!

I didn't know about these PICAXE controllers. They seem to rock!
I think I will buy one sooner than I originally thought.....

thanks!

Lego Mindstorm Robotics for the win.

Get them on ebay.

Have you got any ideas about what robot I should build?

I want to make one which actually does something, rather than just running around. I am not afraid to make an outdoor robot at all, in fact I think it would be more fun.

I could have it move around and map the area. But that's also sorta useless.
Perhaps I would make a "base-charging-station" and one robot which keeps returning to the station to charge up.

But what task would the robot actually perform in the area?

Have any better ideas??

The Parallax BASIC stamps like NQ mentioned appear to be a solid deal, but as has been stated they are quite expensive. The company that produces them though has excellent support for the product, online discussion forums for it, and all that sort of stuff.

Their BOE bot kit would probably be a decent starting point, but I don't own one myself.

I opted for the SX series chips. On the order of $5 or so for the whole thing, just need power and if you want over 4MHz an external clock. It however doesn't use BASIC, instead opting for assembly. (Edit: Just remembered that Parallax released a BASIC compiler for it, but I would still recommend you start with a BASIC chip) It is far more powerful though, I have a simple design planned out that with about 6-7 of these working together I could build a camera system that tracked moving targets, even while the camera pans around. (I doubt it would work though, haven't got the parts or anything yet.)

A BASIC chip of some sort would be ideal, but I'm not certain how cheap you could get one.

I'd still recommend the Parallax stuff (mostly the BOE bot or something), since the SX chip I got from them had excellent documentation and the like.

Good luck regardless of what you choose though.