Author Topic: How Did You Get Interested In Robotics (Read 4619 times)

voyager2 · « **on:** June 28, 2010, 01:09:50 AM »

I've been wondering just howYOU got interested in robots.
I've been interested since I first got that LEGO Mindstorms Microscout...
But how did YOU get interested? ? ? ?

Joker94 · « **Reply #1 on:** June 28, 2010, 03:04:29 AM »

well i had been interested in electronics for a while and i love to build stuff so mechatronics/robotics was a way i could combine the 2.

First i started with the $50 robot but after that i just went around experimenting following what i was interested in and working on what i felt like.

I think the best thing about robotics is there is no right or wrong answer. you can do what you want to do when you want to do it.

I to am a student and find ways to come up with good robot designs and good robots.

Cheers

Joker94

amando96 · « **Reply #2 on:** June 28, 2010, 05:47:33 AM »

When i was 9 years old i built cybot(robot kit), then got really sick and almost died(unrelated to cybot, lol) and got back to robotics about 2 years ago.

I never quite got what made interested in it, i used to do electronics before doing cybot, so i guess i was sick of blinking leds and wanted something that moved

Pratheek · « **Reply #3 on:** June 28, 2010, 06:29:37 AM »

A few years back I read an article about hobby robotics in a magazine and got stuck with robotics ever since.

random robots · « **Reply #4 on:** June 28, 2010, 06:32:51 AM »

couple of years agos i got a snap circuits and so as soon as i was interested in electronics i was interested in robotics.

SmAsH · « **Reply #5 on:** June 28, 2010, 02:33:10 PM »

I actually don't know... I think i just stumbled across SoR one day...

madsci1016 · « **Reply #6 on:** June 28, 2010, 03:02:31 PM »

Lego Mindstorms V1 back in the day I was as young as most the players around here. Nothing like flashing your program over a 9V powered Infrared tower. ( one of the first methods of wireless bootloading I guess) Who needs that fancy Blue-Tooth?

Then I went to High School and lost interest. (Darn girls and all)
Then picked back up as I left college.

Ro-Bot-X · « **Reply #7 on:** June 28, 2010, 05:27:07 PM »

As a kid I was playing a lot with Mecano (Erector for US people) building cranes, cars, etc. Then I saw Star Wars, A New Hope. I fell in love with R2D2, I even built a small one from a clear plastic ruler. Some years after, I saw Short Circuit. Oh my... Then in 2001 I went to a flea market in US and found Nuts and Volts magazine. To my surprise, I read an article about building a small robot. I started to search the net to find out more info and there was the RIS kit. I bought one from Target and built my first Johny 5 robot in an afternoon. Programming it took months... After 4 years of Lego, I started to build smaller compatible controllers, then a Boe-Bot like robot kit. Someone introduced me to AVR and Bascom-AVR compiler and I made a board called Ro-Bot-X, based on a mega8. Then, in 2006 I found Arduino so I dropped Bascom and mega8 in favor of mega168 and Arduino. Also in 2006 I found SoR and wrote some tutorials. Learned a lot here over the years, but I still need to polish my programming skills.

vinito · « **Reply #8 on:** June 28, 2010, 05:55:26 PM »

I'm old, so it's a long story. But you asked so...

I used to like experimenting with those old spring-tie electronics kits from Radio Shack back when they actually had electronics stuff.

After college I was a musician and teacher, so being broke like that I got into repairing musical instruments for a living too. That evolved into getting into machining and eventually I gave up the music biz and now I'm still a machinist. Of course the technology in machining evolved and it's highly automated now. That's the kind of machines I program and run today. But I always wanted one at home. I've started working on that a little, but nothing complete so far.

Anyway, a few years ago I ran across a guy throwing out a solid state pinball machine from the 70s. It didn't work but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway. Sure enough, a bit of researching and probing and I got the thing working again, then bought another pinball machine and that was a hobby for a while. All this pinball stuff revived my interest in electronics. Rather than try to take the typical offerings from my community college for electronics classes (all online classes) I figured I could buy a book and not have a teacher for a lot less than the tuition they charge. So I looked on the net and found a local robotics club. I figured I could trade some schooling in machining for some edification in electronics. That has worked out pretty well. It's a good fit.

I'm a hobby junkie and tried most all of them over the years. Electronics, micros and robotics has proven to have by far the most bang for the buck. It's a cheap hobby that provides tons of fun for very little coin. I haven't even made that much progress over the past year, but I've had a lot of fun anyway.

monsieurpo · « **Reply #9 on:** June 28, 2010, 06:02:34 PM »

i saw the video of admin on youtube and i think it fantastic to give ``life`` to a piece of plastic with some iron but admin make me love robot

madsci1016 · « **Reply #10 on:** June 28, 2010, 06:04:05 PM »

Quote from: vinito on June 28, 2010, 05:55:26 PM

I used to like experimenting with those old spring-tie electronics kits from Radio Shack back when they actually had electronics stuff.

Haha, I forgot about those. In middle school I bought every version RadioShack sold. I loved them. I even had one taped to my bedroom door operating as a ~~burglar~~ brother alarm. They still sell one version today, that I recommend every kid should buy.

voyager2 · « **Reply #11 on:** June 28, 2010, 08:36:59 PM »

Quote from: voyager2 on June 28, 2010, 01:09:50 AM

I've been wondering just howYOU got interested in robots.
I've been interested since I first got that LEGO Mindstorms Microscout...
But how did YOU get interested? ? ? ?

Oh and we mean you too Admin!

Choco_liger · « **Reply #12 on:** June 29, 2010, 04:06:29 AM »

Quote from: voyager2 on June 28, 2010, 08:36:59 PM

Quote from: voyager2 on June 28, 2010, 01:09:50 AM
I've been wondering just howYOU got interested in robots.
I've been interested since I first got that LEGO Mindstorms Microscout...
But how did YOU get interested? ? ? ?
Oh and we mean you too Admin!

He sorta does say it in the $50 dollar robot tutorial.

http://www.societyofrobots.com/step_by_step_robot_step1.shtml

I'm really doing it as a extension of science.

frostyg02uk · « **Reply #13 on:** July 01, 2010, 01:37:24 PM »

Probably not as inspiring as everyone elses but I decided to make my own robot through boredom and of not wanting to pay 260UK pounds on a robot someone else made.

WhomBom · « **Reply #14 on:** July 01, 2010, 05:06:05 PM »

as a kid i was fascinated by robots and ofcourse i had my driving-around-making-shooting-noises humanoid mid 90's. when i was about ten my dad gave me a box full of e-motors and some batteries, with that i played and after he made me a wooden propellor i even made a boat (which sank... inevitable i guess)
By the time i was like 13 i made my own circuit that converted ac into dc ( dont know the english name..) with led's. then by the time i turned 16 i got a moped, and lost all interes in electronics.
New mission was making that 50cc two stroke (Zuendapp for european based readers) go as fast as i could.
When i turned 19 i got my motorcycle license and yet another new mission was born; upgrading my starter bike (suzuki gs500e) to be able to withstand the torture i put it through as i was convinced i was valentino rossi reincarnated. I fitted better forks, brakes, big exhaust etc.
then after about 4 crashes i made my big one, and ended up in the hospital, nothing too serious but it made me rethink stuff.

some time later i stumbled across SoR, made my first diff. drive bot, then another which failed, and another that did not fail and now im working on a quadruped....

Razor Concepts · « **Reply #15 on:** July 01, 2010, 05:44:51 PM »

Thirty-five years ago I was climbing mount Kukawaka deep in the Himalayas. I became separated from my party, and for six days and nights I blundered through snow and sleet. Finally, on the seventh day, I reached a cliff where I sought shelter in an old cave. But I was not alone, as a monk was meditating in the cave. He said, "I have been meditating for the past twenty years, and throughout those twenty years I have forseen your coming. Go, go to the society of robots and learn!" He then gave me an old laundry reciept with the letters "societyofrobots.com/robotforum" scratched into it. And that is my story.

voyager2 · « **Reply #16 on:** July 01, 2010, 08:18:25 PM »

Quote from: Razor Concepts on July 01, 2010, 05:44:51 PM

Thirty-five years ago I was climbing mount Kukawaka deep in the Himalayas. I became separated from my party, and for six days and nights I blundered through snow and sleet. Finally, on the seventh day, I reached a cliff where I sought shelter in an old cave. But I was not alone, as a monk was meditating in the cave. He said, "I have been meditating for the past twenty years, and throughout those twenty years I have forseen your coming. Go, go to the society of robots and learn!" He then gave me an old laundry reciept with the letters "societyofrobots.com/robotforum" scratched into it. And that is my story.

Pretty unbelievable...
SoR wasn't around 35 years ago...

Webbot · « **Reply #17 on:** July 01, 2010, 09:37:47 PM »

Hey - I know that monk !

He owes me $5

SmAsH · « **Reply #18 on:** July 02, 2010, 01:08:00 AM »

Quote from: voyager2 on July 01, 2010, 08:18:25 PM

Quote from: Razor Concepts on July 01, 2010, 05:44:51 PM
Thirty-five years ago I was climbing mount Kukawaka deep in the Himalayas. I became separated from my party, and for six days and nights I blundered through snow and sleet. Finally, on the seventh day, I reached a cliff where I sought shelter in an old cave. But I was not alone, as a monk was meditating in the cave. He said, "I have been meditating for the past twenty years, and throughout those twenty years I have forseen your coming. Go, go to the society of robots and learn!" He then gave me an old laundry reciept with the letters "societyofrobots.com/robotforum" scratched into it. And that is my story.
Pretty unbelievable...
SoR wasn't around 35 years ago...

Why can humor never succeed on any message boards -_-

frostyg02uk · « **Reply #19 on:** July 02, 2010, 02:36:43 AM »

The Monk also fore-saw this ;op

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Author Topic: How Did You Get Interested In Robotics (Read 4619 times)