Society of Robots - Robot Forum

General Misc => Misc => Topic started by: Poisontear on August 18, 2008, 05:37:22 AM

Title: Computer engineering and robot building
Post by: Poisontear on August 18, 2008, 05:37:22 AM
Hello everyone,

I won computer engineering for university. My point was not enough for it but luckily(or not) i was able to get in. There was electronics engineering as a choice under computer engineering, if i could'nt get in computer engineering, i was surely going to be a electronical engineer.. now i am a bit sorry because computer engineering choice was above electronics. I wanted to build robots ... can a computer engineer build nice robots too? without having electrical education from teachers, but from books and internet. Can anyone give me some morale :( wish i chose electronics...

Thanks everyone and sorry for the english.
Title: Re: Computer engineering and robot building
Post by: airman00 on August 18, 2008, 05:44:52 AM
Welcome to the forum Poisontear .

You don't even have to have a degree in engineering to build a robot! I'd say a pretty large part of the SoR community does not posses an engineering degree.
The electronics relating to robotics is pretty simple ( for the most part) so you didn't really lose out when you became a comp engineer. However, since you are a comp engineer that means you learned languages such as C, and this will be a huge benefit to you. You can just jump right in with the programming .

As for books and online tutorial there are plenty! This website has a ton of information relating to robotics .

What kind of robot are you planning to build?
Title: Re: Computer engineering and robot building
Post by: zack on August 18, 2008, 06:01:28 AM
Good advice airman!  :)
Title: Re: Computer engineering and robot building
Post by: pomprocker on August 18, 2008, 10:35:37 AM
no one is forcing you to be a computer engineer  :P

you should be allowed to go to school to do whatever you want!
Title: Re: Computer engineering and robot building
Post by: Penth on August 18, 2008, 10:46:14 AM
no one is forcing you to be a computer engineer  :P

you should be allowed to go to school to do whatever you want!

If you got the cash I'd be surprised if a school tried stopping you.
Title: Re: Computer engineering and robot building
Post by: RobD on August 18, 2008, 03:38:26 PM
My degree is not in computers or engineering.  I work with computer networks for a living, build robots for fun and write database software as a side job    ;D

A really fun route that I'm glad I chose was taking up amatuer radio.  I learned so many great things about electronics and software authoring from some really seasoned ham radio veterans.

Good luck!
Title: Re: Computer engineering and robot building
Post by: Poisontear on August 20, 2008, 08:46:26 AM
Thanks airman!

well i want to build a robot on wheels first, which just travels around the room and changes direction when crashes, and my ultimate goal is to do a well balanced two feet robot.

@pomprocker: In Turkey we enter an exam called "Student choosing exam" we must study lots of different subjects and enter, after we get the points, we choose universities in an order and send it to OSYM. computer engineering in the city i won was the 4th choice and electronics was in the 5th. thats how it works in Turkey :)
Title: Re: Computer engineering and robot building
Post by: Penth on August 20, 2008, 08:58:55 AM
Does Turkey pay for all schooling?
Title: Re: Computer engineering and robot building
Post by: Poisontear on August 20, 2008, 09:13:22 AM
you got to give a little money to the university but its nothing when compared against american universities. but there are schools which can give you education with having a lot less point and paying lots of money, but i didnt want them.
Title: Re: Computer engineering and robot building
Post by: steferfootballdude13 on August 20, 2008, 05:54:40 PM
Comp Engineering and Electrical Engineering cover much of the same material. For instance at my university MST, for a 4 year bachelor degree the first 2 years are the same, untill Computer Engineering branches off into different directions. Comp Engineering might actually give you better qualifications for robotics because all of the non-digital (analogue) stuff is relatively simple (like hooking up a DC motor to digitally controlled voltage regulators). However programing and designing circuitry is not always so cut and dry(like programing a micro controller with artificial intelligence and sensors to control the digitally controlled voltage regulators).
Title: Re: Computer engineering and robot building
Post by: RobD on August 23, 2008, 02:59:56 AM
Hi Poisontear

What city will you be attending school?  I have some good friends in the Turkish Air Force that live in Adana. 

Turkey is a beautiful country.  I once took a tour to the Cappadocia Mountains - stunning.

Good luck with your pursuits!