Hello!

[kirit]

Hello. Just wanted to say hi to the community and introduce myself. Found the site a few weeks ago and have quickly become addicted. Currently reading up on the $50 dollar robot tut and reading 26 pages worth of search results on $50 in this forum. Wanted to make sure I did my part before asking for help from you all. 

Anyways, I just went back to school to get my degree in EE at the Univ Michigan-Dearborn earlier this summer. I already have a BS from Mich State in Comp Sci. Lol, I picked the wrong major and only realized it as I was finishing my MS. Better late than never. My first courses in EE have started giving me knowledge of basic RLC circuits and logic circuits. Now that I have some basic information, I think Im ready to start tinkering with robots/electronics.

Well, let me get back to reading those search results. Also a quick thanks to Admin and the rest of the contributors of this site. Im really getting a lot from it, hopefully Ill be able to return the favor as I become more knowledge.

Kirit

[SciTech02]

Hello to you too, welcome to the forum! 

As you've already found, the information on this site is invaluable.  One thing that's best is it's not specific to a single type of robot: microcontroller and PC bots are discussed, AVR and PIC microcontrollers, Mac, Linux and Windows OS', kit robots and custom built robots are discussed.  The forum as a whole doesn't take sides (that was one reason I joined in the first place).  Do your research, read up and you'll have the $50 robot finished in no time.

[kirit]

Thanks for the welcome. I think I'll be on here for a long time to come. lol. This place tickles the geek in me. 

Do your research, read up and you'll have the $50 robot finished in no time.

Doing that, I want to order the parts soon. Before doing that I want to see what are some good upgrades to purchase at the same time, so I can save on shipping. Right now I think that im going to purchase at least 2 of the ATmega 8 mcus, and 1+ ATmega 168/328. This is what Im currently looking at in those search pages. Im not broke, but my wife is keeping me on a tight budget as we are expecting twins!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and have a 14 month old daughter. So I have to make sure that I purchase as carefully as possible. Wasting money on shipping is a big no-no.

[Bret]

Hey, kirit.

I'm new here too, and to robots, but I'm trying to figure it all out and it's slowly coming together.

Twins! I have a couple of twin girls. They are 15 years old...enjoy them while they are young. LOL My wife and I found out that she was having twins just 3 days before they were born - our doctor wasn't the brightest fellow in the world.

Anyway, I'll stop talking about kids now and get back to robots. 

[pomprocker]

Buy plenty of those 40 pin breakaway headers as you can upgrade your board later by breaking out more pins on the atmega. Also once you've upgraded to the 168, you can make it faster by adding a crystal. You can find all the goods at sparkfun.com. Just ask away, I consider myself a $50 robot expert 

[kirit]

Hey, kirit.

I'm new here too, and to robots, but I'm trying to figure it all out and it's slowly coming together.

Same here. Im trying to do my best reading the old posts and making a list of components I need and what I want.

Twins! I have a couple of twin girls. They are 15 years old...enjoy them while they are young. LOL My wife and I found out that she was having twins just 3 days before they were born - our doctor wasn't the brightest fellow in the world.

Anyway, I'll stop talking about kids now and get back to robots. 

Twins+ are scary, you plan on a baby and when they tell you more than 1 are there can scare you. Its quite a shock. Gets expensive very fast.

[kirit]

Buy plenty of those 40 pin breakaway headers as you can upgrade your board later by breaking out more pins on the atmega. Also once you've upgraded to the 168, you can make it faster by adding a crystal. You can find all the goods at sparkfun.com. Just ask away, I consider myself a $50 robot expert 

Thanks for the info, will make a note of it on my parts list. I'll definitely come to you for more info once I get better situated with what I need/want.