How To Get Started in Robotics

Overview
There is no one right way to get started in robotics. Here are a few things to keep in mind as well as pointers to some potential starting places.
Robots can do all sorts of things. What is it about robots that interests you? Once you have an idea of what you want to do in robotics, or what sort of robot you want to create, break your large goal down in to smaller steps. Before you can make a robot waiter that is able to navigate a crowded party, converse with people, and serve your guests drinks, you will need to make a robot that can move.
A lot of beginner robotics kits are small. Small robots are less expensive, easier to work with, and less likely to roll over your cat.
When most people think of robots, they think of mobile robots. Mobile robots are a great place to start because they are fun and many kits exist to help you get started. However robots can also be stationary such as robotic artworks and sculptures or robotic devices that accomplish a task for you. Keep an open mind and don’t limit your creativity.
Robotics combines computer science, mechanics, and electronics (just to name a few).
Because there are such a variety of fields that make up robotics, you have different options of where to begin. Many kits and robotics programs focus on the mechanical design of the robot. However if you are more interested in designing control programs
and behaviors for your robot, you might consider purchasing an assembled robot or a very simple kit. The suggested starting places described below are grouped based on your area of interest. You can also see a larger and more detailed list of robotics references under the resources section.

The Lego Mindstorm platform is commonly used in middle school, high school, and college level robotics education. One easy way to introduce robotics to your school is to join an existing competition such as Botball or FIRST LEGO League for middle school;
FIRST Robotics Competition or FIRST Tech Challenge for high school; or RoboCup for
college. Some of these competitions use Lego and some use other platforms.
I want to invent new robots.
Web sites such as Lynxmotion, Acroname, and the Robot Store offer a wide variety of
robot parts as well as kits and instructional materials.
I want to build a robot kit.
There are many robot kits available for varying prices and skill levels. Here are just a few
sites where you can purchase kits:
http://www.robotstore.com
http://www.hobbytron.com/RobotKits.html
http://www.superdroidrobots.com/shop

I want to buy a programmable robot.
The Create and Garcia robots come fully assembled and include various sensors. The
Create with command module is programmable in C. Garcia is programmable in C, C++,
or Java.
The TeRK robot platform offers programming at the iconic scripting, beginning Java
programmer, or advanced programmer level. You can build your own robot or follow
step-by-step instructions to make a simple robot. CMUcam3 is a programmable embedded vision platform which can be used to create simple robots.
Microsoft Robotics Studio can be used to program simulated or real robots.
I want to compete in a robot competition.
Botball or FIRST LEGO League for middle school; FIRST Robotics Competition or
FIRST Tech Challenge for high school; or RoboCup for college. There are also various
mini-sumo competitions.


Robots & Robot Kits
There are various robot kits on the market. These kits are a good first step for someone with no robotics experience. They can give you experience building and/or programmingsimple robots.
CMUcam3 http://www.cmucam.org
CMUcam3 is a programmable embedded vision platform that can be used to create simple robots.
Garcia http://www.acroname.com/technology/104/abstract.html
The Garcia robot comes assembled and ready to program in C, C++, or Java.
iRobot Create with Command Module
http://store.irobot.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2591511&cp=2600059

Kits
Many simple robot building kits are available on the market. A few of these kits also
allow you to program the completed robot. Here are just a few sources:
http://www.robotstore.com
http://www.hobbytron.com/RobotKits.html
http://www.superdroidrobots.com/shop

Robotic Documents

Handout 1 Robotics Toolbox for MATLAB rel3 (pdf) Robotics Toolbox for MATLAB rel6 (pdf)	Handout 2 Robot Manipulator Prototyping Complete Design (pdf)
Handout 3 Robotica User Manual (pdf)	Handout 4 Three Link Robot Manipulator (pdf)
Handout 5 MathTools on the Net (pdf)	Handout 6 Types of Robotic Simulators (pdf)
Handout 7 Nonlinear Adaptive Control (pdf)	Handout 8 Designing & Building a Robot Manipulator
Handout 9 Competition Challenge & Motivation (pdf) Resons to include Robotics (pdf) Robots in Curriculum (pdf)	Handout 10 Baps lives in Delft (pdf) Life might be better (pdf)
Handout 11 An Article from Express (pdf) Makeover in Robotics (pdf)	Handout 12 SW package for RRR Robot (pdf) Vector Analysis (pdf)
Handout 13 A Robotics Toolbox (pdf)	Handout 14 Nonlinear Control of Manipulator (pdf) Trajectory Generation (pdf)
Handout 15 SIR-1 User Manual (pdf)	Handout 16 Robo Ware Manual (pdf)

Human-Robot Interaction

The field of Human-Robot Interaction is extremely diverse: researchers from Engineering, Computer Science, and Psychology must all work together to produce strong research.

This diversity produces difficulties, as researchers struggle to find common ground for methods and language, often prompting the question of whether the field of HRI is a “field” at all, and whether there is enough commonality to hold together the research community.

We argue here that HRI is a field, but without a universal set of common characteristics. Instead HRI should be viewed in terms of three major areas which contribute strongly to the research and methods used.

RESEARCH AREAS

HRI can be viewed as the intersection of Engineering, Computer Science, and Psychology1. What makes HRI distinct is that all HRI research involves at least two of these general fields. The development of complete systems requires integration of work from each of the fields, but most work occurs within specific intersections.

a) Embodied Cognition (Computer Science & Psychology): One major area of HRI focuses on building computational systems which mimic the cognitive and affective facilities of people. Examples include the intelligence in affective robots which are capable of showing emotion and social robots which are capable of recognizing the emotions and mental states of the people they interact with. Research in this area uses results from Psychology regarding how people understand one another, and also on computational methods for modeling these cognitive facilities. It uses many tools from artificial intelligence and machine learning, but with a stronger emphasis on the embodied nature of the systems (which provides stronger constraints on the inputs of the system, as well as appropriate failure modes and other issues).

An example of work in embodied cognition is that of El Kaliouby [3] and also Rani [8] in estimating cognitive and affective mental states. Another example is that of Gold and Scassellati [6] in developing a robot which recognizes its own body motion.

b) Human-Robot Factors (Psychology & Engineering): The Human-Robot Factors area of HRI focuses on designing robotic systems and understanding how people respond to them. This includes the physical design of robots (such as humanoid vs. non-humanoid designs) as well as the design of control software for robots (as in interfaces for search and rescue robots or military robots). This area may make heavy use of methods from Communications and Human-Computer Interaction studies. One key application in Human-Robot Factors is Urban Search & Rescue [2]. Much of USAR research aims to develop better interfaces for controlling robots. Also in Human-Robot Factors are human response studies such as those of Broadbent et. al. [1]. Human-response studies look to discover what types of robot behavior and design elicit the most desirable social responses from people.

c) Robotics (Engineering & Computer Science): The final area is traditional Robotics, focusing on developing new tools for robot platforms, including both hardware and software capabilities. There is clearly less emphasis on the human (though many robot designs are inspired by people), as the focus is on building the robot and the control software which researchers in other areas of HRI can use. Some common types of Robotics research involve the design of controllers for complex motion (such as walking for legged robots or control of robotic appendages) and development of localization and mapping algorithms.

d) Integrated Systems: There is a fourth area of intersection, where all three areas come together. The goal for HRI is ultimately to develop complete cognitive robotic systems, informed by the principles of Human-Robot Factors, from the ground up. To build these systems requires co-operation between all areas of HRI.

Robot Constructor

Choose a zone for which you'd like to build the optimal robot. We suggest you start with one of the pre-set zones.

Study the hazards and obstacles in the zone to see what your robot will have to deal with. Now, construct a robot capable of collecting all the gold cubes without running out of energy or suffering too much damage. You should choose sensors to enable the robot to detect hazards and energy sources, a means of powering the robot, a form of mobility appropriate to the zone surface and finally, choose a construction material to minimise damage to the robot or make it more energy efficient.Click to find out more about sensors, POWER, MOBILITY and MATERIALS.

Try your robot in the Test Zone. If you haven't designed your robot with the right components, it may run out of energy, sustain too much damage or run out of time in which case you can return to the Robot Constructor to change the design and try again.

When you've mastered all of the pre-set zones, you can build new zones or edit existing ones from within the Zones screen. New zones can be saved to your own computer, or if you decide to publish your zone it could be made available for others around the world to download.