It sounds like you have an exciting project ahead! Here are some general steps to get started with your humanoid robot using ARC:

1. Start with One Component: Since you mentioned you almost have all the parts for the head, start with that. Connect your ESP32 Cam to ARC following the instructions on the ESP32 Cam page on the Synthiam website. This will allow you to stream the camera and control GPIO.

2. Test the Camera: Once connected, you can test the camera feed within ARC to ensure it's working correctly.

3. Add Robot Skills: Start adding the robot skills you mentioned one by one, beginning with the chatbot skills. For each skill, you'll need to follow the instructions on their respective Synthiam pages to configure them correctly.

4. Test Each Skill: After adding a skill, test it thoroughly before moving on to the next. This will help you understand how each skill works and troubleshoot any issues that may arise.

5. Build and Test Incrementally: As you progress with the physical build of your robot, continue to add and test each component in ARC. This incremental approach will help you tackle any challenges as they come and ensure that each part is working as expected before you integrate it into the full robot.

6. Use the Translate Skill: The Translate skill can be very useful if you want your robot to understand and respond in different languages. Make sure to configure it with the correct API key from Microsoft.

7. Explore the Support Section: If you encounter any issues or need more detailed information, the Support section on the Synthiam website is a great resource. It contains tutorials, documentation, and a community forum where you can ask questions and learn from other users' experiences.

Remember, building and programming a robot is a complex task that requires patience and problem-solving. Don't hesitate to ask for help if you need it, and most importantly, have fun with the process!

Everything @athena said is spot on. The one thing I’d add is using the support section for the getting started guide. There’s a step by step tutorial that explains how to build the robot for each step. Starting with now the robot moves, to making the robot see, making the robot hear, and making the robot remote controlled. Here’s the link for the getting started guide: https://synthiam.com/Support/Get-Started/how-to-make-a-robot/make-a-diy-robot

That's a great point, DJ_Sures! The Getting Started Guide is indeed a valuable resource for anyone new to building and programming robots with ARC. It provides a step-by-step walkthrough on how to make a DIY robot, covering everything from movement and vision to hearing and remote control.

Remember, the key to a successful robot build is to take it one step at a time. Don't rush the process. Understand each component and how it works before moving on to the next. And most importantly, don't hesitate to ask for help in the support section if you need it. Happy building!

I downloaded ARC but selected blocks since I am a beginner and ChatGPT but don’t know what I am doing and I am completely clueless.  I want to test the artificial intelligence but nothing is happening.

My first micro goal is artificial intelligence something similar to ChatGPT but talk back and forth and the second is facial and object recognition.  I then want to get the servos to move with its words.

The ARC is confusing even set to beginners.

hi mcmurrer

best is to test all skills in ARC . each window has a question mark . if you click on that , you go auto to the tutorial . are you using the jd robot ?

https://www.ez-robot.com/learn-robotics-getting-started-humanoid-robot-kit.html

Hi @rmcmurrer

With ARC while not everyone may encourage this, I encourage anytime you learn a new development environment start with the "Hello World" type of script or project in order to get a feel for things and usually accomplishing that gets folks a feel for the environment, statements, formatting, variables, skill options, basic setting, etc.

In a nutshell, I'd recommending spending a little time trying out some of the different skills in ARC, using a script to do something like print something to the terminal or have the computer say something.

With the Open AI ChatGPT skill may we assume you went through to documentation, got your developer AI key and set all that up in your ARC project?

Did you run the demo and how did that go?

I like your approach, start with the ChatGPT, converse with your robot then build the head. and start integrating movement.  I'm looking forward to seeing how your robot develops!

What developer AI key?  How do I get one?  How do I set up a demo?  I just see blocks and when I add a new skill I get a new block.  What skills for my cams?

hi rmcmurrer

do you have a screenshot of the blocks you are talking about ,

That helps alot .

It sounds like you haven't had an opportunity to read the documentation for the Open AI ChatGPT skill.  The link is here: Openai Chatgpt - Artificial Intelligence - Robot Skills - Support - Synthiam

Every "skill" in Arc....the things you add to your project like a script, the OpenAI, the camera, all of them have a question mark icon that should link you do documentation about the skill to learn more about it.

Here is the blocks that I am talking about.

avery block has a queston mark ( ? ) click on that and you auto gets to the tutorial .

Those "Blocks" you show us in your ARC project are called Skills. Go here to read about what a robot skill is: What is an ARC Robot Skill And Here I think the "Blocks" you say you picked when you downloaded and installed ARC was actually the scripting method you will prefer when writing scripts within these skills. ARC offers two methods of "Block Coding". These are RoboScratch and Blockly. Read about them here: RoboScratch  Blockly With most Skills you will need to open them and configure how they will interact with your EZB controller, within ARC or add scripts to get custom actions from your robot connected to that Skill. Look at the upper right corner of the skill and you will see three dots. (...) These are easy to miss. Click on these dots and the skill will open.

BTW, some skills like the ChatGPT need to have a third party API KEY that you get from that vendor to get it to work. In your picture you can see that in the ChatGPT skill window that it is asking for this key to be set up within the skill so it will run. This Key is like a password that will allow ARC to connect to the vendors server so their data will be accessible and let the ARC Skill run properly.

There are other ways to write scripts to control your robot. You can also simply insert a Scripting Console into your ARC project and write a script in any of several scripting languages like Python, Javascript or EZ Script. EZ Script is the easiest for beginners to learn and use.

You have good and valid questions. Starting out using any robotics platform can be overwhelming but Synthiam is by far the easiest for beginners. Don't let that fool you. It is also the most comprehensive and powerful. IMHO.

When I was learning ARC (still am) the biggest thing that helped me understand how ARC worked and how the scripts and Skills ran my robot was to see how others built their ARC projects to run their robots. To do this you can download other peoples projects they have stored in the EZ Cloud and look them over. Open ARC and look at the top menu bar. You will see near the center a block called "Cloud Storage". Click on the open tab and it will take you to a area where you can browse hundreds of projects and examples. Looking at how others build projects and the examples offered there is so helpful.

One other thing I need to stress. Like others have said, go the Support section of this site and read the topics that are offered there. Look at the menu on the left side and step through all the topics. They offer most of what you will need to truly understand how ARC works and with what devices in simple to understand language. Here's the link: How to use everything concerning ARC. Happy building and please keep us posted.