There is a good article in this months Maker Magazine where someone made the comment that Robotics fascinates them because of all of the various disciplines that one has to have to build robots. This got me thinking about everything that you would need to understand in order to be proficient at building a robot. It also got me thinking about all of the different people who ask me questions both on this forum and off this forum.
To build a custom robot you require some knowledge in the following areas (list isn't comprehensive) Mechanical Engineering Electrical Engineering Various programming skills at different levels of the robot Graphics and design 3D modeling 3D printing possibly (which brings with it similar skill requirements) or some other manufacturing technique Computer competency Network competency Brain storming and problem solving Decent communication skills. Ability to work with others. No fear of learning new things Ability to keep up with and adapt to ever changing technology improvements in any of these areas.
Not all of these are essential and it is possible to learn enough to get by in some of these. There are options to get around most short comings in most of these areas, but the more of these shortcomings that people have, the more frustrating it will be for them. There are ready built robots like the EZ-Robot robots that take a lot of the need to understand these areas out of the way but depending on how far you want to take one of these, there will always be a need to understand some basic programming principles. ARC removes a lot of this need, but to really use ARC in the way it was designed to be used, the person has to have some basic understanding of logic and programming. This will get you by and many will be happy stopping at this level of knowledge.
To take your robot hobby to the level that most really desire to take it to, I think that all of these are required but most importantly a strong desire to learn new things daily. I can tell you that I have many many many more failures than successes. For example, when writing code for something, it may fail 20 times before I get it right and working and each time that this happens I learn something new. I am sure that this is the experience for most programmers and especially for people in this hobby. Having a strong understanding of all of these different disciplines is not an easy thing. Giving up isn't an option for me. It's not in my nature so I brute force through an issue that I don't always understand completely.
There are also many who help me because of relationships that I have built. These relationships are probably the most important thing to being successful aside from a burning desire to learn new things. These relationships are very valuable to me as they also help to learn new things. Google is also a key contributor to my successes (spoiler alert) along with every other person I have ever worked with that is successful at what they do. Burning bridges is not something that I take lightly at all, but I have had to burn a few in my day.
I can think of no other hobby that requires the massive volume of understanding that is required by this hobby. Again, new products come out all of the time that make each of these less critical than they were 5 years ago, but still, an understanding is essential for these also. I say this just to paint a realistic picture. This hobby isn't for everyone. Many will like robotics but few will truly grasp what is going on. Many will want to use robots but few will be able to build them. In my experience teaching this subject to some very young students, 1/2 of the students didn't care about robotics. Of my student population, about 1/2 of the ones that cared about robotics could grasp simple concepts and use what others had developed to do things with robots. Of these about 2/5 I could see doing something with robotics because they really grasp what was happening. So, from my experience, about 1 in 10 people could have a potential to be successful at understanding robotics. There is a pretty high likelihood that this person doesn't have the drive to learn new things. In my work history with people who are in technical professional careers, I have seen a shift from people having general knowledge about a lot of topics to very specific knowledge. People are not willing to take it upon themselves to dig into things that are outside of their comfort zone as a rule. Family and other things get in the way along with other responsibilities. I would say that in my 20+ years as an IT professional, working with thousands of different people in the same field, there are only about 100 that I would say had a desire to step outside of this comfort zone and learn new things. If we take this and the number of people who would have the potential of handling this wide range of disciplines we are to 1. About 1% of the population in an advanced culture with more technology available to them than anywhere else in the world would have the desire and capability to build robots. I would say that I have never met anyone who didn't have some shortcoming in one or more of the areas mentioned above though...
With that said, it really comes down to how much time and energy someone is willing to put into learning everyday. This is not a hobby that will simply give its answers to you. There is a lot of scratching and clawing for answers. If you are not willing to fail repeatedly while scratching and clawing, this isn't for you. Buy something that someone else has built and live with its shortcomings. Be content with not having a robot and spend your time and money in different areas.
I once worked with someone who was the best teacher I had ever known. People would bring him issues and he would simply send them a google link or send them a simple example of exactly what they were asking for. He was a 21 years old programmer and very smart. He would hardly ever ask questions to people because when he needed an answer he would dig and learn until he found it. If he did ask, it was more of a "give me a general idea of how this works" type of question. It takes this kind of determination to self educate to be successful in robotics.
Don't get me wrong, ask questions and do everything possible to understand the answer given, then take this and dig deeper into the answer to learn more.
Just my 2 cents. Feel free to add. I just had to get it out of my mind...
alan
thats why the promise.i will post like example the wire only.
@nomad My advice is for you to go back and review the basics (I do all the time).... I think you keep trying to move forward but can't because you keep forgetting stuff you learned earlier.... An example is... you can't build a house if you keep forgetting how to use basic tools.... Likewise, you can't do much with ez robot if you unable to get your new ezbs connected to your network.... Another thing is learning how to find information.... As mentioned, I don't have official education in some of these disciplines, but I know how to use google and I know how to read.... When I don't know or understand something I look it up.... If I am still stuck I will post here, but what's important to take from this is I always try to figure out things on my own first and only ask here as a last resort.... You learn more if you do it yourself....
rr
as for how to find info,your absolute correct.am not good at that. am not going forwart,i see whats comming and go from there. i can use the Engenius cause i wrote it all down. indeed you learn more if i do it myself.but it takes so long time. thismorning was 7 am.
I am going to tell you about a couple of things that happened in the past that were very difficult on me, but I feel that I did the right thing.
My father-in-law's girlfriend was a truck driver. She got injured doing this and the company paid for her education. At the time, network engineers were in high demand and were making really good money. Someone told her to go to school and get Cisco certified. She saw the dollar signs in her eyes, and even though she had no basic computer knowledge, enrolled in Cisco classes. Her first semester she came to me and it was obvious that she wasn't grasping simple IP address routing or how to calculate subnets. Her dreams were to be a network engineer. Her mind couldn't understand the basics. I told her that she was not made to be a network engineer and that no matter how hard she tried, or how much money she spent of the companies money, she would never be a network engineer. She just couldn't do it. She got mad and told me she would prove me wrong. She failed out the next semester. Now she is a dog groomer.
My step-son had thoughts of getting his comp-sci degree. I told him that I would pay for one programming class and if he still wanted to get his comp-sci degree, great. He had never programmed anything except for scripts in his life. We enrolled him in a class in C at a community college. He got about the first 3 classes and homework assignments pretty well. On the 4th assignment it was like he forgot everything that he had learned on the first three and didn't come to me for any help. By the 6th assignment he was totally lost because he didn't understand the 4th or 5th assignment and came to me for help. We started over on the first assignment and worked our way through the 6th assignment tying everything in and he had a pretty good understanding. By the 8th assignment he was totally lost again. We got him through the class with a lot of help from me. He made a D in the class. I told him programming wasn't for him and he agreed. He is now in school to be a computer graphics artist and he loves it.
Both of these people had big hearts for what they wanted to become. Both thought that they could handle it. I looked at both of them from the outside and knew that neither would be able to handle the path that they were going down. I didn't do this to be mean, but to help.
In my job, I can interview someone for 5 minutes and have a really good feeling about if they will be able to handle the job or not. This makes some people mad. They don't feel like I have given enough of my time for them to prove to me that they can handle the job. Those of us who have been programmers for a long time understand and it is absolutely not an elitist thing at all. We don't think we are in a class of society that is above everyone else or anything like that. It is simply that we have been around enough people struggling to make it in the programming field and failing miserably that it is easy to see in people. I know that this is the same in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, system networking, server management, system design and every other job that has the name engineer either correctly or incorrectly attached to it.
People are all wired differently. Everyone has something that they are good at doing. Everyone has something that they are passionate about. If these two things don't align, then your not going to be really successful at it. I am not going to get theological here, but pushing and pushing in the wrong direction isn't going to make it happen. This doesn't mean that it is going to be easy to do if you do have these two things working together, but it is so much easier than if you don't.
This isn't written to any one person specifically. It is written to make people think. I would love to learn to play the guitar. I couldn't ever get it down. My brain didn't work in that way. I think it would be awesome to do, but my brain doesn't work fast enough with my club hands to even get close to playing the correct notes. I have all of the respect in the world for people who can. I don't play the piano but am fascinated by people who can. I understand that my mind and fingers don't work well enough together to make this happen. It isn't what I will ever be successful at and thus not what will ultimately make me happy.
my attention is not to become a programmer,this is just to be beasy what, ones was a big thing for me.and it stil is,but i have to remember its not for me. i cant have kids cause off fysical problems who cant be solved. so no famely,and thats the biggest thing you live for.now am 52 old. retired low on money.no wifi.so for me is robot to keep me alert as much, is possible.and if something is working am the happiest man. david you have the wrong name,we chould call you chost in the machiene. i have alot off mental problems,so for me again i still be able to find something. we have to work with the brain we have.if i didn had a roommate or pc. i would be in a institution where there is nothing but waiting till you die. you cant get any lower life then mine,i dare not to think what my life would be without robots or pc
In all honesty Patrick, this was originally started mainly for the person that Anthony was dealing with (who's thread got removed). It was apparent that he wouldn't be successful because he had no willingness to learn, but would rather try to bash someone for his poor choices. It got me thinking though (after reading the article from Maker Magazine) about how much was involved in this hobby.
I never said that you wanted to be a programmer. I was using a couple of examples from my past to show people who tried going down a path that was not going to work for them and I tried to help them realize this.
I have helped you a lot in the past. I understand your situation. I can't do it now simply because of all of the things that I have going on. There is quite simply no time. There are a lot of other people here who have offered to help you out. I am letting that happen because you are in good hands with them. I don't have the time to do this and would not be able to give the level of effort required.
If you would like to go back and read my posts, you will see that it is written not to a specific person, but to get people to think about what they are doing. I figured that some would take offence to what I had said but, so did my mother-in-law. Ultimately I was just trying to help her realize that she was on the wrong path. If you feel that this might be you, and you thought about it, my purpose was completed.
i thought that you didn have time with all the work you have and at you home to. but averything is ok .
ps nao is back online.
@nomad... Since you have trouble remembering things why don't you make notes on stuff? We keep helping you with the same problems over and over.... David especially.... Why don't you write down things that you learn... step by step and keep them somewhere?... For instance you now have your Nao back up and running, right? Do you remember how you did it? If not maybe you should have written down notes on exactly what you did to accomplish this?... Then next time you can read your notes and not have to ask again how to get Nao online.... Same for connecting your ezbs to your network.... Write down the steps needed (even take pictures) so when you buy a new ezb you again, won't have to ask for help to get it connected to your network... Does this make sense?