Getting Started

Let's get started. This is a journal of our efforts in building robots. We're starting out as amateurs, so we don't have any great wisdom to impart. As we learn things, we'll post them here and hopefully help someone out. The web is a rich resource, and we've learned a lot from what others have posted. Hopefully we can return the favor.

You may have noticed the "we" in the paragraph above. No, no delusions of royalty, and it's not an editorial we. I refer to myself and my two kids, my partners in these experiments. More about us later. Let's have a look at our first robot.

Well, it's not really a robot yet. It's a vehicle right now. The point of this robot is to learn how to build one...and to have a little fun as well. Yes, those are cordless drills, and yes, the frame is a toilet seat. The motors come from a local discount chain, for $20 each. The frame was something we had laying around. The rear wheels are from the local home center and are for a lawn mower.

The 18v motors in the drills are powerful. Squeezing the triggers by hand can easily cause the vehicle to do a "wheelie". We'll need to put mass up front to counter this.