I know there are a lot of smart people out there who will think I’m a total n00b for asking this, but here goes.

I’m 19 a sophomore engineering student studying chemical engineering, but I want to get into robotics and control systems as a hobby (I want to do stuff in alternative energy when I grow up). I kind of want to design a smart house (lights, A/C, TV, security, everything controlled by a central computer) when I grow up. I’ve kind of always been interested in this stuff, but I was always too scared to really get into it. Being in a university surrounds me with a lot of people who are smarter than me, so I figured I should stop being scared now and start learning/doing some cool things. Browsing websites like instructables.com make me feel pretty dumb because there are a lot of people younger than me making some really neat things I could never do at my current state.

I’ve been looking around for some robotics/electronics kits (designed for people younger than me. Sad, I know) such as:

-Lego Mindstorm NXT (http://mindstorms.lego.com/Overview/)
-VEX Robotics Design Systems (http://www.vexrobotics.com/vex-robot-kits.shtml)
-Arrick’s ARobot (http://www.arrickrobotics.com/arobot/index.html)
-Nerdkits (http://www.nerdkits.com/)

Have any of you tried these? How do you feel about them? For the professors/teachers out there, how do you teach your students? Can you recommend any kits or books? For those experienced roboticists and tinkerers out there, how did you get started learning about electronics?

Here is an outline of my education (what I know, what I don’t know). This is stuff that I think relates to robotics. I’ve obviously taken many more classes than what I’ve described, but they’re probably irrelevant.

-Math: I like math but I’m not good at it (why oh why did I choose engineering..?). I’m pretty comfortable with single variable calculus and differential equations. I’ve taken multivariable, got a B, and basically never looked back on it. I’m going to get my ass kicked in heat transfer, aren’t I?

-Mechanics: Very comfortable with mechanical physics. I’ve taken both general mechanical physics course as well as an engineering mechanics course, which goes into more depth with more complicated systems. I’m pretty comfortable with forces, moments, accelerations, tensions, trusses, rigid members, relative motion, etc.

-Programming: Took AP Comp Sci in high school (Java), and am pretty good in MATLAB and FORTRAN. I took programming and numerical/computational methods courses for chemical engineering and did very well in those classes. I’m not terribly afraid of learning another language for programming robots. As my professor says, “The most language to understand is logic. Understand logic, and other programming languages are just syntax”.

Things I’m afraid of/suck at:

-Electromagnetism: I got an A in this course, but electricity and magnetism still seem like very enigmatic forces of nature to me. I do not think of them intuitively as I do mechanical physics. I’m a very visual person, and it annoys me that I can’t see magnetic or electric fields. I wish I was a bird so I could.

-Electronic components: I know what resistors and capacitors are. That’s about it. I remember having to do stuff like LRC circuits in general physics (electromagnetism). Again, this stuff is still not intuitive to me. I know how to wire things in series and parallel (LEDs, for example) and which resistors to use so they don’t burn out. That’s about it. I don’t know what diodes and transistors and whatnot are. I don’t know any radio theory. I don’t know how a computer ACTUALLY works (the jump from code to actual physical phenomena). I don’t know how microcontrollers work. I don’t know how to control things with analog or digital signals. I don’t even know the difference between them.

-Soldering: I can do it, but I suck at it. No ones really taught me how to solder properly. I try reading stuff and watching YouTube tutorials, but my solders never come out right, and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Other people seem to do it so effortlessly..

I’ve tried to read about these things, but I am usually overwhelmed. There is also a difference in reading something on Wikipedia and learning about it in real life. I guess I’m a little afraid of failure. I’m also afraid of spending lots of money/time on something and having it not work.

So now that you know my lack of experience and skill, what robot/electronics kit would you recommend for me? Any other advice for me for getting involved with robotics?

PS: I feel like money spent on legitimate education will pay off somehow later. However, I’d still like to keep my first project(s) under $500. Preferably much less.

Thank you, smart people, for helping me not suck as much in engineering.
One more thing I’m (kinda) good at:

I can use AutoDesk Inventor for CAD and drafting, which should be a real time saver if/when I start making really cool robots. For now, though, I think the robot kits try to avoid the need for power tools..

first thing to do is read up:
at least skim through the following:
http://www.asic-world.com/digital/tutorial.html
and
http://www.circuit-magic.com/laws.htm

you probably won’t get most of it, but that won’t matter it’s just to ease your passage into the first book:
http://www.solarbotics.com/products/jbb/
and buy this kit as well:
http://www.solarbotics.com/products/mf08_bundle/

the book will talk you through the basics and the kit has all the stuff you will need for the projects in the book

once you are pretty comfortable with this book i would recommend Robot Building for Beginners by David Cook. this will get you started on how to design and build basic robots without kits. also read Dave’s website, robot room: http://www.robotroom.com/
he has alot of info on how to simplify things and save money on projects. his book and his website will tell you where to go from there.

Dave’s book will say all this but i’ll say it here anyway. definitely get a breadboard for experimenting with. once you have the basics down don’t be afraid to copy public work, open circuits and sparkfun are full of tutorials and schematics that anyone can use.
www.opencircuits.com
www.sparkfun.com

keep practicing soldering, sparkfun has some great soldering kits that make this easy. Also try buying a bunch of random cheep components and some scrap boards
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8477
just solder stuff into them at random, they don’t actually work so just go nuts.
If thisis still a problem look into wire warping, it is a bit slower , but is really easy. sparkfun has all the supplies you need for that.

Eventually you will want to check out Parallax.com they make kits and simple microcontrollers that are really easy to use but have enormous potential. they also have some good educational kits that are a good way to learn. Only problem is parallax is a bit pricey, and after ten min on their site you will want to buy the entire store.

PS don’t wory about anything you can’t figure out. for any aplication you don’t understand, somewhere out there there is a plug in module that will do it for you.

m in a relationship wid a guy for abt 2 n a half year. he is my first b/f and m his first as well.his family loves me n realy looking fwd to the future, we started with the commitment in our relationship. since this year started we hv been havign so many fights n time came when we broke up and got back together again. i changed my lifestyle n my future plans for him but he didnt adjust to my living habits a bit. he loves me more than i do to him, he is an honest and self made man. but when we hv a fight he just looses it and jst says watever he feels like( called me a **** everytime) and when we get back together he apologieses for his behaviour. m suppose to go to a university nxt year n he has completed his education and is working. he is in a rush to get married in his opinion he doesnt mind me studying after marriage. but my mother suggests i earn a qualification or skills before i move on(incase something hpns in future) and there have been a occasion where he asked me to leave my family for him. wid all the fights and his behaviour at dat time m scared abt US… i love him but i i dont want to be in such a circumstances where i leave my family and runaway wid him closing all the doors behind me, n if we hv fight n he gets mad enough to chuck me out of the house and on top if i hv no qualification then i would have no where to go. and m realy scared from his temper. and dont like d way m treated or being callled **** and accused( he knows its not possible but wen he is mad he jst says anything) of having sex wid males from my family. recently we had a huge fight and he realy doesnt want any relationship wid me anymore, when asked for forgiveness he said to give him my naked pics or else to f*** off. i dont know wat to do?? it took me too much time to convince my mother to approve him and i went against all my family members to be wid him. i know we are made for each other but all this jst puts me down and i dont wanna loose him. he hates social networks, and when i joined on my frndz request(@ dat tym i didnt knew abt his opinion) and when he came to know he got mad at me.. i deleted it immediately and have nvr gone bak since.. and i recently found dat he is on FB and hi5.. adn even in past he is been talking to me abt oder gals.. like in one case he said he jst wanted to be frndz wid her.. and other time he was secretly talking to dis unknown gal from austria… i hv no idea wat to do and where is dis gng.. plz help..(m indian BTW)

hi
personally i think you should end it because he is being pushie if you continue to do everything he asks then he will walk over you the rest of your life,
if you want a qualification before you get married go for it, you have your whole life to get marries and one time to earn a qualification.

but still i think its time for you to get away from him and cut him out of you life becuase it could possibly ruin the rest of your life

So, I have a little knowledge of mindstorm from messing around with droid developer. I think it’s time to step it up though. SO, my question. Should I opt for buying the cheaper first Mindstorm Robotic set off of Ebay, or go ahead and spend the money on the NXT? Pro’s and cons about the old and new? I know wikipedia tells you about it, I’ve read all of that..I wanna hear a straight review from somebody

NXT
by far

[this answer was ment to be short x]

how can I do it
where should i look
or find me somewhere please

Contact your guidance counselor or if you do not go to a Burlington high school contact the nearest high school or school district and see if they can help you./

Banning Legos
And building a world where “all structures will be standard sizes.”

By John J. Miller

Perhaps you’ve heard about the schools that have banned tag. Or dodgeball. Or stories about pigs.

If so, you won’t be surprised to hear that the Hilltop Children’s Center in Seattle has banned Legos.

A pair of teachers at the center, which provides afterschool activities for elementary-school kids, recently described their policy in a Rethinking Schools cover story called “Why We Banned Legos.” (See the magazine’s cover here.)

It has something to do with “social justice learning.”

My vision of social justice for children of elementary-school age is as follows: If you’re tagged, you’re it; if the ball hits you, you’re out; and pig stories are fun, especially when told over microwaveable hot dogs.

But I try to keep an open mind, so I read the article on why Hilltop banned Legos.

As most aficionados know, Legos are made by a Danish company. The company name comes from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means play well. “Lego became a national treasure and one of the strongest brands in the toy industry,” wrote The Economist last year. “Its colorful bricks are sold in over 130 countries: everyone on earth has, on average, 52 of them.”

In their Rethinking Schools article, teachers Ann Pelo and Kendra Pelojoaquin describe how the kids at Hilltop built “a massive series of Lego structures we named Legotown.” I sensed that something was rotten in the state of Legotown when I read this description of it: “a collection of homes, shops, public facilities, and community meeting places.”

My children have spent a large portion of their young lives playing with Legos. They have never, to my knowledge, constructed “community meeting places.” Instead, they make monster trucks, space ships, and war machines. These little creations are usually loaded with ion guns, nuclear missiles, bunker-busting bombs, force-field projectors, and death-ray cannons. Alien empires have risen and fallen in epic conflicts waged in the upstairs bedrooms of my home.

Perhaps kids in Seattle, under the careful watch of their latte-sipping guardians, are different. But I don’t think so.

At Hilltop, however, the teachers strive to make them different. “We recognized that children are political beings, actively shaping their social and political understandings of ownership and economic equity,” write Pelo and Pelojoaquin. “We agreed that we want to take part in shaping the children’s understandings from a perspective of social justice. So we decided to take the Legos out of the classroom.”

The root cause of Hilltop’s Lego problem was that, well, the kids were being kids: There were disputes over “cool pieces,” instances of bigger kids bossing around little ones, and so on.

An ordinary person might recognize this as child’s play. But the social theorists at Hilltop saw something else: “The children were building their assumptions about ownership and the social power it conveys — assumptions that mirrored those of a class-based, capitalist society — a society that we teachers believe to be unjust and oppressive.”

Pelo and Pelojoaquin continue: “As we watched the children build, we became increasingly concerned.”

So they banned the Legos and began their program of re-education. “Our intention was to promote a contrasting set of values: collectivity, collaboration, resource-sharing, and full democratic participation,” they write.

Instead of practicing phonics or memorizing multiplication tables, the children played a special game: “In the game, the children could experience what they’d not been able to acknowledge in Legotown: When people are shut out of participation in the power structure, they are disenfranchised — and angry, discouraged, and hurt. … The rules of the game — which mirrored the rules of our capitalist meritocracy — were a setup for winning and losing. … Our analysis of the game, as teachers, guided our planning for the rest of the investigation into the issues of power, privilege, and authority that spanned the rest of the year.”

After “months of social justice exploration,” the teachers finally agreed it was time to return the Legos to the classroom. That’s because the children at last had bought into the concept that “collectivity is a good thing.” And in Hilltop’s new Lego regime, there would be three immutable laws:

All structures are public structures. Everyone can use all the Lego structures. But only the builder or people who have her or his permission are allowed to change a structure.

Lego people can be saved only by a “team” of kids, not by individuals.

All structures will be standard sizes.

You can almost feel the liberating spirit of that last rule. All structures will be standard sizes? At Hilltop Children’s Center, all imaginations will be a standard size as well: small.

Have you ever heard the term "Nanny State"? American kids are not only being taught to be complacent they are being taught not to competitive. US schools are socialists training grounds & that’s almost worst than terrorist training grounds.

I currently am in the First Lego League Robotics Competition for my middle school, but soon I will be moving on to high school. My high school will not offer a robotics team, but I would like to continue with robotics as a "sport" as I complete my education. The prospect of battling robots interests me. Any help is appreciated.

the two resources you should check are
http://botleague.net/
and
http://www.buildersdb.com/

hi i have got an offer in duabi , nxt week im moving there. my office is in internet city dubai , im gonna study in knowledge village so im looking for a shared accomodation. my salary is 5250 dhs. so im looking for below 1000aed. since i have to spend for other things like internet and education and also to send money to home. pls help me

I have a cousin that used to work in Internet city he used to live in an area called Al-Barsha. The rental is quite steep in this area because it is up and coming and developing and they mainly have full houses. You could try an area called Jebel Ali. Shared flats will be cheaper but they tend to be more central Dubai, closer to the creek in other words, look on a website called www.dubaidonkey.com you can find accommadation on there that’ll help you settle faster and you can even buy cars on there.
Be advised if you do want to live on your own some landlords take a year in advance. Pop down to a local travel agent and get a detailed area map of Dubai. Sheikh Zayed Road is a good road link to most of Dubai, if not all. Al Mina Road is close to Internet City as well. If you have accomadation for the beginning you can then read the newspapers there and find cheaper more ideal accom to stay in.
http://www.dubaicityguide.com/maps/maps.asp that link will give you an area guide. In those areas you could look to pay about 1000dhms lights water accom, remember you have to buy bottle drinking water but your new flatmates should show you the ropes.

I am 11 YO, and got £150 from my family, i was thinking to buy a Lego Mindstorm NXT. But is there something better worth £150 or less, But not PSP. Please tell me, thanks.
I have DS and a Wii.

just buy lego

i am aplying for university nxt year studying physics and astrophysics…. the thing is i have been out of the education loop for nearly 9 yrs now and although i have a strong passion for the subject.. i am a bit rusty… what books and media would be good to prepare me for the interview and in turn the course itself????

Dr. Seuss, "Hop On Pop"

When i installed the lego mindstorm nxt software it defaulted the language in chinese and i cant understand it please help.

try install again