“But if building robots is
anything, it’s a study of things
moving forward...”
Looking Ahead,
Looking To You
This issue marks the seven year anniversary of Robotics Resources. After some 85 installments, we’ve covered everything
from yapping ‘bots to lighting up your creations
with glow wire, to being the ultimate cheapskate,
finding the best deals wherever they happen
to be.
Even in this age of Google, we all need a
springboard to launch our best ideas. Robotics
Resources was meant to be that inspiration for
building your own springboards. How far you dove
and where you swam was up to you.
Seven years seems like a lucky number, and
so, as good a time as any to mark the end of my
involvement in writing this column. I still intend to
be active in the robotics community, and I’m
already getting out pad and pencil, jotting down
ideas for future articles for SERVO Magazine. But,
I’m also needing to pursue some other business
ventures. I’ve reluctantly come to the conclusion
that because of unavoidable time constraints, I
must give up a few of the things I love the most.
This column is one of those things I love, and
today I bid it farewell.
When something comes to a conclusion, it’s
common to go retrospective, giving a glance back
to the work that’s been done. But if building
robots is anything, it’s a study of things moving
forward, and that’s what I’d like to do here.
It’s also not a spectator sport. It relies on active
participation of its enthusiasts.
Be sure to visit the forums at the SERVO Magazine and Nuts & Volts Bulletin
Board. Feel free to ask questions and post answers if you know them!
Putting In What
You Take Out
62 SERVO 12.2009
Long before the advent of open
source software, the robotics field
promoted and encouraged the free
exchange of ideas, circuits, and
know-how. It’s not always been easy to
find, but it was there.
We’ve come a long way since the
70s, where the books and magazines
on robot building were rare — I had to
special-order the first ones I read. My
local bookstore didn’t carry anything as
esoteric as how to build your own robot!
You were lucky to find anyone in your
town with the same interest. In those
days, much of the attention was on the
burgeoning field of personal computers,
with interest in robotics rising and falling
depending on whatever popular movies
had just come out — anyone remember
Star Wars?!
Thanks to the Internet, all that has
changed. It’s now a lot easier to find just
