Then
d
n
a
NOW
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO
BUILD A ROBOT?
by Tom Carroll
That question might sound a lot like ‘How to Build a Robot,’ but I want to look a bit deeper
into why people build robots. I’ve asked many robot experimenters just what it took for them to get
started in robotics and I got the same number of different answers back. Yes, it is a very broad
question, but I like to take time with different people who ask me the same thing to explain robotics
to them and get them interested in the science or hobby. Mostly, I like to find out a bit about their
background and possible reasons for wanting to build a robot.
Many might tell me “I know quite a bit about programming but little about mechanical things. Can I
build a nice robot?” Yes! “I’m good with my hands and like
to build all sorts of mechanical things but I don’t know
much about computers. Can I build a robot?” Yes! “My
daughter is interested in science and has expressed interest
in robots. Is there any way that I can help get her started in
building robots?” Certainly! “I saw some combat robots on
TV bashing each other’s brains out and I thought that was
really cool. Can I do that?” Of course!
Needless to say, if someone is asking a question like
that, they need some encouragement, information, and
possibly someone who is knowledgeable in robotics to
mentor them at the start. I remember hearing people
ask me why I was interested in robotics way back in the
‘60s when I was a kid and there were very few ‘how to’
books available on robot building. I didn’t really need a
good reason why I wanted to build a robot, I just did. Now
that I’m quite a bit older, and speak and write about
robots, I’ve had to think about what it really takes to build
a robot. It basically boils down to the desire to build a
robot, the required materials, and the knowledge of how
to proceed.
The Early Days Of Robot Building
76 SERVO 04.2011
I’m going to refer to some of my early experiences and
projects in this article as examples of early robot
experimentation. Maybe my upbringing in a small North
Carolina country town led me to devise ways to convert
junk, mechanical ‘who knows whats’, and trashed
appliances into robots, as there were no RadioShacks,
Lowes, or other sources of good robot parts anywhere
nearby. If someone had asked me why I wanted to build a
robot back when I was in the eighth grade, I would have
answered I have no real reason, it just sounds cool to be
able to build one like I saw in a newspaper article. My older
brother was going to NC State in the big city of Raleigh 60
miles away and could get me some old junked juke box and
pinball machine parts, miscellaneous relays, and wire or
other surplus things, but I was left on my own to figure out
how to build a robot. With no Internet invented yet (and no
computers) and a town library not much larger than the
size of my garage, robot information was pretty much nonexistent. I certainly had some obstacles ahead of me — the
(seemingly) complexity of the various designs I’d considered
and the high costs of materials, junk, or otherwise.
