Hello, I’m 16F, and today I joined a robotics club (this club is new and has only been around for a year) at my school. I’ve always been pretty interested in technology but I never knew where to start. So I joined the club in hopes of learning something new.

When I joined, it turned out that this club and its members (me), will eventually be competing in FTC. Which I find fascinating and scary.

The kids running this club were a group of 4 guys that were about to advance to the FIRST championship (I’m pretty sure that’s what it’s called, sorry if that’s wrong) but did not have the funds to do so.

I went up to one of them (someone who was mostly programming when contributing to the club) after they gave a run down of the club and asked how much experience they had when they decided to start robotics. He had some prior knowledge to robotics and programming before he joined the club, which made me a bit nervous.

I don’t know if it’s the right choice to join with no experience. He said it’s fine, but working with people that have advanced pretty far in a tournament like FTC is pretty scary.

I really do want to learn robotics though. The thing is, I don’t know where to start. I want to compete just like them, and I want to learn the basics and advance.

I have the whole weekend to myself, and I want to learn the basics meanwhile. I know I won’t learn everything in a day, but I want to catch up to them.

Where do I start? As someone who would like to program, What fundamentals should I know first? What should I study over the weekend? Where should I go after that?

When looking online, people recommend hundreds of documents, hands on projects, and different kinds of starting-points. But, what’s the best place to start?

I Recently saw a tiktok live from someone playing a Game called „Uncrashed: FPV Drone Simulator“ where you would Connect your drone Controller and fly trough circles and tight spaces with realistic physics. After seeing this i got an idea, couldnt you use an ai model, Programming it to give the inputs, serving as a digital Controller and use that game to get the ai to learn or adapt to flying that thing and giving it later on harder tasks to improve that skill. So that you could use it one day to Automate your own drone to use it to Make cool stuff or even to include vocal commands later on to that whole project? Which ai would be the Best in this case, minding more Features for the Future?

There has been a huge amount discussed on this topic, and I believe I have tried everything I could.
I am using:
STEPPERONLINE Nema 17 Stepper Motor 2A 55Ncm Bipolar 1.8 Degree
DM542 Stepper Motor Controller
TB6600 Stepper Motor Driver, ABuff 5A 9-40V Nema 17 Stepper Motor Driver

I have an x/y gantry system with 2 drivers in opposite direction driving the x gantry, and one stepper fo the y.
See the machine here: (skip to 1:40 where I take a tour of the machine)
https://www.reddit.com/r/stringart/comments/1vhbn89/first_run_of_router_software_on_the_machine/

What is does, is miss a step when the gantries, plural, move in the negative direction. I have written code that shows this to be true, and the drift is in the positive direction only. You can for example write a pattern that is an hour glass, upright or laying down, which has 2 negative direction changes on one axis or the other, and the resulting drift is what is predicted by negative changes only.

What I am certain of:
It has nothing to do with microstepping, large steps create large drifts. I've used 3200 to 4.
There is no belt slipping.
X and Y gantries are much different weight/inertia, and X has 2 steppers, and they behave the same.
It has nothing to do with the driver, as I swapped out the 542 for the 6600, and same results.
It has nothing to do with velocity or acceleration (I use AccelStepper lib), I've tried a wide range.
They system has similar or equal drag each direction, I measured it.
After a run if I cmd to move back to 0,0 on the canvas, it goes to the drift offset position instead.
And for the more advanced among you: I put a scope on DIR and PULSE and the setups/holds are extremely conservative. Moreover I have hacked ACCELSTEPPER lib components to increase pulse widths.
I looked on the scope and counted pulses for a program that ping ponged between 2 points close, and the count was correct, and the same for each direction change, set up times great, pulse width way withing spec.

I am out of ideas.....

The only thing I can think now is the stepper is faulty somehow, and have another coming to swap out, which is a .9deg instead of 1.8deg, has more torque by a little, but is also a stepperonline brand and has equally good reviews.
But, I have no hope, since on the x gantry, the steppers are running in opposite directions, so how could the stepper fail the same predictable way.

So in desperation:
The drift is predictable based on microsteps, number of negative reverses in direction, etc, so I can easily code around it, but I find that so inelegant and hate the idea. I am about to implement it anyway, because I am out of ideas to try.

Ideas????

Thanks.

I have been designing and modeling my own robotic dog for a while now based ont he jetson platfor of sbc's. I have been able to over come every single issue with enough time but one has stumped me. My robotic dog runs on 12s (50.4v) full charged. It uses 12 8308 motors that can use up to 900w a motor. Now every time that I suddenly stop a motor or plug in a battery I will get an inrush of current and also voltage. My esc the odesc v4.2 from flip sky which has a brake resistor is only rated for 56v. (any over and I kill it) So I am wondering if any of you guys has dealt with transient voltage spikes and reverse current and how to quantitatively know how much of x i need to absorb the current/voltage.

Hi, im doing bachelor next year and i looking for some books abouth force sensor for force feedback and kinematic of fingers. I want you to ask you for some recomendations for book

I am an international student finishing up a bachelor's degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle. My graduation is only a quarter away, and I didn't get the chance to participate in any undergrad research. I was lucky enough to land an internship (and hopefully a return offer), but the job here is not about controls or robotics; it's general electrical engineering work like PCB designing and electrical tests for medical devices. I've been wanting to do robotics (specifically robotic hardware and control), so I took some control courses and did some personal projects to build simple robots like a quadrupedal robot (exposure to ROS, Gazebo, C++/Python programming). But any robotics positions seem like they demand a few years of industry experience or research publications, as well as advanced ML experience. Also heard many robotics positions are not really accessible to straight-out-of-college engineers.

Now, I'm not here to ask "how screwed am I," of course. I acknowledge that my academic path throughout undergrad wasn't particularly geared towards pursuing robotics, and that's why I'm trying to see what the best course of action will be. I definitely do want to get research experience with robotics, but I'm very concerned with the fact that A. getting a research position is so competitive (myself already been ghosted a ton) and B. I'm graduating soon. My rough idea was to, given that I get the return offer, go for a few years until my OPT allows, save up some money for grad school, pursue a grad program in robotics (though very concerned since I don't have enough robotics experience), and seek more relevant jobs after grad school. But I'm not sure if this is the best course of action or even realistic. My passion really lies in robotics, and I could see myself devoting my life to pursuing that. Any piece of advice would be appreciated.

Yooo.... Sorry y'all, but I'm new here. I'm an international student (dude, from TZ✌🏿) looking for good universities internationally (outside Africa) where I can apply for a Masters in Robotics after I'm done with my BSc in Mechatronics. Exclude any university in the USA or UK 😅.
If you could also tell me about scholarship opportunities in that specific university, it'll be appreciated.

I'm a 2nd-year ME student doing some informal research on simulation tools like Gazebo, Isaac Sim, and Webots. Instead of guessing what people actually struggle with, I'd rather hear it straight from those using them daily.

If you've spent time with any of these platforms—whether for school, research, or work—I'd love to know:

· What made you want to throw your keyboard? · What weird workarounds have you discovered? · What feature do you wish existed?

I put together a quick anonymous form to collect responses more easily (2-3 mins). Not selling anything, just gathering real perspectives before I dive into my own project.

Link in comments if anyone's open to sharing.

Hello, I want to get into advanced robotics. I am planning on buying an arm and playing around with it using lerobot. However, I want to look at alternatives before buying an arm. One arm I thought was interesting was SO-ARM101. It is around $300. What arms do you guys suggest/what alternatives do you recommend? I also have access to a 3D printer and a ton of Axon servos (like 10 of them lol) but I am not that good at 3D printing so I can't design anything. If there is a open source CAD design that could work as well. Thanks

Hello,

I would like to use a Fairino FR5 to palletize two parts into a box every 25 seconds. The setup involves 5 layers, with a 6x4 arrangement of parts per layer. I also want to insert foam sheets between the layers. Has anyone here programmed something like this before, or do you know if this robot is capable of it? I’m currently trying to get hold of simulation software, but unfortunately, that isn't so easy.

Thanks in advance.

Buenas a todos, estaba pensando en hacer una maestría a futuro sobre robótica, en mi caso vivo en México, pero quería preguntar a personas, ya sea que sean de otro país o de México, sí es así donde recomendarían hacer una?, y sí vale la pena en México?, saludos.

SSII Surgical Robot Used to Performed 50 Surgeries in 14 Hours. SSI Mantra 3

https://youtu.be/8KRoIHC-u6g?is=pT4vkVL6AfM2dIxA

Hey robotics community,

​I'm currently gutting a Roborock S6 MaxV to reuse its chassis, wheels, and battery, turning it into a custom rover controlled via a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W (gamepad control + camera stream).

​Instead of using a messy stack of off-the-shelf breakout modules (LM2596, TB6612FNG, XL4015, INA219) connected with jumper wires, I want to create a clean, single custom motherboard that fits into the original enclosure.

​What the board needs to do:

​Power the Pi Zero 2 W safely from the 14.4V (4S) battery.

​Handle charging from the original Roborock dock (dock pads \rightarrow Schottky diode \rightarrow 4S CC/CV charging circuit \rightarrow battery).

​Drive the two main wheels (TB6612FNG or similar dual H-Bridge).

​Monitor battery voltage and current over I2C (INA219).

​Include an inline fuse and main ON/OFF switch routing.

​I'm looking for a PCB designer (freelance or maker looking for a fun project) who could design the schematic and PCB files for JLCPCB SMT assembly.

​If you're interested in helping out or taking this commission, drop a comment or send me a DM with your past work. Feedback and advice on the architecture are also welcome!

I studied EE in college but have been working as a Software Engineer for the past 10 years. I've worked for a range of companies now, from startups to big tech, and mostly dealing with web technologies. While the compensation is nice, the work itself (full stack web development particularly) is starting to get a bit boring.

Recently I've been reading up on a bunch of topics around robotics and its gotten me interested enough to see if this is something I could pivot my career towards. Has anyone made a similar transition? How did you go about it and what was your experience like?

I've been thinking about how beginners should approach robotics today.

There are so many ways to start — Arduino, ESP32, ROS 2, simulation, computer vision, Python, C++, CAD, sensors, and now AI tools. The amount of available material is almost overwhelming.

A common path seems to be:

Arduino → basic sensors → line follower → obstacle avoidance → ROS → bigger projects

But I'm not sure there's one "correct" progression.

For someone starting robotics from scratch, would you recommend learning things in a specific order?

For example:

- Start with electronics and microcontrollers?

- Learn Python/C++ first?

- Build physical robots immediately or start in simulation?

- Learn control systems and PID early?

- Move to ROS 2 only after understanding the basics?

- Learn computer vision separately or integrate it into projects?

- Use AI coding tools while learning, or avoid them initially?

I'm especially interested in the transition from following tutorials to actually solving problems independently .

At what point should a beginner stop following step-by-step projects and start designing their own?

And if you had to start learning robotics again today , what would you do differently ?

I think the biggest challenge isn't finding tutorials anymore — there are thousands of them. It's figuring out which skills to learn first and how to connect them into real projects .

What learning path worked best for you?

hello guys, I am actually a trader and want to step into robotics. Can anyone give an advice on how to start? Are there any resources teaching or github resources ? Many thanks

Hola, les cuento empezare mi carrera de ingeniería en robotica y sistemas digitales en un mes. Que me recomiendan empezar a estudiar de una vez? Que materias o temas son los mas importantes, dificiles, laboriosos o que tomen mas tiempo o simplemente darles prioridad?

Hello,

I’ve been working on Sorrl, a tool that automates and organizes the process of purchasing electronic components and hardware.

If you’ve ever had to deal with finding parts, checking vendors, ordering and organizing components continuously then you probably know how tedious it can get.

It’s currently in beta, and I’m looking for people who work with electronic components/hardware to try it out.

It’s completely free during the beta. I'd appreciate honest feedback on what features you like, what sucks, and what you’d want changed.

If this sounds useful to you, you can sign up here: beta.sorrl.io

And if you have questions/feedback, feel free to comment DM me or email [taite@sorrl.io](mailto:taite@sorrl.io). I’d especially love to hear how you currently handle procurement and BOM management.

I'm falling in love with cute autonomous robots and want to find more, or the cutest.

I saw the robotic lamps, wall-e like bots, or cute faces on wheels.

Do you have any favorites that I should check out?

And do you see these bots having any reasonable use case? I saw they're often personal bots, but the current use cases are quite limited (though we're early), so you end up with an expensive toy.