What is a "Roboteer" you might ask? Well, a Roboteer is a person who designs, builds, studies, or controls robots. Much like a "Rocketeer" except that a Rocketeer, as defined by The American Heritage Dictionary, is "a person who designs, builds, studies, or pilots rockets." |
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Robotics is an incredibly rewarding and educational hobby for both amateurs and professionals! It is one of the fastest growing hobbies and it can be done by individuals, teams, men or women. Robot building involves the use of many skills, including: design, electronics, mechanics, metal working, machinist, pneumatics, programming, physics and mathematics. If you don't have these skills yet, don't worry, you will begin to acquire them as you learn to build your first robotic creation. Below you will find links to some of my favorite robotics web sites to help get you started. If you feel confident then jump right in, otherwise you may want to consider joining a robotics club, reading some robotics books, or participating in an educational robotics class. I would recommend younger roboteers find an adult mentor to help supervise and guide them on the creation of their first robot.  Jump To:
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Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics"
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1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. |
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Robotics Events:
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BEST Robotics, Inc. (Middle and High School Robotics Competition ): http://www.bestinc.org/MVC/ http://www.georgiabest.org/ (Georgia BEST Robotics - Oct. 20, 2007 at So. Polytechnic State Univ. (SPSU) in Marietta, GA) http://www.southsbest.org/ (South's BEST Regional Competition - Dec 7-8, 2007 at Auburn University) Bot Bash BotBash Competition videos on YouTube: http://www.botbash.com ComBots - ComBots Cup & the 4th annual Robot Fighting League National Championships May 19-20, 2007 - Maker Faire at the San Mateo Fairgrounds, CA http://combots.net Carnegie Mellon 14th Annual Mobot Races Race Course in Front of Wean Hall (April 18, 2007 at 12:00pm) http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~mobot/ DARPA Urban Challenge - Victorville, CA (November 3, 2007): National Qualification Event - Victorville, CA (October 26-31, 2007) http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge FIRST LEGO League (FLL) International FLL Championship Tournament - Georgia State Tournament - GA Tech Student Center (February 09, 2007) Peachtree Ridge NE GA Qualifier - Peachtree Ridge High School (November 17, 2007) North Fulton Qualifier - Roswell High School, GA (January 12, 2008) http://www.firstlegoleague.org/ http://www.georgiafll.org/ FIRST Robotics Championship Event - Georgia Dome - Atlanta, GA (April 17-19, 2008): http://www.usfirst.org/robotics/ FIRST Tech (VEX) Challenge - Georgia Dome - Atlanta, GA (September 19, 2007): http://www.usfirst.org/vex/ http://www.usfirst.org/community/fvc/ RoboBusiness Conference and Exposition - Boston, MA (May 15-16, 2007): http://www.roboevent.com RoboCup RoboCup 2007 - Georgia Tech campus - Atlanta, GA (July 3-10, 2007): RoboCup 2008 - Suzhou, China (July 2008): http://www.robocup-us.org/ http://www.robocup.org/ Robofest - Lawrence Technology University (LTU) - Southfield, MI (April 28, 2007): http://www.robofest.net RoboFest Hawaii 2007 - University of Hawaii at Hilo Gymnasium (November 17, 2007): http://astroday.net/RoboFest07.html ROBOGAMES (a.k.a. ROBOLYMPICS) - Fort Mason - San Francisco, CA (June 12-15, 2008): FIRA (Federation of International Robot-soccer Association) 12th annual Robot World Cup at RoboGames 2007 http://robogames.net http://robogames.net/fira.php Robot Battles Stellarcon 32 Convention in High Point, NC (March 16, 2008): Chattacon 33 in Chattanooga, TN (January 26, 2008): Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA - Hyatt Centennial One ballroom (September 3, 2007): http://www.robotbattles.com Robothon 2007 Center House, Seattle Center, Seattle, WA (September 21-23, 2007): http://www.robothon.org/ Robot Rally© - Atlanta, GA - Place and time TBD (2007) http://www.botlanta.org/Rally/index.html http://www.botlanta.org/Rally/register.html http://robotrally.org/ War-Bots Xtreme - (WBX) Western Canada’s combat robotics tournament: WBX-IV - Saskatoon, Canada (July 21-22, 2007): http://www.warbotsxtreme.com/ |
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Robotic Event Rules:
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BattleBots (Official Rules and Regulations): http://www.battlebots.com/bnc_rules.asp Bot-Hockey Rules (PDF): http://www.warbotsxtreme.com/Bot-Hockey-rules_v0.2.pdf Northeast Robotics Club (NERC Rules) http://www.nerc.us/rules.html Robot Battles (Rules for Dragon*Con, Chattacon, Stellarcon, etc.): http://www.robotbattles.com/rules.htm Robot Fighting League (RFL Standard Rules): http://www.botleague.com/rules.asp Sumo Robot Rules (Autonomous Rules): http://www.robotroom.com/SumoRules.html |
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Educational Robotics:
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BattleBots IQ: http://www.battlebotsiq.com/ BEST Robotics, Inc. (Middle and High School Robotics Competition ): http://www.bestinc.org/MVC/ FIRST Robotics: http://www.usfirst.org http://www.usfirst.org/about/news/email/2005-06-02/index.html (FIRST Online News) GEARS Educational Systems: http://www.gearseds.com/index.php?continue=1 Johns Hopkins University - M.E. 530.646 Introduction to Robotics: http://robotics.me.jhu.edu/~llw/courses/me530646/ LEGO MindStorm Robotics: http://mindstorms.lego.com/eng/default.asp MIT OpenCourseWare | Mechanical Engineering | 2.12 Introduction to Robotics: http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mechanical-Engineering/2-12Fall-2004/CourseHome/index.htm NASA Robotics Education Project: http://robotics.nasa.gov http://robotics.nasa.gov/courses/summer05/ (Robotics and Engineering 6-week VEX Robotics Course) OWI Robot Kits: http://robotikitsdirect.com/ Internal Drive Programming & Robotics Summer Tech Camp: http://www.internaldrive.com/course_robotics.htm http://georgia.internaldrive.com/ |
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Robot - How To Tips-n-Tricks:
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Build an AVR Programmer Cable: http://www.dontronics.com/dt006_programming.html Easy Printed Circuit Board Fabrication (Using Laser Printer Toner Transfer): http://www.fullnet.com/u/tomg/gooteepc.htm Homebrew Printed Circuit Boards - a Yahoo Group (How to Etch PCBs): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs/ Kid's Programming Language (KPL - Free .exe download): http://www.kidsprogramminglanguage.com/ NASA Soldering Instructional Videos (How to Solder Electronics): http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/elab/soldering.htm |
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Robot Supplies:
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AmpFlow (Controllers and Motors): http://www.AmpFlow.com/ BaneBots (Robot Parts): http://www.banebots.com/ BattleKits (Combat Robot Kits): http://www.BattleKits.com/ Budget Robotics: http://www.budgetrobotics.com E-Clec-Tech (Robots and Tamiya Robopets): http://www.e-clec-tech.com/robopets.html Garage Technologies, Inc. (Hobby Robotics and Electronics Kits): http://www.garage-technologies.com/ Hobby Engineering: http://www.hobbyengineering.com Johuco: http://www.johuco.com LynxMotion: http://www.lynxmotion.com Mondo-tronics: http://www.mondo.com Parallax: http://www.parallax.com Robot Books: http://www.robotbooks.com Robotics Connection (Botster Robotic Kits from Summerour Robotics Corp.): http://www.roboticsconnection.com RobotShop - The Canadian Robot Shop: http://www.robotshop.ca Robot Store (Jameco Electronics): http://www.robotstore.com SolarBotics BEAM robotics resource: http://www.solarbotics.com The Robot Store: http://www.therobotstore.com Vexplorer: (from Revell): http://www.revell.com/VEXplorer.275.0.html VEX: Robotics Design System: http://www.vexrobotics.com Vex™ Robotics Starter Kit: http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp? Wright Hobbies Robotics (Atmel AVRs, etc.): http://www.wrighthobbies.net Yost Engineering Inc. (YEI) - BugBrain™ v3.0.2: http://www.yostengineering.com/index.cgi? Zagros Robotics - Max96 and Max99 mobile bases: https://www.zagrosrobotics.com/Index.asp |
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Robot Companies:
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Autonomous Solutions, Inc. - Designs and manufactures unmanned vehicles for a variety of corporate and military customers. http://www.autonomoussolutions.com/ Evolution Robotics - Providers of a Robotic Operating System with solutions for vision, navigation and intelligence: http://www.evolution.com/ Future Robotics - We design robotic systems using mobile robots that are intelligent and autonomous. http://www.futurerobotics.com/ MobileRobots, Inc. (formerly ActivMedia Robotics) - Global leader in the design and manufacture of intelligent mobile bases, sensing systems and software: http://www.mobilerobots.com/ WowWee Robotics - Home of Robosapien, RoboRaptor and RoboPet: http://www.wowwee.com/ |
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Famous Robots:
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HONDA ASIMO Humanoid Robot: http://asimo.honda.com KONDO KHR-1 Robo-One Humanoid Robot Kits: http://www.robo-one-usa.com http://www.kondo-robot.com MARS Exploration Rovers: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/spacecraft_surface_rover.html ROBOSAPIEN Humanoid Robot: http://www.robosapienonline.com http://www.robosapienonline.com Mods: http://www.robosapien1.com ROBOT Hall of Fame: A Gallery of Famous Robots by Carnegie Mellon University http://www.robothalloffame.org/ ROOMBA and PACKBOT: http://www.irobot.com/home.cfm Mods: http://www.roombacommunity.com SONY QRIO Humanoid Robot: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/QRIO/top_nf.html SONY AIBO Robot Dog: http://www.sony.net/Products/aibo/index.html Mods: http://www.aibohack.com TOYOTA PARTNER Humanoid Robot: http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/special/robot ZMP - Nuvo, PINO and Morph Humanoid Robots: http://www.zmp.co.jp/e_home.html |
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Micro-Controllers:
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Atmel (AVR): http://www.atmel.com/ Barello (ANT and Beetle Weight R/C Micro-Controllers): http://www.barello.net/Commerce/index.htm Basic Stamps (Parallax Inc.): http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/products/basicstamps/basic_stamps.asp http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=28132 (Boe-Bot Robot Kit) BasicX (NetMedia Inc.): http://www.basicx.com/ http://www.basicx.com/Products/scout/scoutmain.htm (Scout Educational Robot) Embedded Systems Discussion Groups: http://www.embeddedrelated.com/groups.php Freescale Semiconductor - MCUs: http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/homepage.jsp?nodeId=016246 mikroElektronika (Development Tools and Compilers): http://www.mikroelektronika.co.yu/english/index.htm http://www.mikroelektronika.co.yu/english/product/books/ (Free PIC, PLC, MCU Books) Parallax ("Propeller Chip": eight 32-bit processors on one chip): http://www.parallax.com/propeller/index.asp PCB FAB Express (Prototype PCBs): http://www.pcbfabexpress.com/ PIC Embedded Microcontrollers (MicroChip Technologies): http://www.piclist.com/techref/microchip/index.htm http://www.piclist.com/techref/microchip/routines.htm (ASM Language Routine Library) PID Without a PhD (Proportional, Integral, Derivative control): http://www.embedded.com/2000/0010/0010feat3.htm Sumo11 robotics controller: http://www.1sorc.com/ Zorin Co.: http://www.zorinco.com/ http://www.zorinco.com/zweb?page=modcon (ModCon HC11 Platform) |
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Robot Clubs:
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Atlanta Hobby Robot Club (AHRC): http://www.botlanta.org http://www.botlanta.org/maillist.htm (AHRC Mailing List) http://ahrcmascot.blogspot.com/ (AHRC Mascot Robot Project WebLog) Central Illinois Robotics Club (CIRC): http://www.circ.mtco.com/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/circgroup/ (CIRC Mailing List) Chicago Area Robotics Group (ChiBots): http://www.chibots.org/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chibots (ChiBots Mailing List) Connecticut Robotics Society (CRS): http://www.ctrobots.org/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/circgroup/ (CIRC Mailing List) Dallas Personal Robotics Group (DPRG): http://www.dprg.org/ http://list.dprg.org/mailman/listinfo/dprglist (DPRG Mailing List) HomeBrew Robotics Club (HBRC in the Silicon Valley, CA): http://www.hbrobotics.org http://www.wildrice.com/HBRobotics/HBRCBuildersBook.html (HBRobotics Club Builders Book) Missouri Area Robotics Society (RoboMo in St. Louis, MO): http://www.robomo.com/ Northeast Robotics Club (NERC): http://www.robomo.com/ Portland Area Robotics Society (PARTS): http://www.portlandrobotics.org Seattle Robotics Society (SRS): http://www.seattlerobotics.org/srs-home.htm South Eastern Combat Robotics (SECR) http://forums.delphiforums.com/SECU/start Formerly: http://www.secr.org Southern Oregon Robotics Society (SORS): http://www.sorobotics.org/ Triangle Amateur Robotics (TAR in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC area): http://www.TriangleAmateurRobotics.org/ |
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Robot Teams:
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Team Delta - N.C. http://www.teamdelta.com/ Team JuggerBot (Official Rules and Regulations): http://www.juggerbot.com/ http://www.juggerbot.com/index-crew.html Team Rolling Thunder - N.C. http://www.teamrollingthunder.com/body_index.html Team Top Secret Robotics (Team TSR) http://home.ec.rr.com/tsrrobotics/tsrrobotics_002.htm |
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Robot News:
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Circuit Cellar (The Magazine for Computer Applications): http://www.circuitcellar.com/ EE Times online (News site): http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/ Mobile Robotics - The latest news and stories in the world of robotics: http://www.mobilerobotics.org/robot New Scientist - Science & Technology News: http://www.newscientist.com/news.ns Robotics Trends - Subscribe to Robotics Trends Insights, the free bi-weekly newsletter: http://www.roboticstrends.com Robot Journal - Links To The Latest In Robot News: http://robotjournal.com/ Robots.net - Robot news and Robotics Info http://www.robots.net http://robots.net/rcfaq.html (Robot Competition FAQ) Technovelgy - Robotics-related Science Fiction News: http://www.technovelgy.com/index_menu.asp?BT=Robotics |
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Robotics Links:
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An Illustrated Guide to American Robot Sumo - Autonomous Rules: http://www.robotroom.com/SumoRules.html National Robotics Engineering Consortium - NREC: http://www.rec.ri.cmu.edu/info/glance/ PLANTRACO - Home of the incredibly small R/C desktop rover and LiPoly cells: http://www.plantraco.com ReadyRobots! - Robots for your Home and Yard: http://www.ReadyRobots.com/ RoboNexus http://www.robonexus.com Robotics India - Online Robotics Community: http://www.roboticsindia.com Robotics Society of America http://www.robotics-society.org Robot Magazine - How-to Projects and Robot News (published quarterly): http://www.botmag.com/ The Robot Parade http://therobotparade.com/ Robot Room - David Cook's guide to Robot Projects: http://www.robotroom.com Robots.net - Robot news and Robotics Info http://www.robots.net Servo Robot Magazine (published monthly): http://www.servomagazine.com http://www.servomagazine.com/tetsujin2005/ (Tetsujin 2005) SOZBOTS - Sixteen OZ fighting roBOTS: http://www.sozbots.com |
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Robotics Projects:
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Animal and the Machine - Cockroach Driven Robot: http://www.conceptlab.com/control/ The Leaf Project - A robotics project using artificial intelligence and vision: http://www.leafproject.org/ M-TRAN (Modular Transformer) - Self-assembling robotic systems: http://www.mrt.dis.titech.ac.jp/modular_robot.htm Neogentronyx.com - NMX04-1A - Introducing the world's first real Mecha: http://neogentronyx.com/ Probotics America - Animatronic Bike-Bots: http://www.proboticsamerica.com/bike-bot.html Robovie-V - Humanoid Robot (Japanese Site): http://www.vstone.co.jp/top/products/robot/Robovie-V.html Wakamaru - Humanoid Robot (Japanese Site): http://www.mhi.co.jp/kobe/wakamaru/ World's greatest android projects - Humanoid Robots: http://www.androidworld.com/prod01.htm |
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© 2006 Temporal Designs
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