Is DroneBot Workshop's teaching enough for becoming a Robotics Designer or is there more to learn ?

Posted by: @rohitelamurugan1607

Hello everyone,

I am 15 year old student. My ambition is to become a Robotics Designer. I have seen many channels on learning about Robotics and IoT, but until now Bill is the best teacher 🙂 Lately I had been wondering if whatever I learnt from Bill is enough or is there more to learn... So after tons of research, I came to know that there is more to learn... but just want an opinion from Bill and other people in this forum. Also please consider my age too before giving away your opinion 🙂

Thanks in advance

// Rohit Elamurugan

I am almost 60 years old and there is always more to learn.

Good luck, my friend.

--->Sean

I was about your age, when I built my first robot arm. We had no microcontrollers at the time, so mine was manually manipulated using DPDT switches and DC motors.  We had an Apple II+ in the house, but there was no practical way to interface it to the robot. I won a science & engineering fair award with my robot arm, and one of the judges (Harold Cohen) hired me to build robots for him. I worked for him into my college years. I am now 50 years old, and all the new options we today have is like being a "a kid in a candy store". Raspberry Pis, Arduinos, sensor modules, etc etc all quite inexpensive. At 15 years old, you will have a lifetime of learning ahead and it will never stop. I concur, that Bill is an excellent teacher. As your skills and innovations grow, you will find other teachers, too, that can add to, and compliment, Bill's teachings. Best wishes on your endeavors.

@rohitelamurugan1607

As the others above have eluded to here, there will always be more to learn about just about anything.  I'm 60 years older than you and learn something new just about every day.  Whether it is about robots or anything else in life, it eventually all comes together somewhere down the road.  And you have the good fortune to be 15 years old when technology has made it much easier to learn all these wonderful things much easier than it was in the past.

Yes Bill is a fantastic teacher, but he has only scratched the surface when it comes to robots.  But stay tuned as there will be more to come.  Most everything he does will come in handy if you set out to build your own robots.  But also spread your knowledge base out and take in other avenues of learning as well.  Another YouTube channel you should check out, if you haven't already, is Paul McWhorter's.

Good luck and remember there are no dumb questions, just dumb answers!  😎 

@whitneydesignlabs
We had an Apple II+ in the house, but there was no practical way to interface it to the robot.

Whereas I had the TRS-80 along with a little book showing you how to use the TRS 80 to interface it anything. I made a simple robot arm using drill motors designed to clip onto a car battery. Same with all my computers until Windows came along with its USB ports. Now I can use the Arduino to connect the PC to electronics via the USB port.

My impression is that there is a lot more to learn today. The hobby world back then was mainly analog as cheap integrated digital circuits did not exist. It was easier to learn the electronic fundamentals and programming was simpler. Today you can do a lot of amazing stuff without having a clue how it all works at a lower level.

@robotbuilder I did not know the TRS-80 had an interface.  I had a friend who had one. The AppleII+ did have a joystick port. My dad and I looked into using some TTL logic, to possibly drive a relay(s).  We also found an aftermarket card that fit in the Apple, to drive relays and such, but it was about $800 as I recall.  In the end, we gave up on the idea of computer control. My main shoulder motor was a headlight motor from a German car, and some other small ones, for 2 other axis (3 total, plus gripper). I don't want to hijack this thread, so I will leave it at that. To your point, it didn't feel easier (to me) to learn this stuff back then, but there are certainly a LOT more things to learn today.  With all the new stuff to learn, there are so many possibilities for robotics now; even young kids can get started. LIDAR, sonar, vision etc. and the price is so relatively low to get going on some really sophisticated stuff.

Posted by: @rohitelamurugan1607

I am 15 year old student.

First of all, I find it very cool that you are here and asking questions. Stick with it. Try to think of learning as a never-ending journey with two paths that you will take at the same time. One path is learning the science, for example, Ohm's law and the many forms of it you can do with math. These basics will be your building blocks. The second path is to learn by doing. Experiment every day (carefully of course), learn through your errors. Find out what you did wrong or can do better. This will force you back to path one, the science of it all, then right back again to experiment. Work on these dual pathways as often as you can, and soon we will be asking you to help us solve our problems.

I'll look forward to hearing about your projects!

@whitneydesignlabs oof it's just surprising on how technology changes everyday. Thanks for your opinion 🙂

@codecage yes. I am expecting for more things to learn. Thanks for suggesting about Paul McWhorter and your opinions 🙂

Posted by: @secondlaw

Posted by: @rohitelamurugan1607

I am 15 year old student.

First of all, I find it very cool that you are here and asking questions. Stick with it. Try to think of learning as a never-ending journey with two paths that you will take at the same time. One path is learning the science, for example, Ohm's law and the many forms of it you can do with math. These basics will be your building blocks. The second path is to learn by doing. Experiment every day (carefully of course), learn through your errors. Find out what you did wrong or can do better. This will force you back to path one, the science of it all, then right back again to experiment. Work on these dual pathways as often as you can, and soon we will be asking you to help us solve our problems.

I'll look forward to hearing about your projects!

Yes I want opinions (and inspiration 😀) from people around this world. I feel comfortable in this forum because of the safety measures taken by Bill and the Admins. And yes.. I am using the strategy of learning in 2 paths at the same time. The science and maths I learn in school and the experiments I do by watching youtube are very related. Yes, I will try my best to solve your problems and you can be sure to hear about my projects 🙂 Thanks a lot.