Are you interested in robotics? Do you want to build robots that move, feel and think? That’s great! Are you unsure where to start? Then this article is for you!
Robotics is a diverse field that contains multiple disciplines so there is no single point you must start at. At the beginning of the article I will give an overview of the most important topics in robotics. Afterwards we will talk about the best approach to begin the learning process (which is by doing your own projects) and I will point you to specific resources on where to start. While doing these projects you will incidentally pick up the theory on the side. We will discuss how to do that most efficiently and show you some of the best online resources to start with. In the end we will talk about a path towards doing robotics more professionally and becoming a robotics developer. Let’s dive in and start your learning journey!
The Different Disciplines in Robotics
In general, robotics development is all about mechanics, electronics and programming. Each of them covers different, equally important parts of the robot development. Mechanics is about the mechanical properties of the robot. Is it mobile (e.g. does it have wheels)? Is it a robot arm? How much load can it lift? All this depends on the mechanical design of the robot.
Electronics deals with the control of the motors to make the robot move. It also focuses on the sensors of the robot which are used to measure things in the physical world and thus to get a perception of its environment.
Programming is what makes the robot intelligent. It is about telling the robot how to move and how to use the sensor information, all in the form of Code. It also aims at enabling the robot to take its own decisions. If you want to know which programming languages are most often used in robotics check out this article.
In order to build a real robot from scratch you need to deal with each but don’t worry, you don’t need to learn everything at once. In the next paragraph we will talk about the best approach to make learning robotics fun and motivating.
The Best Learning Approach for Beginners is Learning by Doing
In the beginning, don’t open a theoretical textbook and try to learn the algorithms. This approach can become very frustrating, very soon. Instead, start with projects. Projects are fun and in the end you have something to show! That way you have a clear goal and your learning path simply becomes whatever you need to know to achieve your goal. So while doing cool projects you will gain knowledge as a byproduct!
There are various projects you can start with. You could start building a simple robot with an Arduino microcontroller board or a Raspberry Pi single-board computer. When you build a robot like this with a simple chassis, some motors and sensors and a simple processing unit from scratch you learn about mechanics, electronics and programming all at once. You can buy a fully assembled robot or a robot kit to assemble the robot yourself. You can also design certain parts from scratch like your own 3D printed parts or you can create your own electrical circuits. That way you can adjust the level of difficulty and decide what you want to learn about in more detail.
However, you don’t need a physical robot if you don’t want to spend money on it or if you are not very interested in the mechanics/ electronics part of robotics. Actually, all you need to start is a computer. Today you can simulate robots on your PC which is nearly as much fun a having a physical one. This requires no upfront investment and there are tons of online resources to guide you. One fortunate development in modern robotics is the evolving of the Robot Operating System. It is an open source operating system for robots and is widely used in the community and even in professional robotics companies. On this blog we have a bunch of tutorials on how do do robotics development with ROS so go ahead and check them out here.
If you want a more exhaustive list and detailed description of the projects you can start with, I have an article about the best projects to start learning robotics which includes projects with and without hardware.
But what about the theory?
But you can only understand the things thoroughly if you know the theory behind what you are doing, right? That is a noble endeavor but one that can be very daunting and frustrating. If you try to understand everything from the beginning you will be overwhelmed quickly. Of course, questions will arise when you do these projects. When this happens, do some research on them. Often times a quick online search will give you an answer within a few minutes. If some of these topics turn out to be more complex, don’t worry. For the projects it is often not required to understand every detail so you can just move on if you feel that you don’t get a grasp of it.
On the other hand, if something sparks your interest then you should make use of that and dig deeper. Sometimes you will end up at the fundamental basics like Kinematics, Dynamics, Control or Motion Planning.
These are the basics which are usually covered in the textbooks. If in your search for answers you reached these basic principles, then you might as well have a look at the literature. However, now you will understand where this problem comes from and how it relates to a real robotics project. This will make learning the theory easier and much more motivating. If you are not a reading person you don’t need to stick to the textbooks. There are a lot of online resources from online lectures over tutorial videos to blog posts that are great at explaining the theoretical concepts. For an exhaustive list, check out my article on the best online resources to learn robotics.
The Path to become a professional robotics developer
Now let’s assume you have dealt with real projects and maybe even a bit of theory. Maybe you have found topics that really interest or maybe even excite you. If you are already thinking if doing robotics professionally might be for you I want to give you some guidance right here. Working on robots professionally is fun and a great career and there are many paths to become a robotics developer. Generally speaking, having a technical university/ college degree helps. Which kind of degree depends a lot on the area of robotics you want to work in. I wrote an article about the best degrees to work in robotics that also covers what you will learn in these degrees and which valuable robotics skills they will teach you.
You don’t necessarily need to have a full blown Engineering/Computer Science degree to get a job in robotics though. If e.g. you know how to program, worked with ROS and know a bit or two about the fundamentals of robotics that is already a good foundation for a robotics career. There is always a chance for career changers to get into the business.
Conclusion
I hope this guide was helpful to get you started on your robotics learning journey. Approaching the learning process as I described is very rewarding and in the end will give you the best experience. Even if you may struggle at times, you will always find help online as there is a great robotics community ready to guide you. Robotics is very rewarding and it’s for everyone. You can start learning from scratch with the most simple projects and one day you might end up doing a PhD in the field. No matter at which stage of your learning journey you are, this website tries to provide helpful information and guidance for everyone. So make sure to also checkout the other articles on my blog 🙂
