Comfy Academy
How are robots made?
This article will pertain mostly to personal & done-in-garages types of projects.
Although many lessons can be applied to large scale corporate-level robots.
One could argue building a robot is an artistic practice.
Like art, robotics is diverse. The art of robot building reflects the builders' personality & style. Everything from location, materials, methodlogies to scale can vary largely.
Nevertheless, it's a great learning experience that leads to a potentially useful object!
Despite all the differences in how (and where) people build robots, they all share many similarities in the development process. This includes ideation.
People find inspirations from everyday objects, problems to solve, or just a vibe. This leads to amazing robot ideas.
You can try out Comfy Projects to spark something in your mind!
These can be original designs or remixes of others'
But if you don't want to design your own robot, you can check out Comfy Projects!
Comfy Project designs are easily remixable
Most robots require electronics to function. Here's an example from PlayCar, a robot I recently built.
Buy electronics, solder them together, then put all in the shell. You have yourself a robot!
Up until now, your robot is just metal & plastics held together by love & compassion.
An aesthetics paperweight at best.
To make the robots useful, programming is (often) needed.
This can be a huge hurdle to those with a creative mind but not experienced with the dark art of coding.
I (Thomas) have worked on ComfySpace to make sure "not knowing how to code" is not a barrier to entry to the world of robotics.
You can make robots with minimal (or no) coding!
You can still use any programming language of choice, if that's your forte. Or you can try ComfyScript, a programming language meant to make robotics development as easy as speaking English in a sentence.
ComfyScript, control robots with one sentence of command (instead of 100 lines of code)
In fact, you don't even need a monitor & keyboard to build a robot with Comfy!
Most robots require some (remote) control functionalities
Such as buttons, RC controllers, a sensor, etc.
This can be both expensive & complicated to both beginners & professionals.
That doesn't sit right with me.
So I built ComfySpace, so all the expensive hardware can be replaced by your phone!
The most triumphant part of the robot building process (perhaps) is to play with it!
Also, you should share your robots online for some clout!
ComfyShare is made so you can share your robots with fellow Comfy-users!
Building robots is fun! However, the high cost & barriers of entry can be a turn-off to many. ComfySpace is here to fix that. The world needs more of your creations, and I'm here to faciliate that. Lay back, read some articles, look at some projects, and let the power of the robot god flow through your veins.
Join us to discuss about robotics or provide feedback!
Make a Playcar here!
A fascinating take on the complexity of current robotics by Benjie Holson
