The Periodic Table of Robotics

Chemistry has 118 elements. Robotics, it turns out, has 86 — and you’re looking at all of them. Every topic, skill and area of robotics, arranged the way Mendeleev would have wanted: the fundamentals on the left, the clever stuff on the right, and a whole row of actual robots along the bottom (the Botinoids — the rare earths of the maker world).

Click any element to learn what it is, why it matters, and where to go next — each one links to related courses, projects and articles here on KevsRobots.

  • Electronics Foundations
  • Code & Software
  • Boards & Brains
  • Signals & Comms
  • Power & Motion
  • Sensors
  • Robot Intelligence
  • Making & Design
  • Robots & Builds
1 Oh Ohm's Law 2 Ai Artificial Intelligence 3 El Electronics 4 Ci Circuits 5 Py Python 6 Mp MicroPython 7 Cp C/C++ 8 Js JavaScript 9 Sc Scratch 10 Ru Rust 11 Br Breadboard 12 So Soldering 13 Li Linux 14 Gi Git 15 Do Docker 16 Sq SQL & Data 17 Si Simulation 18 Os Open Source 19 Re Resistors 20 Ca Capacitors 21 Ar Arduino 22 Rp Raspberry Pi 23 Pi Raspberry Pi Pico 24 Es ESP32 25 Mb micro:bit 26 Io GPIO 27 Pw PWM 28 Ba Batteries 29 Dc DC Motors 30 Sv Servos 31 Us Ultrasonic 32 Ir Infrared 33 Cm Cameras 34 Ld LiDAR 35 Im IMU 36 Gs GPS 37 Tr Transistors 38 Pb PCB Design 39 I2 I2C 40 Sp SPI 41 Ua UART 42 Wi WiFi 43 Bl Bluetooth 44 Mq MQTT 45 St Stepper Motors 46 Hb H-Bridge 47 Gr Gears 48 Wh Wheels 49 Cv Computer Vision 50 Ml Machine Learning 51 Ro ROS 52 Sl SLAM 53 Pd PID Control 54 Ik Inverse Kinematics 55 Mm Multimeter 56 To Tools 57 Pr 3D Printing 58 Cd CAD 59 Fu Fusion 360 60 Fc FreeCAD 61 Lc Laser Cutting 62 Ch Chassis Design 63 Tk Tank Tracks 64 Le LEGO Robotics 65 We Wearables 66 Rc Radio Control 67 Nv Navigation 68 Au Autonomy 69 Sw Swarm Robotics 70 Nn Neural Networks 71 Lm LLMs 72 Et Robot Ethics 73 Sm SMARS 74 Bb BurgerBot 75 Pc PicoCat 76 Dw Drawing Robots 77 Ra Robot Arms 78 Rv Rovers 79 Dr Drones 80 Hu Humanoids 81 Qd Quadrupeds 82 Hx Hexapods 83 Pe Pet Robots 84 Cb Combat Robots 85 Rt Retro Robots 86 Ho Halloween Robots

How to read the table: the atomic number is the suggested learning order within a column of the same colour — start with Oh (Ohm’s Law, element 1) and work your way towards Ai (element 2, top right — easy to reach, hard to master). Colours group related disciplines, just like the real table groups metals and noble gases. And no, we couldn’t resist making Pb the symbol for PCB design.

Found an element we missed? Let me know — the table, like robotics itself, is still expanding.

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