Skills and Knowledge

What you’ll need to know to build robots and bring them to life

By Kevin McAleer,    2 Minutes

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Design - Making the physical robot

Programming - Writing the code to control the robot

Electronics - Send and receive signals to the sensors and motors

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Design & Engineering

How to build a robot.

Building a robot requires:

• A design or blueprint
• Practical skills
• Materials & parts - wheels, filament, glue,
• Tools & Machinery, a 3d printer
• Time, Patience and practice

SMARS is a 3d Printed Robot, the designs can be found at: https://www.smarsfan.com

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Programming

What is a program?

• A program is a list of human-readable instructions for the computer to carry out
• A program is written in a computer language, such as Python, Javascript, C++
• Programs can also constructed visually, using blocks in software such as Scratch

An example program, written in Python:

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Electronics

How to wire up a robot Electronics skills & Knowledge:

• How a circuit works
• Voltage, Current, Resistance
• Common components
• Batteries
• Connectors
• Protocols such as I2C, SPI, UART

SMARS uses off-the-shelf components, so is easy to wire up

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