My teenager is self-teaching himself robotics, I would love if I could find a community or classes that will help him along. Any resources will be amazing and he is just using youtube and udemy course. I’ve purchased almost every single piece of hand equipment he needs. Does anyone have advice on where to look?
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There’s a Dallas Robotics Club. They used to meet at DMS pre-pandemic, so I don’t know what they’re doing now. @JohnK is a member. While he has a Talk handle, he rarely uses Talk.
Are you a member? You may have seen JohnK around the Space.
We have other robotics people around. @frank_lima is very much into robotics, and may have some good suggestions for you.
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Yes, I am an on and off member. Current a member.
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The Dallas Personal Robotics Group (DPRG) has a weekly online meeting. I would recommend jumping into the meeting and asking there.
They have a Robotics Competition coming up in May - watch their website for an announcement. There should be 1 or 2 contests geared towards beginners.
There are a few members that work with local youth in one fashion or another (i.e. First Robotics, etc.).
DPRG will be meeting at DMS on one of the upcoming Saturdays which would be a good time to meet the members in person and see some of their robots.
Lastly, if there is enough interest, there some DMS & DPRG members that may be willing to teach some courses on building you own robot.
@cottjr
@bpamplin
@badgertide
@Team_Electronics
@Team_Education
@engpin
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@dryad2b and @David_Steele - Thanks for the shoutout!
@TheBizDoc -
I’ve served as DPRG president since Jan of 2020. I haven’t been on Talk very much recently but am happy to share more info.
COVID did drive DPRG to an almost completely online mode starting in March 2020, with the main exceptions since then as annual outdoor competitions and just 2 or 3 indoor meetings. We do hope to restart regular in-person meetings this year - likely on a monthly Saturday basis - hopefully at DMS… Hopefully that can start again soon…
DPRG meet online every Tuesday evening at 7:30pm in sessions dubbed “RBNV”. We usually have 10 to 20 regular participants mostly from DFW but also now several from Canada, Colorado and Connecticut. Those sessions are great for
- simply listening in
- sharing progress / frustration / success with your recent robot build or associated technologies
- asking for help & guidance
- brainstorming ideas for different approaches
- learning about all kinds of things - robot kits / sensors / software platforms / chipsets / algorithms / actuators like motors and servos / encoders / computer vision / construction methods like 3D printing / DIY circuit cards / programming autonomy / teleoperation / tools and resources of all kinds for hardware and software
- hanging out with fun & like minded folk
There is an absolute TON of experience to lean on amongst DPRG members. DPRG welcome people at all levels - whether you know nothing about robots and want to learn, or whether you want to share decades of experience from a robotics related or technology career.
Most DPRG members and non-member participants are, shall we say, a little past the teens. But we do sometimes have younger members and participants. For example, one member started with DPRG maybe in middle school or junior high, with an ambition to build robots from scratch, and is now preparing to graduate from college with excellent experience and skill set. For another example, one of our members coaches a High School team in First. That team regularly presents their robot endeavors to DPRG to solicit feedback and share their experience. For example, check out this clip from last Tuesday
The wide range of experience is part of what makes it fun, and rewarding to help others grow.
I know Udemy can be awesome. But if you’d like more of a locally home grown and interactive option - check out DPRG’s YouTube channel.
In addition to many Tuesday night recordings, you can also find video from DPRG competitions (e.g. last Nov), and also tutorials
and extended presentations focused on things like this cool open source Mars Rover model
Anyhow - feel free to learn more at https://dprg.org or jump on the line some Tuesday night.
RBNV is held every Tuesday at 7:30 CDT. You can join in by using information found by clicking the RBNV image on the homepage of https://www.dprg.org. Come join us and talk robots!
Chat Records for the meeting can be found at https://www.dprg.org/category/news/
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The title of this topic is awesome and DPRG and DMS should come up with an answer to it. I’ve done eighty or so microcontroller classes at DMS, a couple of ham radio clubs and a couple of other makerspaces. I have a “robot club” for a teenage grandson and four friends. It’s mainly programming and various STEM subjects. While I get very creative in my previous classes, I seem to stall out thinking of a real robot class.
DPRG is an awesome wealth of knowledge on most any robotic subject imaginable. It was great to see an in-person meeting scheduled for February 10. I fizzled out on the zoom meetings. Maybe we could bring this subject up at that meeting.
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/21145
DMS has incredible resources for scheduling and teaching classes.
Why don’t we get together and develop two or three robot classes that can be conducted on a regular basis.
- Will it be hands-on? The only possible answer is yes.
- Will students have to pay? All my classes are free and open to non-members and robot classes should be the same.
- Will each person have a set of parts to work with? There should be at least a kit for every two people. One per person is much better.
- Let’s find a YouTube or article about 3D printing parts that could be used in a class.
- I’m offering a class at DMS Thursday on designing and ordering PCBs cheap. Why not design our own control board that could be used for many classes? I’m visualizing a 4x4" PCB with an RPi Pico, rotary encoder, four pots, a WS2812B LED strip, mounting for a servo to hold a distance sensor, dual H bridges, IR receiver, push buttons, toggle switches, female headers for jumper connections and connection for a 20x4 LCD display.
- Programming the microcontroller would have been done previously with the encoder used by students to choose the option they want to run. I would take a few minutes to show the code to control one accessory like the distance sensor or servo. I like to make a point that there is no magic in the devices that use daily but it gets done to programs that they can learn to generate.
- This could be mounted on a piece of plywood chassis with provision for mounting gearbox/wheels and a battery.
- The controller board could also be used in a different class with the students assembling a robot arm with 3D printed parts.
- There is no end with what could be done with incremental add-ons to a good start but eventually it gets down to who pays for it. I own all the parts that I use in my classes but, I don’t care to stretch that further. @artg_dms is great at ordering various things that a number of us have requested but this exceeds what I would want to request of the Electronics Committee. We are a 501(c)(3) for education. Why not put together a plan describing two or three proposed classes in detail, who would develop and teach the classes and costs. My off-the-cuff guess would be $1,200 for twelve kits.
I’m interested in making this happen. I would like to encourage others to take the lead in teaching while I do my microcontroller and PCB classes but I would teach if needed.
Anyone interested?
I look forward to seeing thoughts on what we can do.
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Check out First Robotics. There are hundreds of teams in DFW.
Extremely well run, challenging and a huge plus on a college application. Both my kids did this for four years - awesome experience. Both are now engineers because of it. One builds robots for a living (we say he’s living the dream). I’ve been a mentor to several teams over the last 14 years.
Two levels for high schoolers:
First Robotics Comepetion (FRC): Big robots 30" x 30" x 48" robots upto 150 lbs. Tend to have large teams 15 to 30+ students.
First Tech Challenge (FTC): Smaller Robots 18" x 18" x 18" but equally challenging to FRC. Teams are generally <10 students.
It’s late in the season - might be hard to join a team (but not impossible) for this year. Best time to join is in summer - when many teams have training sessions for newbies.
PM me your phone number, I’d be glad to give additional advise.
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Are these available for anyone or just those in schools that offer it?
Most FRC teams are tied to a high school - but there are a few community teams that have kids from multiple high schools. Team 2714 is a community team (About our team | FRC 2714 - BBQ) in Carrollton.
There are many FTC community teams not associated with a high school. At least last time I was involved 5 years ago. It’s fairly easy to start your own.
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Suggest you go to a FRC and a FTC competitive event. They are free and open to the public. FTC events are going on now through April, FRC start end of February and run through April.
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My grandson lives in east Dallas. Is there a way to search for community groups there?
The microcontroller classes that I teach could be useful to your son but, I am not planning on offering one for a few weeks. I really like to help teenagers that put forth extra effort to learn. I’ll PM my contact info to you and we can meet for me to go through the class and then follow-up with Zoom or phone calls if that would help.
While this does not apply directly to his robotics interest, I am running a class on designing your own printed circuit board on Thursday night. I think it would be fun for a teenager to design and order 45 little PCBs for less than $4.00 to share with friends and teachers.
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/21188
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We will join this week.
Yes, my son is homeschooled
Thank You, looking out for your email
@dwolf @frank_lima - great detail on FTC and FRC. I agree that those programs are very well aligned with kids needs, in many ways better than DPRG.
@TheBizDoc - In addition to providing age appropriate resource and coaching - the FIRST Robotics mission drives excellent values encouraging things like teamwork and inclusion through something called they call Gracious Professionalism®.
Competitions award points also for soft skills, not just technical robot prowess. For example, I have a young relative on a 2nd year FTC team based in Frisco (#22201) who thought they would not advance after last week’s competition because their robot had limited technical capabilities. But it turns out their presentation was strong enough, and they demonstrated enough initiative by soliciting and documenting outside feedback, that they won an "Outreach" award which compensated for their technical limitations and actually let them advance to the next level.
In contrast - DPRG contests tend to focus on technical challenge. They’re designed to grow technical skills in a progressive way, but lack emphasis or points for soft skills.
Both approaches can be good for young self-starters / it all depends on personal goals and preferences.
Note that FTC competitions specify constraints for robot components. Allowed parts can get pricey very quickly (like $350 just for a control hub), so teams can do more when they find sponsorship or do fundraising.
DPRG competitions have relatively few constraints on components. One can generally spend as little as needed or as much as one likes.
DPRG’s upcoming RoboRama 2024 competion currently has 6 or 8 people interested in these contests
Good beginner challenges
Quick Trip
Four Corners
More advanced challenges
Five-Spot
Six Can
DPRG would happily also run a line following contest if somebody wanted.
For example, “Line following” is often one of the first challenges a beginner takes on.
Note that it’s possible to build a robot for $30 to $50 that could do very well against DPRG’s “Beginner/Novice” or “Advanced” line following courses.
@bpamplin you mentioned training ideas. Please do bring that up in the 10 Feb DPRG meeting. That’s a great time to get ideas on the table for 2024!
FWIW - about organized training courses - note that DPRG is a 501c(3) with a mission well aligned with learning and education, and sometimes host or sponsor organized training.
For example
- One DPRG member is currently running a relatively advanced course on ROS2 w/ Docker.
- And DPRG have offered courses like this Build More Robots Series, which helped beginners get started with their first robot for $25 ~ $30 in parts, and was held at DMS in 2018. Note that the first video in that series has earned 42,000 views!
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What kits?
I did not tie my thoughts together well but, I was proposing that DPRG and/or DMS prepare and offer robotic classes for teenagers. Classes would need to be hands-on and the question would be who supplies the parts to use. If parents would need to purchase the kits, that would probably restrict many from attending. I was making a case that we could develop our own kits and have them available for teachers to use in robotics training. It would be much easier to find someone to teach a class if parts kits were available.
I threw out the $1,200 number for twelve kits which is probably overkill but I don’t like to start a project and go back and ask for more.
Glad to see you will be in my Richardson class.
In McKinney there is Mercenary Robotics where I mentor.
Our programs are community based and not affiliated with any specific school.
We have lots of homeschool kids and many from public schools.
We also have many kids drive over an hour to get here 
Recently we moved into a new facility and have a complete half FRC field, FTC field and classroom space, along with 2 CNC, 1 laser and a multitude of shop equipment.
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