Simple object-manipulation robots are among the easiest to make, with the easiest object -manipulation project being a robotic arm that picks up and displaces small objects. You can make this type of robot by attaching a series of servo motors to a power source, and then adding metal or plastic limbs. You also need to install a circuit that lets you guide the movement of the arm. A more complicated object-manipulation project, however, involves building a robot that bends pipes. The basic components for this project are the same as for the simpler project; however, the arm needs to be programmed to detect weight and to apply pressure to bend objects based on their weight. Building this project requires designing software for making these estimates.
An android is a robot that is designed to resemble a human being. The number of projects based on the android format is limitless; there are countless aspects of human behavior that an android can emulate. One android project involves building a robot that walks like a human. This project requires building legs with pivot points around the hips, knees and feet. It also requires a circuit system and code that guide the movement of the legs. Another project is to build a robot that speaks like a human. The key to building this robot is to find a good open source, voice-synthesizing program and to then install the voice synthesizer into a robot with a built-in speaker system.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capacity for a machine to respond and adapt to situations. One project on robotic AI involves writing an AI program that makes a robot respond to verbal cues. This code needs to have a series of algorithms that can identify tonal frequencies that register on the robot's microphone, and an algorithm that can select a response based on whatever tonal input it registers. Another project involves installing a pre-written set of AI algorithms into a physical robot. This requires saving the algorithms to a chip and then installing the chip in the robot so that it can actually implement the commands in the script.
One perennially popular robotics project is the obstacle-avoiding robot. Obstacle-avoiding robots are used for a variety of practical purposes; for example, the popular vacuum cleaner uses obstacle-avoidance technology to navigate a surface as it vacuums. To make such a project, you can purchase object-detecting components, as well as the navigation components, from a robot parts vendor. The trick is to write a script that actually makes the object detection and navigation components work together. A similar project involves designing an obstacle course, and having your robot try to find its way through the course. In this project, you can use a robot you bought from a vendor; the objective is to create a course that is too complex for the robot to navigate.