Everybody Should Build a Robot!

Hey there, Gamers and Game Makers!

In this week's blog, I'm going to be talking about why I think everyone should build a robot.

No, I'm not super lonely and need to build a friend.....maybe. I'm talking more so about why things like the Arduino and Raspberry Pi are so important. Before college, I was very much a software focused guy. I had basically no interaction with hardware beyond the basics of my PC. All that changed one fine day when my hardware lecturer introduced me to the Arduino.

So, for those who aren't familiar with what an Arduino is. It's a microcontroller which basically means it's a small computer on a single integrated circuit. The great thing about an Arduino is that you can build nearly anything with them. During my first year of college, I built things ranging from temperature sensors to rhythm pattern locks which was basically a lock that would not open unless a specific knock pattern was made. Taking the secret door knock to the next level!

Outside of college, I ended up ordering both an Arduino and a Raspberry Pi along with a bunch of parts and sensors. I ended up using an Arduino to build a robot car that could find its way around the environment either by line tracking or using sonar sensors. The really cool thing about building these things is that you still need to code the logic for all this in an IDE for the Arduino. The great thing here is you're not only learning to code but you're seeing a physical real world result of your code. It's a pretty satisfying feeling seeing a bunch of parts and sensors come to life when you write good code behind it all.

The Raspberry Pi is much similar to that of the Arduino except it's more like a fully fledged computer. While not that powerful compared to a desktop, you can still do amizing things with a Pi and they're a great starting point if you want to get down and dirty with coding a computer or learning about Linux based systems. My advice would be, if you have an interest in code but also like the idea of building something. Try your hands at something like the Arduino and you'll be amazed at all the things you can make and that it'll actually make you a better programmer.

Until next time!