Learn Robotics
New to robotics? Start here. These are the components and skills we use most, each with hand-picked free tutorials you can work through at home — then come to a workshop and build the real thing with us.
Arduino
The Arduino Uno is the best place to start — cheap, beginner-friendly, and the controller behind most of our Botathon bots. Install the free Arduino IDE, run the Blink example, then work up to reading sensors and driving outputs.
Raspberry Pi
When a build needs a real computer — cameras, computer vision, ROS — we use a Raspberry Pi. Flash the OS with the official Imager, boot into Linux, and start driving its GPIO pins with Python.
Motors & the L298N Driver
A microcontroller can’t power a motor directly. Our standard setup is a basic 6V DC motor driven by an L298N H-bridge: direction pins pick which way it spins, a PWM pin sets the speed, and one L298N runs two motors — enough for a two-wheel robot.
Servos
Servos hold a precise angle — perfect for steering, arms, and grippers. Three wires, one line of code (servo.write(90)). We use them everywhere, from Sofabot’s steering to Scrapp-E’s animatronic hand.
Electronics & Soldering
Before the code, you need a circuit that works. Learn to use a breadboard, read a simple schematic, and solder a clean joint — the hands-on skills behind every project. (We cover all of this in our workshops too.)
CAD & 3D Printing
Design custom parts — brackets, mounts, gripper fingers — and print them on our printer fleet. Onshape is free for students and runs in the browser, so you can start modeling today.
Working through these on your own is a great start — but the fastest way to learn is alongside people who’ve done it before. Come to a workshop and jump in.
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