Build Your Own Arduino Robot from Scratch

Most beginner robot builders start with one of the hundreds of readily available kits on the market. That makes sense, as you can be sure that everything you need will be included. But, there is something to be said for the feeling of accomplishment you get when you build your own from scratch. And, in our modern age of beginner-friendly microcontrollers and development boards, doing that is easier than ever.

To walk you through that process, Make: and YouTuber Sean Hodgins are creating a detailed video series on how to build your own Arduino-based robot. What’s really exciting about the design they’ve chosen is how simple the hardware is: just an Arduino, four photoresistors, a Pololu motor driver and motors, a battery, and an OLED screen. The bot is, at first glance, a simple obstactle-avoidance rover, but they’re throwing in a neural network to make it even more interesting.

Utilizing a neural network in a robot like this would mean that the bot eventually learns to equate the sensor input (from the photoresistors) with obstacles. Depending on how in-depth it gets, it could theoretically even learn to “map” its environment. Sounds complicated, right? Luckily, Sean will be going into a lot of detail for every aspect of the project, so everyone should be able to follow along.

Only the first part of the series is up now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go ahead and get started. This video covers the basics of the hardware components, how to connect them on a breadboard, and how to program them with the Arduino IDE. Sean even shows you how to design a custom PCB for the project in KiCAD. If you’ve ever wanted to build your own robot from scratch, this is definitely the series to follow!

UPDATE: Part 2 and 3 have now been uploaded!