building a mecha

[birddseedd]

Hey, im interested in building a full size mech. The mechanics of the system should be simple. just diamond plating welded to hydrolics. here is my problem
i do not know how to program. nor do i know how ti interface the hydrolics motors to the joysticks and wat not.
if someone wants to help please let me know.

mike

 

[jaeusm]

Are you serious?

And what do you plan on using your mecha for when you're finished?

 

[birddseedd]

a fun new way to get to work, intimidate the bullies that used to pick on me, create world peace
four paintball guns and a paintball cannon.

iv been becomming more interested in electronics.
i meet a guy that has a business supporting mech pods. so i thought it would be fun to make a real one. i think i got the balancing problem half fixed.
i just need to get the human interface to start hydrolic motors.

 

[furtivefelon]

if your actually interested, you wouldn't ruin the fun by asking someone else to build it for you..

 

[birddseedd]

its not a matter of having someone doing it for me. i just do not know how to make the human interface.somehow a machine needs to plug into the computer with the joystick and when the joystick moves that machine needs to activate the motor. i dont know what machine will do that. iv never done robotics before.

 

[jaeusm]

Well, start researching various microcontrollers. I would suggest you try some small projects first. While far from an "industrial strength" microcontroller, you can purchase a Parallax Basic Stamp for a reasonable price. It makes digital I/O simple, and you can make some neat things with it. www.parallax.com

Part of my graduate research work was in autonomous mobile robot control architectures. I can tell you, it is far from a simple task -- if not insurmountable for someone with little low level programming experience. Besides that, designing control systems is highly mathematical. I'm not trying to rain on your parade, I just want you to understand that what you're asking for is probably more involved than you think it is.

Like anything else, start small, learn the basics, and move on to bigger & better things.

 

[birddseedd]

ya, i know. i guess that is the reason i am asking for help. i dont know how to program. im more of a hardware guy. im actually thinking of going to the local college and tryin to get someone in the field to help me. i can do the hardware part and he can make the software work. iv put some thought in balancing and i think i can really make this work.