In the Robot Revolution post, I said that I planned to take an Arduino class for adults. As a kid, my Mom bought me toy models that I would spend hours building. This hobby, coupled with my fascination obsession with computers, led to me pursuing a technology career.
Fast forward a few years into my tech career, where I was still feeding my interest by attending robotics events and maker faires. I kept telling myself that I was going to “pursue robotics” but never did anything about it. I used all kinds of excuses (e.g. “There are no robotics classes for adults”) until I reminded myself of my goal to explore other areas of tech (such as robotics, app development, etc).
I found out about the Arduino class at my local community college and signed up. The class was 5 – 6 hours across two Saturdays. We spent the majority of the first Saturday soldering parts to our board. The second Saturday, was mostly programming in MicroPython. In just a few hours, I learned:
- Soldering
- How to cut and strip wire
- How to use a multimeter to measure voltage
- Basics of MicroPython
Resources
In class, we used:
- Mu code editor (but I’ve used Sublime Text and Notepad++ before, and I hear good things about Atom)
- Adafruit CircuitPython tutorials
- Code for making the LEDs blink on Adafruit
Why This Class is Important to Me
As I mentioned above, I set a goal to level up my skills by picking one area in tech that I wasn’t familiar with and learning those skills. I’m not finished with this goal, but I’ve made a significant step towards it. Making consistent progress towards my goals is a great feeling, and it’s what this blog is about.
Also, I’ve always been a maker. Someone who thrives on building and creating with their hands. Since I was a kid, I spent my time drawing, writing, building toy models, cooking, sewing, etc. Making is essential in my life, and I’m excited to continue working on these new skills!
Potential Future Projects
Now that I’m a robotics engineer after taking this class, what projects do I plan to take on? Here are a few [vague] ideas:
- Plant monitoring and watering system
- Something to insulate my windows better during winter
- A food prep system that automatically chops and preps all of my food (which would save me a ton of time)
- Something to help me improve my posture
- A system that helps me make better investment decisions
- A product that helps alleviate carpal tunnel
I’ll continue to update you all as I make progress. In the meantime, please feel free to ask questions or drop some links to programming, hardware, and robotics resources that you’d recommend!
