<p>I will be participating at an event called "Robot Ramble." It there a place where I can buy some robot parts online? I don't want anything too overly expensive, just some easy to build kit.</p>
<p>Also, for people with experience with robot ramble, any tips?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m not familiar with this event, if you want to give me some more information I can help you out. I’m assuming by robot you mean autonomous and not radio-controlled? (Technically, a radio-controlled vehicle is not a robot, but some people consider it so, i.e., battlebots).</p>
<p>I personally recommend the Boe-Bot kit from Parallax which is fairly cheap as far as robot kits go ($150). However, it is not a plug-and-play system as most “easy to build” kits are. It requires learning PBASIC, learning how to wire circuits, etc. It’s really easy though, since PBASIC is a very simple language, the breadboard doesn’t require soldering, and the book that comes with the kit assumes you have no skills at electronics or programming at all. Excellent forums too.</p>
<p>Some other kits at the top of my head are Vex and Lego Mindstorms. Both of these are twice as expensive as the Boe-Bot.</p>
<p>Hoped this helped.</p>
<p>edit: After doing some quick reading on the Robot Ramble event, it looks like the “robot” is radio-controlled, so I have no experience with that. However, to answer your original question, the sites I purchase my robot parts from are Parallax, and Acroname. The work I do is a little different from what I have read so far about this event though, so that may not be of much help.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help. Actually I’m looking for radio controlled robots, with wheels and a robotic arm. The robot must be able to fit in a 30cm x 30cm x 30cm box.</p>
<p>I’m considering Lego Mindstorm NXT, but I feel like I’m cheating because its more “prebuilt” than “DIY.”</p>
<p>Any other ideas?</p>
<p>Lego Mindstorms has no official support on radio-control, I believe. While it may be possible, it will most likely require a good deal of hacking, because the kit is NOT user-customizable friendly. I highly discourage this option, but take my advice with a grain of salt. (Though the actual parts, such as wheels, lego bricks, and gears, may be useful)</p>
<p>I have no experience with Vex, so I can’t tell you anything about that.</p>
<p>Another idea is to have an r/c truck as a chassis and drive system, while you build a robotic arm on top of it that is remote controlled. The arm part I have no idea how you’d do, but just another thing to consider.</p>
<p>Could you describe the objectives?</p>
<p>Yeah, I just found out the Mindstorms have no remote.</p>
<p>Here a video of what I need to do:</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - Robot Ramble](<a href=“http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ftg5XKhKGWc]YouTube”>http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ftg5XKhKGWc)</p>
<p>[Vex</a> Robotics Design System](<a href=“http://www.vexlabs.com/vex-robotics-design-system.shtml]Vex”>http://www.vexlabs.com/vex-robotics-design-system.shtml)</p>
<p>Looks promising, looks like it offers both radio-controlled and autonomous support.</p>
<p>I’d say this is your best bet.</p>
<p>(A little on the expensive side though, is this money coming out of your own pocket or are you being sponsored?)</p>
<p>It coming from my own pocket. I want to think this over because I don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars if there’s no payoff.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t pay $300 just for the Science Olympiad.</p>
<p>I’m developing an autonomous model aircraft and I have managed to get a corporate sponsor for $500, so I suggest considering that route. This is for the Intel Fair though, which is something, in my opinion, that is worth much more effort than the Olympiad.</p>
<p>If you want to do anything significant with robotics, a simple kit will cost you at least $100. I have a Vex kit, (I got it on sale for $150 when they used to be at Radio Shack, and that’s the best price you’ll find) and it’s a great platform for any type of competition. There are many basic and complex types of bots that you can build in a relatively short period of time. I strongly recommend Vex if you can afford it.</p>
<p>Also, robotmarketplace.com and trossenrobotics.com have lots of individual parts if you’re really looking to build something.</p>
<p>PM me if you want to talk more about robots.</p>
<p>We always use Vex kits. They’re expensive, but virtually all of the good ones are. Vex kits aren’t great, but they work well and do what they’re supposed to.</p>