Robotics has been tough to get into. Be it initial planning, software requirements, expensive hardware, and endless integration. We've been there, even poor Ladyada and her MIT robotics class back in the day.

Today, robotics does not have to take extensive planning, arcane software, expensive hardware or anything else! Seriously! How is this so?

Today's modern innovations have all come together to bring robotics to the level that anyone can do sitting down in one session. Be that at your kitchen table, workbench, or in a classroom. In any of these settings, with some simple parts and any common computer, you can easily accomplish what is presented in this guide.

This may seem like a lot of pages for a "Hello World" introductory guide. We added pages for each step to ensure we cover things, so it's not a huge amount of information, it's just step by step to get you going on the right foot!

Parts List

Things you will want to have from the Adafruit shop:

1 x Adafruit CRICKIT for Circuit Playground Express
Our Creative Robotics and Interactive Construction Kit. It's an add-on to our popular Circuit Playground Express that lets you #MakeRobotFriend using CircuitPython and MakeCode
1 x Circuit Playground Express
The next step towards a perfect introduction to electronics and programming
1 x USB cable - A/MicroB - 3ft
Connecting your computer to Circuit Playground Express
1 x Micro Servo
A little servo can rotate approximately 180 degrees (90 in each direction)

Either:

1 x 3xAA Battery Pack with DC Jack
New for July, 2018, this will power projects like Crickit with 3 AA batteries.
1 x Alkaline AA batteries - 3 pack
This is a pack of 3 AA batteries.

or:

1 x 5V 2A (2000mA) switching power supply
FCC/CE certified and UL listed power supply

Other Parts You'll Need

But feel free to improvise!

1 x drink straw (preferably), or popsicle stick, or plastic spoon

2 x bit of tape

1 x paper: plain or printed (a sample graphic is in this guide)

Tools

Medium Phillips Screwdriver (connecting Circuit Playground Express to the Crickit)

Small Phillips screwdriver (for servo horn connections)

This guide was first published on Jul 13, 2018. It was last updated on Mar 14, 2024.

This page (Overview) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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