I've tinkered with arduinos and stepper motors/stepper controllers. I built a CNC mill. But I'm hoping there are components that I can plug together and just focus on the software side using existing hardware modules.
I'm a web developer who got the bug to get into robotics about four years ago as a hobby. I ended up joining a FIRST [1] robotics team as a programming mentor and I've learned a lot [2].<p>[1] FIRST <a href="http://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc" rel="nofollow">http://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8319J1BEHwM" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8319J1BEHwM</a>
What about something like a TurtleBot[1] and ROS[2]?<p>[1] <a href="http://www.turtlebot.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.turtlebot.com</a><p>[2] <a href="http://www.ros.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.ros.org</a>
ROS, ROS, ROS
all our robots are on ROS and you get visualization and simulation tools, 90% of the things you'll ever need come from apt-get (ubuntu make everything easier) but the real deal is Gazebo and stage for simulation and the wiki is full of tutorials
I wanted to get into robotics as a way to get up to speed on neural nets and reinforcement learning. I found the Lego EV3 kits to have a good mix of sensors motors and supporting parts. The EV3 bricks run Linux, there's a distribution for them called ev3dev, and they'll even run ipython notebooks.<p>I'm now looking at getting a BrickPy for it as the EV3 brick doesn't do FP, so not good for NN's.
I would skip your search for the "right stack" and think about working on real, profitable applications. Develop whatever needs to be developed to solve a real problem. Most things calling themselves 'robotics stacks' nowdays are overblown and add more complication than they're worth.
Depends on what you want to build. A popular hobby stack is built around the Arduino. It will allow you to plug in a fair amount of parts.<p>Figure out what you want to build first. Then send me an email and I'll try and guide you in tve right direction.
Piggybacking on this: anyone has good ideas/sources for mechanical parts like gears and stuff?<p>My hobbyist alternatives right now are lego or pulling stuff apart.