Ask HN: Best way to learn robotics with a 10 year old?

https://education.lego.com/en-us/products/lego-education-spi...

But as soon as you actually want to build the thing you need to work out what your end goal is, how it is physically put together (lets call that the chassis), how it is going to mechanically move, how you are going to drive that movement and how you are going to control that driving method, and then how abstract it needs to do (are you telling it what to do, or telling it what end goal to pursue?).

Starting with Lego, or perhaps meccano will let you build the physical thing, maybe even have it move with a remote control. You'd get the plastic (Lego) or metal (Meccano) parts as-is and you build whatever you want. Add a two motors and you can drive wheels and steering. Add a receiver and a remote and you have your remote controlled vehicle.

Edit: fischertechnik is another brand that makes parts you can assemble in whatever way you want (some random YouTube Hit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVzK3VaYxS8 ), it apparently has something that also lets you go to PLC levels of robots controllers: https://www.rapidonline.com/fischertechnik-robo-tx-controlle... . This is of course not what you'd pick if you also wanted to build the entire controller.

But when you don't want that plastic or metal ready made, and you don't want modules that deal with motors or controllers for you, you now also need to learn some metal working, electronics (microcontrollers, RF transceivers, power management), and software (those microcontrollers won't program themselves).

Maybe starting with a kit isn't such a bad idea, and then going up a level at a time (i.e. tackle some of the software, or maybe mechanics) and getting to see the results of your work is a good thing, rather than trying to learn everything at once.

Boo! hiss

I prefer to learn how everything works and build something custom instead of just buying a premade kit and following instructions.

Together is probably your child’s preference. A premade kit goes straight to the building phase. And kits are something they can undertake theirself as they pursue independence in two or three years.

You are launching a person. Good luck.

What makes it better than (eg) Micropython on cheaper hardware the Blocks programming language. She had some experience with Scratch before and the libraries for this are great. The built in led matrix and sensors are useful and the radio is nippy enough for remote HCI.

There are quite a lot of accessories available from a few different manufacturers. These can minimise build time and let you focus on programming, but you can DIY. I think there's even a Lego breakout.

I will add, this has been a gateway hobby for me. While she's learning, I'm learning and I'm using my C and Python experience to have fun with really cut down boards. It's fun but you end up making a hell of a lot of "oh it's just £10 for a pack of motor controllers, MOSFETs, resistors, caps, etc etc etc." It's endless.