How do I go by step to build a robotic cat?

Question

Well, my sister is trying to build something out of technology. She wants to build a robotic cat; however, she doesn't know how to start off. I'm starting to learn technology and engineering. So, what I'm asking is how to start building and what type of equipment does she needs? Is there a site of how to build your own? I need to know what would be the best decision to build a robotic cat. My sister has good imagination and she can create almost anything. Now, she's taking a challenge. So, what should she do? Tell me anything you know. Don't leave nothing or unless help. Thank you!!)

My sister does have experience like 7th grade experience. I'm helping her out. I know how elavator works and stuff like that. I know how to connect things. Also, my sister is real good on sketching things out before she starts making it; however, she's willing to do it for long as it takes. She is quite a challenger and I'm a bit better than her. I learn things by reading books and internet; although, I do it from reading books. Small books. So, let me know if there's a good guidance to build a robotic cat. A website to help my sister and me. So, inform me please.

Oh, she's 13 and I'm 17. My sister is really smart and she has 97.5 average and mine is 90 average. I thought I'd let you know. But, her technology average is 100 and mine is 100 too. That's all I have to say.

Answer 1

There's two parts to the problem, the first is mechanical, ie, building the frame/joints of the cat. That's shouldn't be too difficult for you, as you can do it using fabric, wood, small bits of metals, motors/gears etc. Polymorph (nylon that softens in hot water, but sets solid at lower temperatures) might be of use if you want to mould/sculp any complex parts.

The second part will be far more difficult, that is giving the robot a brain.

Walking is deceptively difficult to do, and to get a machine to be able to do it on it's own requires a fair bit of computing power. Other things like vision, and having the robot interact with people/funiture is also fairly difficult

Hope this helps get you pointed in the direction of the problems you'd need to find solutions for

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_lea...

Answer 2

Unless you can find a kit somewhere you can buy, building something like this from scratch is a long and difficult job, and requires a lot of experience.

I've been an engineer for a lot of years, and I'd hesitate to tackle this without a mechanical engineer, a machine shop, lots of money, and lots of time.

Just getting a robot to balance itself and walk is a difficult project, with lots of software. I know MIT has done this, but it required a large computer cabled to the robot.

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