Exploring materials and manufacturing techniques

For a successful start in the world of DIY robotics, it is a good idea to base your first own Arduino robot on a robot kit that comes with most or even all mechanical components you need, such as motors, wheels, and a chassis. But soon, you will want to add more components to this first robot until eventually, you want to build your own robots completely from scratch. With a small, wheeled mobile robot in mind, let us look at the materials and techniques that are useful to know when progressing from ready-to-use kits to building robots from scratch.

As soon as you start adding components to your robot, you need to securely connect them to the existing chassis. Mechanical connections can either be permanent or temporary. A permanent connection is one that is not meant to come apart anytime soon—for example, when you connect a robotic arm to your mobile rover. A temporary connection is meant to come apart easily—for example...