Hey Silas,

I found your response to the question about number of programming in the futures very interesting.

I was contemplating on whether there would be more programs in the future because new necessities may arise which current programs are not optimized for, or there will be less because programs will constantly be updated until there are only a few that can do almost everything very well. 

The way you put it as there will always be more and as new ones will be created and old ones never really disappear resonates with me because I guess they are like songs. New songs are always created and old songs will always be there even though less people will listen to them.

Best,

Syed H

I am now in Unit 7 reading and one of the most important parts I have found of a robot is the actuator. This device not only converts energy into physical motion but also actuators produce rotary and linear motion, which I find very fascinating. In researching further about actuators, I found there are three major types of actuators; hydraulic, pneumatic, and electric, and depending on the kind of robot we are building one could be more suitable than others.

Hi Silas,

Hope you're enjoying the course so far. I felt the exact same way when I was opening the SparkFun Inventor's Kit. It felt rather familiar from previous experience playing with some of the LEGO Mindstorms kit (though I never had a whole set to really dive into) and from a course I took in college where I had to build a remote controlled "battle bot" type vehicle. Though, since it was all remote controlled, there was very limited programming involved.

It seems like we have similar backgrounds when it comes to this course.

So far, I've enjoyed the course quite a bit and I've learned a lot about the Arduino! Seems like you're a bit further in the course than I am, so I look forward to seeing what you do as your final project.