Hi there. From 3 years old, I always had a thing for building things and technology. I liked computers and building structures or ‘machines’ when playing with my toys. I still have the same passion now I’m 17-18. After some serious thought, my first school of choice in University is Electrical & Computer Engineering, and second Mechanical Engineering. I really love both subjects, I just have a talent in electronics, tech and computers so that’s why I’m going for EE first choice.

Now to the real topic. I really like playing video games, but it’s not constructive, is it? So I decided to occupy myself with making stuff like inventions, or fixing things, I hope you understand what I mean. I was astonished by circuit building so I invested on a mainstream soldering iron and solder wire. In general, part of my money are used on tools like screwdrivers, wire strippers etc. (when I visit a hardware store, I feel like I’m in Paradise!)

I really like doing this because it is my passion to tinker with things mentioned. I like learning from the Internet, watching tutorials on how to create this or fix this or how this works. So what I would like is some feedback. First of all, is it good to do this in my age? Also, I always want to learn stuff, I just don’t know how to organize the succession at which I should learn (for example, in electronics, should I start from core theory of electronic physics, how components work, or what?)
And last but not least: Could you suggest some resources about building simple machines at home?

If in anything you suggest there is math or physics it’s still welcome, so far it’s possible for a high school student to understand.

Thank you!

How would I solve the output voltage for these? I don’t know because all the diodes look different. What is the math and formulas used to solve these?

Here is a picture of the circuits.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22774022@N06/3981573381/

I am building a mechanism for a mechanical engineering class where I need to have accurate figure of the mass’ RPM.

I plan on using infrared, and a disc with a small hole in it (rotates with the mechanism). I need the circuit to be able to count every time it "sees" the infrared light through the hole. I work for radioshack and I have access to practically everything I need to accomplish this, but I’m not a low-voltage electronic person. I am skilled at soldering and would have no problems if someone knows where i can find a simple schematic of this circuit.

If possible, I’d like a display of rotations per second (the calculations will be made using radians per second and would save a math step). That would be the slickest way to do it, but I know that would require an LCD/LED controller and will complicate it. Another way possible would be to have the circuit make a beep every time it senses light on the IR receptor everytime the light shines through, and just count it over a period of time. That’s what I would do last resort, but either way I won’t know enough of circuits to build one myself.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
After reading what Edesigner suggested, I want to restate that I’d like to tackle this as a DIY job. I work for radioshack and everything I need for this circuit should be here.

In the essence of time, I may just have to resort to using beeps, which seems like it would be a much simpler circuit.

Right now, I am a junior in high school. I love physics,and math. The thing is I cant decide whether I should become/major in computer software engineering, computer hardware engineering, or electrical engineering. I really want to be more of an electrical engineer or maybe computer hardware engineer because I love messing around with electronic things and computer such as opening them up and looking around and learning all sorts of stuff about circuits and then putting them back together again. But then,I hear that computer software engineering pays quite well but I dont like coding and staring at computer screen and typing and all. I love “physical stuff.” My parents want me to be a computer software engineer but I am quite vacillating. My first choice is electrical engineering though. I want to know whether electrical engineering would pay a lot. I dont have to stay in silicon valley.I can travel anywhere in the USA or even other developed nations as long as I make good money and like what I am doing and having a good life. So please help me!!

In my junior year, it’s set up as:

1st Semester:
EE 310 electronic circuit design (4)
Engr. Sci 314 engineering applications of materials (3)
EE 330 electromagnetics (4)
EE 350 continuous time linear systems (4)
Math 414 probability (3)

2nd Semester:
EE 316 embedded controllers (3)
EE 438 antenna engineering (3)
EE 360 communications systems I (3)
EE 387 energy conversion (3)
Math 415 statistics (3)
Marketing 301 (3)

I can spread out the easier courses between my junior/senior years. Is that a good idea, or is this curriculum bearable enough to get all of the toughies out of the way early?

Finally, if I graduate with an MSEE and 2 years of work experience, how long until I can sit for the PE exam?
The god part about doing this all in my junior year is that I have 2 consecutive co-op rotations after this. Plus, my senior year will be a lot easier, so I can ease up for grad school. However, I don't know if this is too much or not.

I know there are a lot of smart people out there who will think I'm a total n00b for asking this, but here goes.

I'm 19 a sophomore engineering student studying chemical engineering, but I want to get into robotics and control systems as a hobby (I want to do stuff in alternative energy when I grow up). I kind of want to design a smart house (lights, A/C, TV, security, everything controlled by a central computer) when I grow up. I've kind of always been interested in this stuff, but I was always too scared to really get into it. Being in a university surrounds me with a lot of people who are smarter than me, so I figured I should stop being scared now and start learning/doing some cool things. Browsing websites like instructables.com make me feel pretty dumb because there are a lot of people younger than me making some really neat things I could never do at my current state.

I’ve been looking around for some robotics/electronics kits (designed for people younger than me. Sad, I know) such as:

-Lego Mindstorm NXT (http://mindstorms.lego.com/Overview/)
-VEX Robotics Design Systems (http://www.vexrobotics.com/vex-robot-kits.shtml)
-Arrick’s ARobot (http://www.arrickrobotics.com/arobot/index.html)
-Nerdkits (http://www.nerdkits.com/)

Have any of you tried these? How do you feel about them? For the professors/teachers out there, how do you teach your students? Can you recommend any kits or books? For those experienced roboticists and tinkerers out there, how did you get started learning about electronics?

Here is an outline of my education (what I know, what I don’t know). This is stuff that I think relates to robotics. I’ve obviously taken many more classes than what I’ve described, but they’re probably irrelevant.

-Math: I like math but I’m not good at it (why oh why did I choose engineering..?). I’m pretty comfortable with single variable calculus and differential equations. I’ve taken multivariable, got a B, and basically never looked back on it. I’m going to get my ass kicked in heat transfer, aren’t I?

-Mechanics: Very comfortable with mechanical physics. I’ve taken both general mechanical physics course as well as an engineering mechanics course, which goes into more depth with more complicated systems. I’m pretty comfortable with forces, moments, accelerations, tensions, trusses, rigid members, relative motion, etc.

-Programming: Took AP Comp Sci in high school (Java), and am pretty good in MATLAB and FORTRAN. I took programming and numerical/computational methods courses for chemical engineering and did very well in those classes. I’m not terribly afraid of learning another language for programming robots. As my professor says, “The most language to understand is logic. Understand logic, and other programming languages are just syntax”.

Things I’m afraid of/suck at:

-Electromagnetism: I got an A in this course, but electricity and magnetism still seem like very enigmatic forces of nature to me. I do not think of them intuitively as I do mechanical physics. I’m a very visual person, and it annoys me that I can’t see magnetic or electric fields. I wish I was a bird so I could.

-Electronic components: I know what resistors and capacitors are. That’s about it. I remember having to do stuff like LRC circuits in general physics (electromagnetism). Again, this stuff is still not intuitive to me. I know how to wire things in series and parallel (LEDs, for example) and which resistors to use so they don’t burn out. That’s about it. I don’t know what diodes and transistors and whatnot are. I don’t know any radio theory. I don’t know how a computer ACTUALLY works (the jump from code to actual physical phenomena). I don’t know how microcontrollers work. I don’t know how to control things with analog or digital signals. I don’t even know the difference between them.

-Soldering: I can do it, but I suck at it. No ones really taught me how to solder properly. I try reading stuff and watching YouTube tutorials, but my solders never come out right, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Other people seem to do it so effortlessly..

I’ve tried to read about these things, but I am usually overwhelmed. There is also a difference in reading something on Wikipedia and learning about it in real life. I guess I’m a little afraid of failure. I’m also afraid of spending lots of money/time on something and having it not work.

So now that you know my lack of experience and skill, what robot/electronics kit would you recommend for me? Any other advice for me for getting involved with robotics?

PS: I feel like money spent on legitimate education will pay off somehow later. However, I’d still like to keep my first project(s) under 0. Preferably much less.

Thank you, smart people, for helping me not suck as much in engineering.
One more thing I'm (kinda) good at:

I can use AutoDesk Inventor for CAD and drafting, which should be a real time saver if/when I start making really cool robots. For now, though, I think the robot kits try to avoid the need for power tools..