In the beginning of 2013, I suddenly get interested in robotics and decided to study it. This blog is my journey to mastering this large scientific and technical field, daily step by daily step (or almost).

First of all, I should explain my motivation for robotics. This may be even more surprising knowing that I am not that dexterous with a screwdriver. My interest is more on the control side of robotics. Some say that robotics is a software issue. It is an issue for sure, we will see if it is the only one. I somehow consider robotics structure as a complicated computer device, and the challenge is to make it to do cool stuff. The ultimate challenge is to develop autonomous behaviors in an open environment (with a bit of learning). Robotics is also multidisciplinary, and that attracts me a lot. Apart from computer science and mechanics, the field also involves physics (kinematics, dynamics and therefore a lot of linear algebra), biology (anatomy inspires robot shapes), cognitive science, anthropology and design.

So I am more a software guy that found an unlimited playground with robotics. I am pretty agnostic regarding programming language, and I try to cultivate that. I code in Java, which I appreciate a lot for its strong object orientation and its professional grade. I have lately developed my first app on Android (a nice time). I have been trained in C++. That learned me a lot about computing, things I had never realized before with other languages (I definitively suggest to learn C++, even for not using it). My main language, if I should have one, is Python. I really love using it in any situation. The fit with the way I code is strong, highly flexible and strong pressure to keep the code readable.

To help me in this task, I have a scientific academical background (high school level). After my first professional years I felt like I needed to learn again and I discovered on-line courses. That is just awesome to be able to listen to the professors from the highest universities of the world. Internet made this possible and almost free. A huge step for improving the knowledge of the Humanity. Theoretical knowledge should be leveraged with practical knowledge and that is why I am involved in a couple of projects. Internet made also possible collaboration on projects you would not have been aware of before. The best demonstration is probably Open Source projects, supported by thousands of contributors for the largest ones.

And now a few words about my my blogging philosophy. This blog is not my first one. I had a look at what I have produced in the last years and found ways to improve this. I want to produce something consistent, in the form and in the content and more specific to a given topic. So this blog will focus on my robotics learning. I will probably post occasionally on tools that I use, the programming language, the softwares, because I like that but it should stay related to the robotics challenge that I am facing. This blog will also be personal, it is not a collection of tutorials or snippets, even if you will find some in the posts. I will use it to also describe my convictions or my doubts. In the same idea, project documentation will be stored somewhere in the project directly and I do not want to mix project or technical documentation I may write with this blog.

This blog is an introspection.