[Question] Ideas on where to build my robot.

[dotDominic]

Hi R9000, welcome to the forum!

I'm also a student and I agree finding a place to work on robot things can be a problem. Be thankful you aren't in halls of residence though - I definitely can't get away with drills and jigsawing here! Progress on my featherweight has been quite slow and restricted to holidays and the odd weekend. If you ask your flatmates and they are really annoyed by noise that much, or if there is some weird rule about power tools, then perhaps consider just doing that too?

I also don't have a garage or workshop at home, but one of our few D.I.Y tools which wasn't broken or totally rusted was this workmate thing which I strongly recommend thinking about:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Decker...ecker+workmate
I usually just set this thing up on my garden patio, or in the kitchen when it's raining. Then when I'm done it just folds away. Honestly not sure how I would have managed without it! Others may have a different way of doing things, but it's been super useful for me.

Not sure how much research you've done or how experienced you are with electronics and D.I.Y, but I'd recommend taking some time to read build threads and make a list of everything you'll need including power tools and the cost of stuff etc. Check out my build thread if you want a place to start: http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/thre...t-robot-please

If you are totally new to this like me, I'd consider building something super simple first like in the video I posted in my build thread. There are some differences between UK and Australian building rules but I think that's mentioned in the thread too. I started designing and building a featherweight from the ground up right away, and although my design is basic, I would rather that I had done something easier first, just to get some sort of robot up and running.

I hope this helped out and good luck.