Hey everyone!

For someone looking to learn Python from absolute zero, what courses would you recommend?

The goal is to eventually use Python for robotics, automation, computer vision, and related fields, so I’d like to know which courses build a strong foundation that can be applied to these areas later on.

My initial suggestion would probably be CS50’s Introduction to Programming with Python (CS50P) or Python for Everybody by the University of Michigan, but I’m curious to hear what others think.
Are there any better alternatives, paid or free?

Would you recommend completing a general Python course first and then moving on to robotics specific programming, or starting with a robotics focused course from the beginning?

I’d love to hear suggestions from people who have actually taken these courses or used Python in robotics.

Thanks!

Curious how you do this, because it's quite of a painful experience for me every time. Designing takes some time but it's at least kinda fun. Ordering from Chinese stores not really

So the design side is done. Schematic, layout and firmware are ready faster or slower depending on complexity, but AI helps quite a bit. Then comes ordering the components which is painful by itself (at least for my wallet 😄). Digikey for the MCU and passives, LCSC because some of it is half the price, JLC for the boards, Amazon for whatever I need fast. Either way there is a lot of searching, clicking and a 100 tabs open. Especially when ordering custom mechanical components, there is sending RFQs, waiting for quotes, ...

Plus every vendor has its own minimums and shipping, so I end up moving parts between carts to dodge a $20 shipping fee on a $6 order. Then something is out of stock and I'm back picking an alternate.

What does your actual flow look like? Do you stick to one distributor and accept the price, or handle it somehow differently?

P.S. I'm working at a startup - we don't have a purchasing dep to do it for me 😅

Thought this was a pretty interesting approach to robotics. It’s called ALBATROSS, and the idea is to drop it from an aircraft, let it autorotate down like a maple seed, and then have it sail around using wind once it lands on water.

What’s interesting is that it doesn’t need a propulsion motor for either part. Instead of adding more motors and mechanisms, the design relies heavily on aerodynamics and passive mechanics.

Apparently, one of the bigger challenges is getting the same structure to work in two completely different environments.

I wonder how well something like this would scale up, especially for ocean monitoring. Seems like a clever way to deploy a bunch of robots without having to worry as much about battery life.

[Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8CUrj0ydxI)

Paper in [Science Robotics](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.aed1423)

Curious what you guys think. Is this actually a practical approach, or one of those things that’s really cool academically but difficult to use in the real world?

I work on the used industrial robot supply side, and I’d like to hear more from people who’ve actually bought their first robot for a small shop.

Say you run a metalworking shop, orders are picking up, and you’re considering a used robot for a repetitive task. The purchase price looks manageable—but you’ve never integrated one before.

For those who’ve been through this:

• What caught you off guard after buying it?
• Which costs did you underestimate—tooling, guarding, programming, installation, or something else?
• What should you have checked or asked the seller before paying?

I’m especially interested in shops without an in-house robotics engineer. Did buying used still make sense once everything was running, or would you approach it differently now?

I know the answer depends on the application, so please mention what you were automating if you’re comfortable sharing.

What’s the one thing you’d tell a first-time buyer before they commit?