The first spark
What pulled me in at the beginning was not a single finished robot. I still have never done anything like that. It was the idea that I can create something that moves and interacts with the world, and that I can learn by doing it.
The moment I started asking how things really work, how machines function, or even how bluetooth and WiFi work, I found myself drawn into the intricacies of how these systems interact and the beauty of the technology. It became a hands-on field where every small experiment taught me something new. And I become a passionate learner, eager to understand the details and I told myself that computer science is my vocation, I got to learn about coding, and Algorithms because I wanted to make up my own logic and control systems. Firstly, I wanted to develop games, softwares, and applications, but then I found myself more interested in AI. During my classical studies at Louverture Cleary School, I was fascinated by computers, I started my first hands-on programming experience with C, web technologies (HTML, CSS) and at home I was trying to learn Python by my own. But actually I had never master anything really. I was just trying to learn a lot of things at the same time, and I was not really focused on one thing. After obtaining my high school diploma, my dream was to attend MIT, really, I wanted that :) But finding a Scholarship to attend MIT was not simple and easy for the average Haitian student, and I was not an exception as I am not that excellent academic student, I was just an average good student :) So I had to find another path, and I found myself in the obligation to choose an University in Haiti, and I chose to attend École Supérieure d'Infotronique d'Haïti (ESIH). At ESIH I started learning about Algorithms, Data Structures and I was really interested in learning about AI, and hardware. So I decided to pave my way into Robotics by starting to learn about embedded systems from some free courses and resources online.
Learning by building
My first attempts were simple. I bougth some electronic components, Arduino and an ESP32. I started to build basic circuits, tried to understand how they behaved, and paid close attention to what failed. A project rarely worked perfectly on the first try, but that was part of the lesson.
- Wiring LEDs and joystick seeing how they respond to a control signal.
- Testing sensors and learning how noisy real readings can be.
- Debugging code and hardware at the same time.
- Realizing that patience matters as much as technical skill.
Why it stayed with me
Robotics kept my attention because it connects so many interests at once. It is programming, electronics, control, mechanics, and problem solving in one place. That combination made every project feel alive.
The more I built little projects, the more I understood that robotics is not only about making machines move. It is about designing systems that can sense, decide, and act in a useful way.
What came next
That early curiosity turned into a habit of building. Over time I started caring about embedded systems, control logic, artificial intelligence, and the details that make a prototype more reliable. Each project moved me a little further from curiosity and a little closer to real engineering.
This blog will follow that path. I plan to share the experiments, the mistakes, the tools, and the ideas that shaped my journey. If you are also starting out, I hope this article shows that robotics can begin with something very small and still lead somewhere meaningful.
If you want more posts like this, go back to the blog page and follow the rest of the series as I publish it.