How might someone with only software experience know what motor, encoder, power supply, etc. to buy? Would this be an easy enough project to step into, or should one start with something more basic for a first project?
Btw, awesome work OP!
Btw, awesome work OP!
You can follow Adafruit's guide[1] to get started. I think on this project the software requires more experience to get setup, especially if you are working with a headless Raspberry Pi.
[1] https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-dc-and-stepper-motor-hat...
The first tutorial with Arudino will teach you how to light up an LED. Then figure out switches. Then look into motors and play around with other things like temperature, buzzers, etc. Once you do a few of these tutorials everything just clicks together. It's really just sending 1s (current) and 0s (ground) through the wires.
You'll learn that you can essentially break apart anything like a scale or a clock and just tap into the electrical connectors.