Viam 101 is a free, self-serve, hands-on course. In this course, you’ll learn the fundamentals of working with a robot arm and build a real application using the Viam framework in about 90 minutes.
This free, self-paced course runs entirely in your browser, in simulation, so you can focus on the fundamentals instead of setup. You'll be hands-on from the first lesson.
You'll build a palletizing application from scratch: a robot arm that picks boxes from a station and stacks them on a pallet. Along the way, you'll learn robotics fundamentals for working with physical spaces, motion planning, and how to build applications in the Viam framework.
By the end, you'll be able to:
Configure hardware in Viam (arm, gripper, and work cell)
Write control logic in a language you already know
Use motion planning and Viam services to automate a work cell
Run the same application on different robot arms and grippers with minimal changes
When you finish, you'll be ready for follow-on courses, in-person hackathons at our NYC robotics lab, and building your own robot with real hardware.
Register by July 31 for a chance to win a UFactory Lite 6 robotic arm. Terms apply.
Recommended Skills
Prior robotics experience is not required. You should have:
Coding fundamentals. You know how to program.
Linux terminal basics. You know how to use a command line interface.
Comfort reading JSON. Viam uses JSON to configure your components and connections. You don't need to write it from scratch, but you should be comfortable reading and editing config files.
Course Outline
1. OVERVIEW
2. Create your machine
3. Run viam-server
4. The Machine You're Going to Build
5. Add the Arm and Gripper
6. The Frame System and Geometry
7. Place the Arm and Gripper
8. Scaffold the Program
9. Add the Work Cell
10. Poses
11. Move
12. Pick
13. Place
14. Run
15. Obstacles and Worldstate
16. Avoid Place Boxes
17. Model the Held Box
18. Recap
Instructor
Shannon Bradshaw
Shannon Bradshaw is SVP of Product and Education at Viam. He built the developer education programs at MongoDB and Cockroach Labs, where he delivered training and certification to millions of engineers. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Northwestern University.
Viam Education
Viam Education is a free, developer-first program designed to help engineers learn robotics and build on the Viam platform. Viam Education brings together a series of free online courses, live events, hackathons, and NYC office hours to make building robotics applications more accessible than ever. Viam 101 is available now; upcoming courses include software engineering for robotics, motion planning, computer vision, and more. Join the Viam Discord for updates on events, courses, and more.
Q: Do I need a powerful computer or GPU to run the simulation?
Q: Do I need a powerful computer or GPU to run the simulation?
Q: Which programming language does the course use?
Q: Which programming language does the course use?
Q: Can I use the code I write on a real robot?
Q: Can I use the code I write on a real robot?
Q: Will the course code be available after I finish?
Q: Will the course code be available after I finish?
Q: Can I pause and come back?
Q: Can I pause and come back?
Q: What does Viam cost after the course?
Q: What does Viam cost after the course?
Q: Is this a sales pitch?
Q: Is this a sales pitch?
Sign up today for Viam 101
Learn the fundamentals of building robotics applications.
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