Hi my name is Emil Valkov and I created robidouille to show and explore my passion about robotics. Although I live in California, I'm originally from France, which explains Robidouille as the combination of two words: robot and bidouille. The latter meaning "to tinker" in French.

Which is exactly what this site is about!

I'm fairly new to robotics. So new in fact, that I didn't know what a servo was a couple of months ago. So I joined the Robotics Society of Southern California (RSSC), and now know barely enough to start tinkering with my own robot creations.

My background is in computer science. I've been a software engineer since 1994, with experience working in startups as well as big corporations.

However I have always felt that programming is not enough. Just to give you an example: when I was a teenager I had an Atari ST computer that hardly ever had its screws fastened. It had so many modifications to it that it was no longer recognizable in the end. It had so many added buttons in front of it, that only I could boot it successfully!

Computers can no longer be modified like this; if you want better sound you just buy a new sound card now. Robotics in contrast are ripe for this!

Sorry to use a name so difficult to pronounce. It wasn't even my idea. When my wife thought of it, it was so right on target, I couldn't resist.

So FYI, Robidouille rhymes with ratatouille, a delicious french dish, and also a well known Disney film.