For most sensors, GPS chips etc normally you just hook up the individual I/O lines from ie the raspberry pi directly to the chip and that's fine. Basic concepts of electronics are helpful to know so you simply know the basics. What is taught in "Physics 2" at a college will teach you all the basics of electrical circuits etc. The difference between parallel and series circuits etc. You could look up if there are any online free courses teaching "Physics 2". But really you just wire the I/O lines directly to the sensors, read the chip's manual on what lines need to be up / down at what times and for how long etc. Or if they have I2C / UART / SPI then just wire up those lines to the I2C / SPI lines on the raspberry pi etc and then just use the protocol libs in c / c++. > How much math and theory do I need to make something useful out of the components? > Someone has mentioned this book If you are just hooking up sensors, servos, GPS chips etc you don't need any of this theory. You don't even need the Physics 2 class I mentioned. The Physics 2 class should be quick and give you all the basics of electrical circuits / electricity though.