Robotics Books

In this world where unexpected suprises are not always welcome - and if your thoughts lean toward keeping an eye on things, this publication will certainly help. There are chapters the younger set would appreciate as well the seasoned info gatherer will not hesitate to start putting something together.
Not electronic savvy? Not a concern. Just a few of the ideas presented here will get you headed in the right direction with property protection, keeping tabs, and real time viewing scenarios.

Before reading this I thought; "Get a camera, put it up, check it once in awhile." Wrong. This easy reading material will get you thinking in important directions about surveilance you probably haven't thought of previously, unless you were a professional.

This is a fun book, with lots of great ideas. However, it really needed tighter editing. There are several instances where the text did not agree with the schematics (schematic has 50K ohm pot, text discusses 50 ohm, etc). This is unfortunate, since novice readers may not spot the problems, and end up with circuits which don't work.

I'd also recommend a more traditional, left-to-right layout of the schematics. Some are left-right top-down, others are right-left. This makes it more difficult to follow the "flow" through the circuits.

Regardless of these hiccups, I'd recommend this book to those who'd like to tinker with "spy gear" or who are looking for simplier project ideas.

I got this for my friend's 16 year old son and he LOVES it! He is so excited about just knowing how all these things work, even though his mother refuses to let him into a Radio Shack in case he tries to build some of it! I've made him promise not to use any of his evil knowledge against our family and in return, I'll get him book 2 for his birthday! Great fun!

One will need an electronics background to understand this book. The author has some amazingly great ideas, I just wish I could understand half of what he wrote! I persuaded my uncle, who is an engineer, to explain them to me. This book is not meant for laymen. The series needs a prequel teaching the basics of electronics, and the parts the book that try to explain electronic basics is still too advanced for us regular people. So either take a class in 'electronics 101' or have an electronic engineer tutor you in this book. Too demanding for my intellect. However, it still deserves 5 stars for innovation.

Great book most of the projects cost under $30 (which would have been nice to know before I bought the book cuz I'm BROKE :( )also do not buy this book if you do not own a soldering iron or have a bad education with electronics But anyways Great Book and detailed instructions that even I can follow ;)

Contents includes:

interfacing a robot to a PC
electronics schematics : light, touch. motion sensors, distance, compass sensors

Robot magazine cost $5.99 and includes non JAVA educational robots

This book is superior to "Programming Lego Mindstorms with Java."

It is well suited to both beginning and advanced programers. It covers languages basics, but still provides much info to experienced Java developers about robotics Design Patterns.

It also includes detailed instructions and pictures describing on basic robotic construction...things like how to turn a rotary motion to a linear motion, how to change gear ratios, how to build differentials, etc.

There is also a detail chapter devoted to building your own homebrew sensors that even someone with little to no experience in electronics could easily build.

I am very happy with this purchase.

While taking java courses at the local college, I ventured into the idea of applying what I had learned. Being an avid Mindstorms fan, I found this to be the perfect outlet. This book has re-affirmed what I have learned as well as created new ways to look at the programming. Due my success with this product, my professors have asked that I periodically come by with a program for student review and demonstration of applied programming.

It is well written with unassuming overtones. The portions on building your own sensors also make electronic assembly easier. The graphics are black and white on flimsy paper giving the book a sense of newspaper style instructional manuals. This said, presentation could be better.

All in all this is a very good tool for the Mindstorms nut, Java programmer, and techy at heart. I highly recommend added it to your tool box!

If you have the Lego RIS and are interested in Java then this is the book to get. Bagnall leads you through the installation of LEJOS and JCreator (both freeware) including setting up the environment variables on your PC. He also gives a brief introduction to Java, enough to get you started. The chapters on behavior, proximity detection and navigation are especially good. As an added bonus, applying the techniques discussed in this book is a fun way of learning the basic concepts of Java and object oriented programming. It won't make you an expert, but it will get you started.

I just bought a mind storm kit and have had great fun during these thanks giving holidays. I explored the lejos api and have read this book. I am keenly interested in running the robot over the network, with the IR tower. And this book has just all the code and examples to help me work on that. I am using this book and the basic rover bot to test out some java code on it. I have tried a few lejos examples. This is a great book. Its just amazing thatjava can be run on 32K of memory!

--Naveed

I had three main reasons for buying this book:
1. To bridge the gap between the control theory from school and the systems that I now design and build
2. To gain insight on how to improve the performance and reliability of real motion systems
3. To find ways to apply advanced techniques to help meet challenging performance requirements

I got all of this and more from this book. The topics covered clearly and concisely in this book span three courses I took at Cal Poly SLO: basic controls, digital controls, and modern/advanced control theory. Mr. Ellis does a great job of quickly introducing these topics and getting straight to the practical implications.

The free software and examples work well to illustrate his points quickly and easily while helping to commit the insights to memory. I also hope to use it as a training tool for our techs.

I highly recommend this book to anyone working with control systems, especially grad students and people getting started in the field. I look forward to reading his book on observers.

The author attempts to bridge the gap between theory and practice, and does a good job at it. Familiarity with control concepts will help one to get more out of the book, because the book focuses more on the practical aspects. The explanations in some of the sections can definitely be more complete, and thus I have to give it only a 4 star rating. Overall it is a good book.

This is a really good book that simplified control system for the real world. Most text spend too much time on theory and analysis and end the discussion with a bunch of equations and graphs without explaining how to implement the design. This book covers both analog and digital control, and lets you download a software from the author's web site. This software, ModelQ, lets you play with various parameters so you can see how the system behaves when it is not optimized.

One drawback with the book is it only covers PID control and its variants, but doesn't cover state-space control. While state-space control may be considered "overkill" by many control engineers, state-space is used in industry. The decision to use state-space is often not in the hands of individual engineers, so it may not be an option to ignore state-space. It would be nice if Mr. Ellis could cover state-space in his next edition of the book.

Ellis has made a fantastic book on PID and similar control loops. He takes a very different tact than most controls books -- he writes with a voice similar to a handbook, but delivers enough content to compete with more traditional textbook-style controls books. It is light on the math in comparison, but I don't find myself wanting for more math.

I do a lot of controls design, consulting, and teaching. I recommend this book often and find that people that buy it uniformly track me down and thank me for the recommendation. I can't think of much higher praise for this book.

This book is a great guide to problems and solutions for modern control systems. Many text will have page after page of formulas with little link to the real world of control system design. Mr. Ellis provides answers to the problems faced by todays engineers.

The only thing I can say is I bought it for my 16 year old grandson and he said it is awesome.

If you read the first book this is an excellent followup to help you increase you understanding of how to build a robot of your own. If you did not a good place is start with the first book Robert Building for Begginers. These books help get you in the thought process needed to build decent robots wather small or big.

This review is by my ten year old Robot fanatic:

This book introduces the most common parts (in a beginner type robot) step by step by defining them properly. So far I have made a line following robot almost from scratch. This book sets you up with many different options. It starts with safety and where to obtain parts then moving on to introducing parts. After that you are shown how to setup a solder-less breadboard.

This book (and it's prequel, Robot Building for Beginners by the same author) is extraordinarily good. It picks up where the previous book (which is the best book in existence for the beginning roboticist, in my opinion) leaves off, getting into details of milling parts, microcontroller circuits, and such. A truly wonderful book. If you read the previous book, and then read this book, you will have an excellent grounding in robotics, and have a very entertaining time doing it. Highly recommended!

I am a novice robot builder. I appreciate the thoroughness and practical approach of this book. I have understood and implemented several circuit ideas from this excellent book.

Books like this are refreshingly down-to-earth after reading the usual college text books.

Most of the robot books I've purchased rarely explained the detail of how you could create some kind of "intelligent" program and expand it as you need. This book give you an example using pseudo code so basically you could implement it in any programming language usually found in embedded programming such as C, Basic/Stamp or Assembler. I would highly recommend this book for robotics enthusiast who want to make their robot behave like it has some kind of intelligent.

I have read dozens of robotics books over the years and most of them suck. They were either too academic or too basic. This book is excellent and was a refreshing change.

Written by one of the designers of iRobots Roomba, this book is indeed a practical guide to robotics. It is easy to read and full of practical advice that one would only get if they spent the last 20 something years working with robots. For example, the author repeatedly warns you to expect the unexpected.

Even though this book incudes access to a simulator tool, the author constantly reminds you of what could occur in the real world. This book is for anyone attempting to build a single-purpose mobile robot (whether as a commercial developer or a hobbyist). Rather than focusing on a specific language or platform, the author uses pseudocode to explain concepts. The pseudocode should save you hours of frustration. At the very least, the authors good sense of humor makes reading the book quite enjoyable.

The book aims squarely at teaching the concepts of behavior based robotic programming without being simplistic or being overly technical. A good example is PID controllers -- the ID stand for integral and differential. He doesn't dive down into the mathematics of it but does point out that those two stages of the controller a not separately tunable.

The book doesn't present a lot of pseudo code nor does it focus on an type of microprocessor or language.

It gives very good conceptual descriptions of how to create architectures that allow multiple sensors and actuators to act together to produce meaningful and emergent behavior while pointing out pitfalls and problems that may crop up. The book is chock full of block diagrams showing the setups being discussed.

The book is easy to read and a good introducion to behavior based programming. I always like it when the author uses some humor to turn a book that could have been a boring "must read" into an entertaining experience.

This is a nice little book. It introduces some important concepts in an overall very readable text. Of course the book doesn't offer much technical detail or any real code but sometimes it comes close. If you already have any experience in programming you can easily get the point in the example pseudo codes and adapt them for your own use.
There is a major problem about this book though. The online robot simulation program was available from the link given inside the book but this website is not active anymore so you can not practice the ideas using the "bsim" program.

This "Unofficial" book is very good. David does a great job of showing exactly how to build each project with informative snapshots from the program Lego Digital Designer. The programming was missing a little of information on what to fill in the for each module, but his comments provided enough information to fill in the modules. I did have a question for David and he responded with the answer I was looking for.

I love the Lego Mindstorm kits, and I've always enjoyed No Starch Press's books. So I was excited to hear about their Unofficial Lego Mindstorms NXT Inventor's Guide (ULMNIG). These are two great tastes that taste great together.

Unfortunately, I was led a bit astray by the title. "Inventor's Guide", to me, summons mental images of crazy legos hacks, but that's not the goal of this book.

In the introduction, the ULMNIG describes its true intentions--taking you beyond the user guide and instructions that came with the Mindstorm kit. It does not assume any previous experience with Lego or Mindstorms, but helps you explore a broader range or projects and possibilities.

As an entry level book, I think the ULMNIG overwhelmingly succeeds.

The book starts with a description of the lego pieces, then provides basic guidelines for building sturdy structures and functional gear trains. For me, this was the weakest part of the book. Don't get me wrong. It has solid information, and should be useful for beginning builders. But it felt too short and too superficial for my tastes.

The ULMNIG then spends two chapters exploring the NXT-G programming language in detail. If you are going to use NXT-G, then you need to read these chapters. They provide a lot of information that will help you get the most out of your Mindstorm brick. They are also much clearer and more informative than the user manual. Reading these chapters will save you from hours of frustrating trial and error.

Finally the last half of the book covers six new robot designs. Four of these designs are radically different from each other. One is a differential drive with a ball castor. One is a four-wheeled steering vehicle. One is a six-legged walking motion sensor, and one is a stationary bot. There are also two variations on the differential-drive bot.

This gives you a nice combination of projects. The designs increase in complexity, allowing you to improve your skills as you progress through them. Building them will teach you a wide range of design techniques, while the variations show you how you can modify existing designs for other purposes.

The projects are definitely the highlight of the book. Working through the projects will teach you more about building robots than the rest of the book combined. And, once your finished, you should be ready to jump into your own projects.

Unfortunately, advanced builders/programmers might find themselves somewhat disappointed with this book. The ULMNIG hints at several advanced topics: building dynamic structures and third party programming languages. Unfortunately, these only get the briefest introduction. A few paragraphs each, tops. And the ULMNIG doesn't even mention other advanced topics, like third-party sensors and hardware, or attaching your own circuits to the NXT brick.

So, I would not recommend this book for everyone. But, if you've finished all the projects in the Mindstorm Users Guide, but your still struggling to build your own robots, then this is definitely the book for you.

I'm a coach of a FIRST LEGO League team and I bought this book to help my son "get to the next level." I am making this book mandatory for every team member next season! It is informative, yet easy to read. It covers all the bases from good robot design to programming explanations. I can't recommend it enough!

This is a great beginner/intermediate level book for both kids and adults. The building section is excellent at explaining HOW to use the technic pieces. The programming section is a very good primer for those new to the NXT-G programming environment and language. It sets you up well for the building & programming projects found later in the book. As a middle school teacher running a robotics club, I set some of my more advanced 6th graders to work on whatever project they wanted to from the book. They jumped into taking on the guard-bot and the golf-bot which are the more advanced projects. With little guidance from me, they were very successful and had a blast. That shows how well written and designed the book is!

The Unofficial Lego Mindstorms NXT Inventors Guide

Author: David J. Perdue
website: http://www.davidjpredue.com ; http://www.nxtguidedavidjpredue.com
Strengths: Very nice schematics, parts listings and visuals to highlight or the parts for the machines. Easily readable. Good for novice robot builders but also advanced users will find it helpful as well.

Weaknesses: The book has black/white text.

Novice/Intermediate/Advanced

Rating: 5/5

reviewed by Dr. Eric Flescher, Olathe, KS: (dreric1kansas@aol.com)


Introduction

I have been working with robot kits for many years. I started with the Fischertecknik robot turtle which I built and was able to use with the logo interface with my Apple IIE. Later on I heard about Lego Mindstorms and bought a set to use. It was tough going and after much delay because of the programming and the light issues with the brick, I was able to get legos finally working. Since then, I have worked with several kits and working with PC and Macintosh interfacing. But I was still looking for more a more helpful guides to build more interesting robots. I think I found one in The Unofficial Lego Mindstorms NXT Inventors Guide.

This author David J. Perdue knows his stuff and Lego Mindstorms. He has been creating MINDSTORMS since 2001 and just won the NXT Camera Bot Building Challenge competition and is the author of Competitive MINDSTORMS (Apress, 2004). He has received three Special Mention awards for his creations on the official online MINDSTORMS and is a full time student, pursuing a degree in Management information Systems in Texas. So I opened the book to see what else I could find out and how I could use the book for my LegoMindstorms in the future.

In the beginning, it was difficult to use Mindstorms. For me the kit did not work at all. Working with Macintosh was not an option. There were minimal additional information for working with the robots beyond the parts, software and initial schematics. I had to use a PC. This version works with PC (needs Windows XP or higher and will or already have shipped Vista version) or Macintosh OSX (version 103.9 and higher). It was not until later that I learned from a Legos salesman that the light in the room could be an issue. Its little things like this that kept me and possible others, from doing more with robotics.

I was hoping that the book started with novice programmers and robot creators. This books has "novice " beginning information so this book can be used with those who are new to Lego Mindstorms or are upgrading to the NXT version. It is good to know that this advanced robotic author, is "down to earth" with his writing and when "speaking" the language of robots. I have not upgraded to the NXT version yet and so and wanted to see whether it is would be worth upgrading myself but if so how and what ways could the robots be used with this new version.

The black and white screenshots are integrated within the instruction. The visuals are large enough to read and decipher what you need to know. The lack of color does not really hurt. I really liked the screenshots and illustrations listings of the parts for assembly. However it would have been nice if they were in color (the parts are a multitude or colors. Tables do however include numbers, piece names and the place color however. When you need more information about the parts, they are all there listed and illustrated/ photographed.

Throughout the book, there are helpful ideas in the way of bold notes that are "peppered" throughout the tutorials. In addition, there are pointers that go along with the "balloons " which have text inside of them about related to the robot parts. Circles and arrows highlight the illustrated areas in the screenshots that the author is clearly targeting for his instructions. This makes the understanding of the parts even more explicit.

The introduction introduces Lego Mindstorms, NXT, building , programming and starting and working with robotic projects. Here is an outline of the chapters and what is in store for you.

Part I in entitled "Introduction to LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT". In the Chapter 1, LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT starts off with building robots, the programming of robots, activating robots and what can you do with robots and NXT. Chapter 2 is includes solid but easy to understand information about starting with the NXT robotic set.

Part II illustrates the building with 4 chapters. There is electronic pieces, understanding the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT pieces, the need and building sturdy structures, and working with and building with gears

Programming section is in Part III . Chapter 7 introduction has a nice introduction to the NXT-G system. Later 3 chapters involve advanced NXT-G programming a. There is also more in the form of unofficial programming languages for the NXT.

Part IV involves 6 robot projects and that is where your in-depth robotic education really begins. You are taught the author's Mindstorms method, and working with 6 nice in-depth but easy to understand projects.

Appendices are good resources. Appendix A has LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT piece library. The Appendix B NXT-G has nice quick reference guide section that includes information for advanced programming to perform more intricate tasks. The author details a lot of the complexity, not only with words but also visually illustrates how to and in what ways to to complete the array of blocks, sensors and programming information. While it is not easy to learn, this section takes you "once step at a time". Appendix C informs with other internet resources.

Conclusions

I recommend this book highly for its in-depth tutorials, the visual schematics and the quality of the reading that makes the information well understood. No one said building robots was easy but with this book, you will learn and go further than you thought you could achieve. What I like about this book and the way the author has crafted this book is that he actually invited you to build robots in a none intimidating way. The in-depth information, the visual assemblies and tables, and the easy to read information along with the tutorials will allow you not only start but develop your skills in robot building. You will learn to be creative but at the same learning the logic of the machines and how to build robotics. I know there are many books that teach Lego Mindstorms out there but I am glad I chose this one first.

A great book for beginner's and intermediate robot builders. The book gives a great overview from structural to electrical construction and gives good advice on what to buy and where. It provides an brief explanation of each device and how to make it work best without getting into the complicated workings of each device (unlike David Cook, author of Robot Building for Beginner and its sequel ) I used it extensively when i first started out and still use it for reference. It is a fairly new book so none of the information is really outdated.

If you want to build radio controlled robots then this is the book to get. Good price and a long-lasting buy. Easy to read and understand (except in some of the radio sections, they take a little bit of thinking).

Cons: I wish he would have included more advice on where to find some of the parts. He does list some websites in the back but i had better luck searching what i needed in google. He doesn't talk to much about "aftermarket" antennas for both the video/audio reviver or R/C unit.

Really the only other draw back was then he talked about speed controllers. It is probably the most confusing section and boring. He didn't talk about how to hook everything up either. As far as speed controllers go he didn't discuss dual over single motor controls per unit and amperage considerations. I didn't see anything about fuses or breakers in there either which are important in protecting what will be an investment.

Finally he didn't talk about where to get motors if you don't want to or can't get old used wheelchairs.

Overall it is a good book and deserves a look from any builder.

Easy to read, but not an exact blueprint of how to build the two robots he presents. The author does explain the robot design in layman's terms, and with a sense of humor. He does go over the entire building process in general terms, without much techninal detail. He recounts a few of his mistakes, like his 400-pound monster robot going haywire and wreaking havoc. It was really fun to read.

He presents a lot of sources of information and components, which I have found very useful. He has done an excellent job of using affordable and available components.

The robots he built are very impressive in size and scale (150lbs and up!), yet are not excessively complex. The robots are radio-controlled, however - very little information is given on software/AI development. He does an excellent job with explaining the mechanical frame, drivetrain, and housing construction. There is some useful information on electrical/electronics components as well.

If you want to build an impressive robot for a reasonable cost, but are somewhat lacking in mechanical design (describes me exactly), than this book is for you. You'll need to be able to do some basic welding - but it's not hard. As of this writing, i'm 30% finished on my robot.

In summary, I highly recommend this book for some educational and humorous reading

This book fills a gap often missing from robotics books and plans, especially for those interested in robotics that go beyond the desk top rover. The mechanical info is very good and covers just about every topic that you will need in order to build a larger more rugged robot chassis.

The info on long range remote control and video transmission is also very informative and full of new ideas.

Check it out!

Ron - creator of "Backyard Borg"

I liked the "Humanoid Robot" book a little better, but this book helped avoid some of the pitfalls from building a creature, without spoiling any of the fun.

I read this book, I loved all the way through!!!!
Full of instructions, and helpful pictures, this book is awesome!
My friend is reading it, on my recomendation, he loves it! Anyone who's read it that I know really liked it. It's very easy to understand. The author, Brad Graham, did a great job!
An out-of-this-world read!!

The way this book is put togther is what leaves me feeling a bit ripped off. I feel the author and/or publisher owe me some money! At least one third of the book was copied over from manufacturer's free publications. If you want to read a list of available programming instructions contained within the language written about in the book just vist the mfg web site and save your money. And, Hex listings in the book! Give me a break! You can read what this book has to offer in under an hour! This book stinks...

Karl does a good job of leading you through the basic concepts of humaniod robotics in this well written, well annotated and very descriptive text on the subject. His detailed plans are easy to follow and his programs are well written and well explained throughout. He provides specific recommendations for parts as well as vendors and spends time explaining his choices. If you're interested in learning not only how to write useful PIC applications for robotics but also how to build robotics that implement those applications, then this is the book for you. This is a must have for your library of robotics books!

The most interesting part of this book is on its pratical topics. A lots of briliant ideas can be learned from this book, especially for those who would like to build up their first robotic project from scratch.

Things that need to be improved are on the materials used for the projects in this book. Less heavy duty tools required would be nice. The discussions should be more focussing on robotic sensors and control parts.

Great Collection!!!

First off I'd like to say that this is a great book if you want to learn how to build a robot from start to finish. I personally waited till I was done building the robotic arm to write this review. The book was easy to read, and understand, and took me through the process with ease. It lists everything you need, and even tells you where some parts can be ordered, although I wish it could of listed more specs, and suppliers. I'm not sure if I would recommend this book to the clueless begginer because there were a couple of technical erros I found, but worked through. One of the errors was in the PCB artwork which caused an LED not to light in the test program. The book also says you can build it for under $300. I think I spent about $500. That's not including the pic programmer, software, Visual Basic, and tools. Which even though most of that isn't needed, you wouldn't really be learning much if you didn't have it. If you at least have the tools, I would say that with the software, and everything else that you should have for the project, it would cost in the neighborhood of $1,300. On the plus side you'll be able to build your next project for under $300 once you have the proper materials. Nobody said it would be cheap, so make sure you're serious. I'm already designing my own project with the knowledge I gained from building the arm.

I already did all the projects in the book it great its one of the best robot books I have ever readed it tells you everything you need to now about robotics.

David Fogel has done a painstaking job of examining the historical record of Evolutionary Computation (EC) and recording both early and seminal papers in field. As a lecturer on EC, I have found the book to be an important, intriguing and insightful supplement to the course.

I think the book's strengths are twofold. First, that the important ideas in EC "popped up" in many earlier guises. I find it fascinating to discover concepts like "schema theory" and "bloated programs" addressed in at least a primitive form in papers going back to the 1950's. EC may be a "new science" but it clearly has deep roots. Second (and a more general point), that ideas themselves are not all that is required to do science. Timing and other factors play a role in how ideas get pushed forward and recognized by other researchers. It is a point that would be well taken by young researchers in any field.

There are some things that could be improved. One could quibble about the selection of papers, though I think Dr. Fogel's selections are well justified. For readability's sake I think the formatting of some of the papers could have been redone. Furthermore some papers might have been better presented in an abridged format. Overall, however, I think the book's minor flaws are far outweighed by its contribution to the field. Serious students in EC should definitely look at this book.

The collection of papers included in this book not only serves to explore the origins of evolutionary computation, but also shows some contributions that could had been turning points in the field but that somehow never received enough attention. The comments of David Fogel preceding each chapter are refreshing and show a deep and extensive knowledge of the field. His meticulous work of selecting, editing and commenting this valuable collection of papers certainly deserves my highest admiration. I have decided to use some of the papers contained in this book for my Graduate courses and seminars on evolutionary computation because I think that these early attempts (either successful or not) to simulate evolution in a computer must be studied by any serious EC researcher.

This is not your ordinary volume of collection of papers, this is a treasure chest for all those who truly want to understand the "evolution" of the ideas behind contemporary Evolutionary computation. David Fogel's thorough knowledge of the field and his passion for>tracking down the origins of the key ideas are evident in his introductions to each group of papers. Each time I have opened the book I have made delightful and often quite unexpected discoveries for myself. I wish to thank David Fogel for this outstanding work.

Evolutionary computation techniques (i.e., techniques based on the metaphor of natural evolution) constitute one of the most fascinating areas of computer science. Despite a long history of research spanning over several decades, evolutionary techniques are still of increasing interest because of their applicability to many real-world problems in science and engineering. However, many recent discoveries have their roots in the past (this is probably true in any discipline of science), and perforce, it is important to "look back" at some of the early developments in this field. Apart from the interesting ideas that emerged many years ago (e.g., artificial life, co-evolution, evolving computer programs, etc), a number of papers in this volume contain latent ideas that have not been fully exploited.

David Fogel accomplished a great feat by searching, reading, and selecting a collection of papers that constitute "the fossil record of evolutionary computation." This volume contains almost 30 important research articles that establish the foundations of evolutionary computation, including seminal articles written by Ingo Rechenberg, Lawrence Fogel, John Holland, Hans Bremermann, Nils Barricelli, Alex Fraser, Michael Conrad, and John Koza. All the articles were grouped carefully into meaningful units, each prefaced by an introduction written by David Fogel.

Researchers will find this volume to be an extremely interesting guide to the background of concepts of evolutionary computation. It is appropriate for anyone who is in search for such answers as: where did these techniques come from? where are they going? and what is their potential? But, above all, the book provides a unique experience of addressing the most fascinating question: "how is an idea born"? For this reason alone, this book is a must for any researcher in this or any other related field.

A rare piece of scholarship by one of the leading scientists in the field. Evolutionary Computation has only recently matured to the point of being a separate discipline. The Fossil Record is a remarkable compilation of foundational research. Fogel does an excellent job of placing each work in its historical context. In many cases, he was fortunate enough to interview these pioneers of computer science, artificial intelligence, mathematical biology, engineering, cybernetics, and evolutionary theory. As such, he provides unique insights into the motivations, methodologies, and philosophies of some of the most original thinkers in science.

Russell W. Anderson, Staff Scientist, HNC Software, and Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation

This book is great for the self taught person with significant insignificant questions. In completing this book, all those questions answer themselves. None of that "cutsie" just great tutorial. Instruction is easily to understand and follow. I've gone through the book a couple of times and discovered something new each time. When I finished with this book, I knew what I was doing and why.

Money well spent on this book.

Straigh-forward writing with no pretension. Some knowledge of 3D graphics vocabulary is helpful but not necessary.

Book is one example from beginning to end; presumably the author. Starts with some pictures and, step-by-detailed-step, ends with an avatar.

The only fault I found is that he doesn't mention Poser in the list of 3D modeling programs for human figures.

If you want to learn how to model a detailed digital human,this is THE book for you! You start out with totally empty viewports,and if you follow the book you'll end up having created a model with an incredible amount of detail.

The author explains in great detail the process of modelling every body part (head,neck,arms,hands,legs,feet and torso) with anatomical references where they're most important.

I wanted a book which I could use as a definitive guide to model a detailed and anatomically correct human body or body part,and I'll look no further when I have to do so. It's also got a clever chapter about modifying the same model to create very different ones, and a good chapter about texturing and UVW unwrapping. Finally, it refers to cloth and hair (somewhat briefly) and,no,it DOESN'T cover rigging. But it does cover, extremely well, human modelling, which is what mr.Brilliant had set out to do,I assume. Very very good!

I used this as a class textbook and it worked fairly well. This is not a single program book so this will work well with whatever program you model with. Although, depending on what you model with, depends on if you need to go out and find plug-ins that will do what he does. The book is really good going through step by step. Although there are some occasions where he leaps forwards ahead with really telling you what to do. Also, sometimes when he gives instructions, there aren't any images to go along with them, so you have to end up guessing what to do.
This is modeling for realism/cinematics and if you want to use this book to model in-game characters, you are out of luck. The was he teaches you to model is extremely high poly (especially in the head). The CD doesn't do much for you, it mainly just has naked pictures of the guy he models on it so you can copy exactly what he does. The book does give good information on the differences between modeling men and women, although it is fairly brief. He does go into UV mapping pretty good as well as modeling hair. The book doesn't, however, go into modeling clothing fairly well, just a short chapter. The book also doesn't even mention rigging, which I think is a crucial part in character modeling.

Given that you are already familiar with some type of modeling software, this book is the best resource you could have! The non-software specific approach of the book keeps it focused on the concepts of creating a good model rather than the user interface. Every detail of the body is covered with step-by-step diagrams, and a lot of it focuses on creating a topology that is animatable and will subdivide correctly (ie the mesh is mostly in quads). It also covers texturing, rigging, facial animation, both modeled and simulated hair, and simple clothing. The book discusses anatomy to the extent that it is needed to create a realistic model, and uses those concepts to demonstrate how the male model you create can be changed into a female, or into a fantasy character that looks completely different.

One thing that did make it a little difficult to use was that in the screenshots, the mesh was transparent and therefore you couldn't tell whether vertices were at the front or the back of the model. More screenshots with an opaque mesh would have made it easier to see the topology.

Overall, the explanations are concise and makes the task seem efficient, easy, and fun.