Robotics Books

When I opened Baum's "Definitive Guide", I expected a description of how to build and program a few simple projects. The book did that, and did it well, but what I did not expect was the depth of insight into mechanical engineering and computer science principles that it provides.

For example, Baum gives a careful and clear explanation of how a mechanism works (such as a worm gear or differential, to name but two), and then presents experiments that you can build with Lego. These experiments will give you an invaluable feel for the principles involved. And I mean "feel" literally; after you build and try them, you will understand how these machines work on a gut level that's unforgettable. It's a lot of fun to build and operate even the simplest of Dave Baum's models.

On the programming side, his NQC language is a nice stepping stone to the syntax of today's most widely-used programming languages (C and C++). But, as with the mechanical side, Baum -- without getting preachy or teachy about it -- introduces computer science concepts that will help make a youngster (of any age) a better and wiser programmer. Because you do them instead of just read about them, this is the kind of learning that tends to stick with you.

NQC, which comes free with the book (and is free on the Web), is a better way to work with the Lego RCX unit. My kids, from 9 years old and up, prefer it to the tedious and somewhat weak Lego-provided method. As a tutorial to the language alone, the book would be a five-star recommendation. But Baum's work is a lot more than that, and a lot more than the shallow building guide to a few toys I originally expected.

Buy it, build it, and program it: This book succeeds at being both toy and tutorial, a rare achievement.

Simply excellent. From Lego Maths to complex and multitasking programming.

A lot to learn for newbies and intermediate builders.

I used this book to teach a beginning robotics class this summer to Middle School students. It is a great book for introducing concepts of building as well as programming the Lego Mindstorm "brick" with either the language that Lego developed (Rcxcc) or NQC(a modified C language). The children were able to grasp the ideas of programming quickly because they could change qualities of the program and see the change immediately effect the behavior of the robot they had built.

David Baum,s book is also very logical because he begins by telling you how to build and program the the basic "Tankbot". After that, the projects are the result of changes made to Tankbot so the child is not starting from scratch each time. Each new project introduces new concepts of programming that are discussed in the book. Therefore, it is a gradual growth of experience and knowledge that is not too overwhelming to the child. (Or the adult helping.)

The disk which comes with the book contains the NQC compiler and is also full of program examples so that you can simply download the programs if you wish. The class was a hugh success because of this book. Next summer we will be offering two classes in robotics (beginning and advanced).

I used this book to teach a beginning robotics class this summer to Middle School students. It is a great book for introducing concepts of building as well as programming the Lego Mindstorm "brick" with either the language that Lego developed (Rcxcc) or NQC(a modified C language). The children were able to grasp the ideas of programming quickly because they could change qualities of the program and see the change immediately effect the behavior of the robot they had built.

David Baum's book is also very logical because he begins by telling you how to build and program the the basic "Tankbot". After that, the projects are the result of changes made to Tankbot so the child is not starting from scratch each time. Each new project introduces new concepts of programming that are discussed in the book. Therefore, it is a gradual growth of experience and knowledge that is not too overwhelming to the child. (Or the adult helping.)

The disk which comes with the book contains the NQC compiler and is also full of program examples so that you can simply download the programs if you wish. The class was a hugh success because of this book. Next summer we will be offering two classes in robotics (beginning and advanced).

Very complete book. From Lego Math to multitasking programming.
Plenty of examples an very well explained.

Worthful for newbies and intermediate builders.

It well worth the money

This is a good, compact history of one of the most interesting shams I've ever heard of. Even granted the hindsight that I am afforded, I can't believe that this thing fooled people for as long as it did. Standage does a fine job of leading us through the history of Wolfgang von Kempelen's chess playing marvel. As it turns out, Kempelen isn't really the most interesting owner of the automaton, its Maezel, an ingenious inventor and opportunist that I found very interesting. His path crossed such people as Beethoven and Napoleon! Standage does hold the readers in suspense a little too long, we already know it's a hoax, give us the details already!

Standage relies heavily in his research on a lot of material that is either out of print or difficult to obtain. But I have perused a couple for his sources, Man vs. Machine (out of print) and Turk, Chess Automaton by Gerald Levitt (a rather over-priced book). Both books go into extreme detail that Standage does a fine job of boiling down to a concise narrative for the interested reader. If you really want more I would recommend the two titles above, probably available at your local library.

I read this book, and Yes there was a man in the Turk. In the later chapters it said that the man was French(the operator inside the Turk. He was a strong chess player), the assistant person who was with Maelzel and they toured America (the big cities, like the big Apple, and Philadelphia, and Boston). You can say that he was like the David Lee Roth of his time. He was able to draw crowds to his machine...his machine was very elaborate in dress and Maelzel had a way with words so the living legend lived until Maelzel's assistant died and that was when things went down hill for the operator Maezel. Maelzel died at sea and his body was casted into the ocean . The last owners were the Mitchell's but they did not bring fame and fortune when they got hold of the Turk. The man inside was simply in a crowded position but the size of the so called Turk machine was able to hide him, and the crowds who watched this machine never found out the secret. The Mitchells' exposed the secret but for some strange reason it never clicked with the people, they wanted more. In the end, the Turk was burned in an accident in the city of Philadephia, it was stored in a Chinese Museum.

Oh yes, this fantastic book states that the American's, inventor's by the name of Walker, the Walker Brother's created their own Turk, it was called the "American chess player." It was the rival to the Turk but in the end (rumor has it) that the American Chess player was bought by Maelzel and was destroyed by him. The first owner and creator was Wolfgang Kempelen but then with time it came to different hands, and then it ended in the hands of Maelzel. The Mitchell family got hold of it, but one can say that the secret was never exposed to them because Maelzel disintergrated the machine, and confused it with his other machines so the new owners who would get it would never know the true original secrets of the Original Turk. The Mitchell's guessed at the answer and rebuilt the Turk, but when they exposed their secret to their so called fans, fans really did not buy it. The secrets to this book are in the end chapters, but the whole beginning chapters are really interesting. The writer has alot of flash- in his writing. It keeps you glued. I recommend this to you. I am not being stingy but i want people to know this secret (from the book). Ten stars. Super excellent.

A short and easy read recounting the history of the chess-playing automaton. I'm surprised at how workmanlike this book is. It reads like a very good graduate student's work: readable, but unimaginative prose. Facts follow facts in a relentlessly straightforward way. Not that straightforward facts are bad, but it's tedious to read "first this happened, then this happened,then something else happened." It's clear that this book's little more than a distillation of an existing body of historical work on the Turk.

It's really dissapointing that the author doesn't bother to explore the Turk's role in the history of technology beyond some general mentions of how more sophisticated gears and cams were later adopted in other areas. Ho-hum.

Much more interesting would be a consideration of the Turk as the starting point for the relationship of technology and marketing, or how the sort of road-trip showcase Kempeln took to show off his invention is *exactly* how hopeful technology inventors still pitch ideas to investors. The final chapter discusses IBM's Deep Blue, a machine that really did play chess, and well, but it's perfunctory, mostly there to say, "...and finally Kempeln's vision came true. The End."

What caught my interest was the role that stage magic played in Kempeln's shows. "Magic" is one of the most enduring and compelling metaphors in technology--it continues to be evoked in product names, marketing materials, and product interfaces--and it seems clear that the Turk and other automata were the first peices of complex technology that used the promise of "magic" and the techniques of the stage-conjurer to find an audience.

I'd hoped those were the sorts of ideas Standage would explore here, as Simon Signh's jacket blurb suggests. Too bad.

While we tend to get hung up on the notion of what exactly pure AI is, this book brings us back to square one. Reading the account of The Turk and his exploits it's fascinating to note how little artificial intelligence has changed in 200 years. Regardless of how many advancements have been made in research labs and universities around the world, much of the experience still comes down to trickery orchestrated by humans. The seemingly intelligent Honda robot Asimo is governed by a remote operator. Even less explicit systems such as pattern recognition and neural nets are governed by invisible human hands in the form of their design. Although we've come a long way in terms of technology and computation, anything as fanciful as The Turk is still a long way off.

Tracing the illustrious path of The Turk and his relcutant creator's own life proved to be a rewarding read. The fact that the material here runs a parallel course of science and magic speaks volumes. There's a lot of ground covered; it's well paced and told with a touch of enthusiasm. The sheer number of people The Turk engaged, inspired and challenged is monumental. Considering its subsequent influence on such visionaries as Charles Babbage and Alexander Graham Bell it's a shame that von Kempelen and his most famous creation are widely unknown.

In an age when chess-playing computers are hardly a novelty, it might be hard to imagine just how remarkable people found Wolfgang von Kempelen's automaton. Though little remembered beyond a handful of afficionados today, Kempelen's Turk was a remarkable novelty in its day, one that delighted the Habsburg court and was taken on a triumphal tour of Europe. After Kempelen's death, the Turk passed into the hands of a showman named Johann Maelzel, who again toured Europe with it before taking it to the United States, where it remained until its destruction in a Philadelphia fire in 1858.

Tom Standage describes all of this in an entertainingly-written account of the Turk. After a succinct account of its origins and the background of 18th century automata, he covers the Turk's history through the decades in an enthralling tale. Perhaps his greatest success is in keeping the explanation of exactly how the machinery actually played chess until the end, thus allowing the reader to share in contemporaries' amazement of, and speculation as to, the Turk's secrets. In doing so, he captures some of the wonder that people felt for something so commonplace today - an achievement as remarkable in its own way as Kempelen's device was in its day.

This sense of wonder is critical to understanding the Turk's broader impact on history. As Standage demonstrates, the Turk inspired Edmund Cartwright's automation of weaving, Charles Babbage's speculations in early computing, and even Edgar Allan Poe's invention of the detective story. Even after the Turk's demise, it continued to inspire attempts to build a chess-playing machine, attempts that the author goes on in to summarize in a concluding chapter. Such efforts, as Standage shows, address the ongoing question of the relationship between people and machines, one that makes the history of this unusual device relevant to readers even today.

This great book goes deep into the art of mechanics and electronics. Robot Builder's Bonanza thoroughly and simply explains the materals, process, and trouble shooting of robotics.
This book explained many new things in ways I could understand. This book is a great introduction into robotics and electronics. It has many projects which I am working on some of. Robot Builder's Bonanza explains how to make anything from sensors to drive systems and tells you good sorces for the materials. This book is a wonderful reference guide for all sorts of things. So I urge you to buy this fantastic book!...

This great book goes deep into the art of mechanics and electronics. Robot Builder's Bonanza thoroughly and simply explains the materals, process, and trouble shooting of robotics.
This book explained many new things in ways I could understand. This book is a great introduction into robotics and electronics. It has many projects which I am working on some of. Robot Builder's Bonanza explains how to make anything from sensors to drive systems and tells you good sorces for the materials. This book is a wonderful reference guide for all sorts of things. So I urge you to buy this fantastic book!!

This great book goes deep into the art of mechanics and electronics. Robot Builder's Bonanza thoroughly and simply explains the materals, process, and trouble shooting of robotics.
This book explained many new things in ways I could understand. This book is a great introduction into robotics and electronics. It has many projects which I am working on some of. Robot Builder's Bonanza explains how to make anything from sensors to drive systems and tells you good sorces for the materials. This book is a wonderful reference guide for all sorts of things. So I urge you to buy this fantastic book!!!

As other reviews have commented, this book has a wealth of information on robotic systems and explained in a way that makes it very available to a beginner but with enough detail for the expert.

However, note that the book was published in 1987. There were not any microcontrollers for the hobbiest at the time (the computers quoted in the book are Apple IIe and IBM-PC clones).

If you want a good description of sensors and output systems, then this book is excellent, if you want information about programable brains of robots, this book will not satisfy you.

I have about 10 robotics books, yet this one is my favorite. This one has complete parts lists for making cool sensors such as a 40 KhZ ultrasonic ranging system, arms and grippers, sound detection etc. Clean diagrams + complete parts lists. This book is very inspiring and will kick the robotics door wide open. Word! Well worth the list price of 18.95

I have been fascinated with robots ever since I was a little kid. When I was young, I would go to the library and check out books about robots. Most of these books talked about movie robots and then told about the many different kinds of robots that could be purchased commerically at the time. I loved to read through those books and imagine what it would be like to have my own robot. Years later, I have gotten the robotics bug again and I have been interested in building my own simple robot. I bought this book and I loved the history section. It told about the history of actual robotics and how various roboticists have influenced each other's work. It also talks about different approaches to tackling different problems. After covering the theory and history of robotics, the book tells you exactly what tools you need and what you need to get started with building 3 simple robots. He even has sections on the electronic components and how to solder. This book is really written for beginners! Each project helps you build a different kind of robot that with increasing complexity. The instructions seem very clear and the illustrations are very good too. The best thing about this book is the fact that there is a very active web forum where people can discuss their progress on the projects and the author has been very eager to help people that have questions.

Some other comments here have complained that the book's projects are not original or that there are missing parts. The author never claimed the projects to be original. He gives credit to the original designers and has made variations that make the projects more foolproof for beginners. He has built them all multiple times and provides original instructions that are very clear and easy to follow. He also has the active website (very unusual for a robot book in my experience) where you can ask questions and he can clarify anything that you have trouble with.

I highly recommend this book for anyone that wants to learn about the history of robotics to date or that wants to get started building their own robot.

When the title of the book says Absolute Beginners's guide it means it. The book does a good job of explaining the history of robotics, and describing the various types. But there is a definate lack of explaination when it comes to the robots them selves. Its simply "asseble part A with part B, then move on to C." With no reasoning behind why you're doing it. In short the book does a poor job of teaching you robotics but instead is an exercise in how to follow directions.

I suppose I've always been fascinated with robots, but the idea of creating one myself never dawned on me. It always seemed so inaccessible, such a difficult field to get into. By chance, I stumbled upon this book. I am soooo grateful that I did - it's changed my life. Gareth Branwyn does an excellent job of leading the reader into this intimidating science, and lays a really good foundation for the three robots outlined in the book, and further exploration. You don't start building the first bot until you're halfway thru the thing, which is beautiful - it really helps you understand what's going on in the world of robotics today, what can and can't be done now, and what lies just beyond the horizon. This is not a definitive text, nor does it claim to be. It will get your feet wet, get a little experience under your belt, and point you in the right direction as you progress beyond the scope of the book. It is written as non-technically and straightforward as possible. With just a little adult guidance, I think even middle school children could grasp the concepts and execute the projects. Yet it is rich enough for curious adults, as well.

Buy this book now!

This is a very good beginner book on a very complex subject. By the end you will have built a few robots, and that is where all the love/hate is. The author also has a webpage where he offers advice and help with problems you may have. Personally, I am very happy with this purchase, and staying up late working on my robots...advice: Radio Shack will not have all the parts you need (he includes where to obtain parts).

Gareth Branwyn could make even the most simple tech stuff interesting...oh, wait, he just did! Not many tech books tell stories, this one does. So for readers who suffer from M.E.G.O (my eyes glaze over) when reading how-to's, this book is an absolute gift. Funny, informative and practical (no having to get Morton-Thiokol on the phone for spare parts) it's a great little book. Want more from this guy, especially on the tech history side.

Great accompaniment for the Lego kit.

I am very impressed with the book. It addresses robotics in a broad sense then drills down to the specifics of hobbyist robotics using LEGO and the RCX. Many tips and tricks, great insights into performance challenges and remedies, and lots and lots of cool project ideas! Great Book!

I bought this book to get a better understanding of the Mindstorm NXT system. While this book is very interesting, it does not cover NXT -- so the descriptions of the programming, the sensors, even the basic lego pieces do not match what you'd get in a NXT package.

MindStorms is an absolutely fascinating robot building system for children, adults, and those who don't fit well into either category. This book helps you delve more deeply into the principles behind making really cool robots with MindStorms. The opportunities for learning are just never-ending, and at the same time, the limitless fun anyone can have, from pre-teen to geezer, makes the learning very rewarding. This book helps open this potential.

This book takes you beyond the step-by-step instructions in the Constructopedia, and doesn't shy away from the physical principles behind robots, so it is suited for the more experienced and mentally mature builder. I use it to get ideas for things I can build with my 9-year-old son. It won't be long until he's ready to have a go at the book himself, though.

Don't get me wrong. The models are cool. However, they usually need some tuning up before they are full functional. The majority of programs is written in NQC (as described in the book), however there is one in lego script which works only for newer RIS (2.0). I tried to contact the publishers and authors on many occasion but I've only managed to get my name on the spam list! This is not a nice way to treat a costumer.

This book won't tell you how electronics work or advise which microcontroller to use. I found that it does succeed in inspiring the reader to create better robots through the colorful images and the design philosophies of the robot builders.

A totally amazing and beautiful book-- I know some reviewers were turned off by the cover which is totally realistic and a bit bio looking for some...but the robots are coming and many are going to be in the biotech area to start with so I think the cover is appropriate...anyway....of course robotics is part of our life and most of our products and services anyway - from the black box in your car to auto factories where they do precision work over and over 24/7/365 to the next generation of prosthetic limbs-- even my dad has a robot knee....You've seen them in the movies where they do the intelligence and GPS tracking....like spiders, crabs, and bugs they whirl around walls, floors and climb with ease....The name of course comes from Homosapiens and then combining it with Robots -- thus Robosapiens....the book is by award winning juournalists Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluiso and includes hundreds of photos of robots, pioneers and even field notes...it's a field guide to our mechanical future according to the cover notes...Sir Arthur C Clarke says "this is one of the most mind-stretching and frightening books I've ever read...the images reveal a whole new order of creation...about to come into existence...no one who has any interest in the future can afford to miss it!...from the 6 inch long Unibug -- who looks SOOO real to a robotic articulated hand from a German Aerospace Center...looks at such leaders as Hugo de Caris of Starlab in Belgium who it says hopes to become known as the father of the Artificial brain....to Hondo's first walking robot P3 to of course the Mars NASA Jet Propulsion robot Rocky 7 on the Red Planet...Will we be replaced by robots-- my guess is it's more likely we will ASSIST robots or they will ASSIST us -- but lets watch to see that the brain in the box is not us -- like in the old Sci Fi movies....fabulous book -- amazingly up to date since it was published in 2000 -- gorgeous-- [...]

Hugo de Garis (Artifical Brain)
Books: Artificial Brains, Artilect war, Evolution of Neural Network Modules: ATR's Artificial Brain Project, Evolutionary Design by Computers, Evolution of Neural Structures Based on Cellular Automata, Hybrid Intelligent Engineering Systems, Fuzzy Logic-Neural Networks-and Evolutionary Computation, Brain Building for a Biological Robot, Towards Evolvable Hardware, Machine Learning : A Multistrategy, Brain Building : The Genetic Programming of Artificial Nervous Systems and Artificial Embryos, Neural and Intelligent Systems Integration

"I am a "brain builder", a researcher in the very new field of "Artificial Brains". I am helping to pioneer this new field, by growing and evolving neural network circuit modules directly in electronics at electronic speeds, and then putting zillions of them together to make artificial brains. My neural circuits grow in billionths of a second. This is so fast that I can grow many of them, each with slightly different mutations and hence with slightly different abilities to perform some task that I give them. By eliminating (Darwinian-style) the poorer performing circuits, and allowing the superior performing circuits to make more copies of themselves (to have more offspring), it is possible to evolve circuits which perform quite well."

Kris Pister (Smart Dust)

Pister has built millimeter sensors capable of measuring temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, light intensity, tilt and vibration, and magnetic field sensors all in a cubic inch package, including the bi-directional radio, the microprocessor controller, and the battery

"The science/engineering goal of the Smart Dust project is to demonstrate that a complete sensor/communication system can be integrated into a cubic millimeter package. This involves both evolutionary and revolutionary advances in miniaturization, integration, and energy management. "

Rodney Brooks (Cognitive Machines)
Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us, Robot: The Future of Flesh & Machines, Cambrian Intelligence: The Early History of the New AI, The Artificial Life Route to Artificial Intelligence: Building Embodied Situated Agents, Artificial Life IV: Proceedings of the Fourth International Workshop on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems, Model-Based Computer Vision
Hirochika Inoue (Humoid Robot)
Masato Hirose (Honda's P3 walking machines, dexterous machines)

"In a carefully choreographed performance, P3 walks a line, opens a door, turns a corner, and after a safety chain is attached, climbs a flight of stairs.
Masamich Sakuguchi, Juni Furusho (Standing robots)"

Stefan Schaal (Dynamic Brain - Statistic algorithms, learning through demonstration)

"We are interested in how systems can learn from sensory information in order to acquire perceptual and motor skills. For this reason, we study neural networks, statistical learning, and machine learning algorithms. Learning topics that we investigate fall into three main sub-branches: supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and reinforcement learning"

Cythia Breazel (Kismet - Facial responses based on biological principles and interactive machines)

Cythia Breazel is the lead researcher on the Sociable Machines project focusing on social interaction and socially situated learning between people and humanoid robot

In Karel Capeks 1920 play "R.U.R." a factory populates the world with worker robots, meant to relieve humans from the hardships of work. But unfortunately the robots end up revolting against their masters, finally wiping out the human race.

Somehow, it seems that this theme has never left us. From the Robosaurus machine that prowls a parking lot of a Las Vegas casiono, showing off its ability to breathe fire and crush cars in its mighty claws, to Arnold Schwarzeneggers Terminators - robots are in western culture associated with a sense of doom. Never mind that humans false teeth, titanium hips, artificial eyes - are already making us beginning to resemble our machines, turning us halfways into cyborgs even today. No, Robots still feel kind of eery.
Roboticist Hugo de Garis puts its out in the open with his
"moral obligation" to raise the alarm of the fruits of his research (into artificial intelligent beings).
As it is stated in the book "The terrible fear, and great hope, is that we may lose some of our humanity. With good luck we might lose some of the powerty, fear and desperation that has always been the human lot. With bad luck we might lose ourselves"
Looking at the bright side - robots could be engineered to be moral. Robots could be saints. So I guess there is still hope.

Great book. Awesome pictures.

-Simon

They can climb stairs, juggle balls, open a door, smile engagingly, hear and see, swing like a monkey, crawl like a crab and swim like a fish. Who? Why the robots, of course. This startling picture book explores the amazing scope of robot capabilities. The photographs of the robots and their creators provide a unique picture of the dawn of these intelligent machines. The narratives are brief and to the point, explaining just enough but always remaining as support for the pictures. As I thumbed through this book, it became clear that the development of humanlike robots will come one project at a time, not by a thunderous breakthrough from a single genius working in a dark lab. Definitely buy this book; there's nothing quite like it.

The authors did a great job of introducing the reader to all the important aspects of the field of computational geometry while keeping it simple and understandable.

This book is extremely well written, easy to understand, and actually is the standard text for Computational Geometry classes, as far as I know. The only thing I didn't like about it was that there seemed to be a few errors in some of the pseudocode. But, it's to be expected when publishing a textbook, and I think it'll probably be cleared up in future editions.

Overall, great book. I'd recommend it to anyone taking graphics or a computational geometry class.

The authors amass an impressive array of algorithms related to finding geometrical properties. Where these algorithms are performed on a computer. The book itself does not advocate any particular programming language. The algorithms are given in pseudocode, and you are expected to manually convert these to code in your choice of language. Given the calibre of the discussion in the text, which suggests that the readers are quite experienced, then this manual step should be easy to most.

There are numerous contexts in which the text might prove useful. Ranging from graphics to GIS to robotics. Thus, there is an entire chapter on the planning of robotic motion. The robot can in general translate and rotate.

Each chapter comes with an exercise set. Which helps make the book suitable as a graduate or even undergraduate text.

Pro:
(1) Each chapter begins with a practical example. For example, the chapter computing intersections of lines starts with a discussion of a map-making application that goes into enough detail to see how the algorithms they present would be useful. This is a considerable step up from the common practice in algorithms literature of motivation by way of vaguely mentioning some related field (i.e. "These string matching algorithms are useful in computational biology"). This book does a much better job of motivating the material it presents, but if you're primarily interested in the abstract problem, these sections can be skipped.

(2) Each chapter is relatively self-contained. Feel free to skip ahead to subjects that interest you.

(3) Surprisingly readable. Unlike most technical material, one can read an entire chapter in a single sitting without missing much. Generally, each chapter will develop a single algorithm for a single kind of problem.

(4) It's very up to date. This second edition is less than two years old, it includes some new results in the field.

Con:
(1) Algorithms are only given in pseudocode. The emphasis is on describing algorithms and data structures clearly and completely. If you're looking for a "cookbook" with code to copy and paste into an application, perhaps O'Rourke's "Computational Geometry in C" would be a better choice.

(2) There are many important advanced results that are not discussed in the main text. An obvious example is the first chapter, which describes a well-known convex hull algorithm that takes O(n log n) time but algorithms that are faster for most inputs are mentioned only in the "Notes and Comments" at the end of the chapter. Someone interested in lots of gory details would be well-served to combine this book with Boissonnat and Yvinec's more detailed and mathematical "Algorithmic Geometry".

This is one of the really few computational geometry books available. It fills a niche and does it decently. However it could be better:

1. The chapter layout is not very good. There are many "revisiting this" and "we saw in chapter so-and-so".

2. The mathematical proofs are often written in a single paragraph full of "English" interspersed with mathematical notation, instead of the tried and true way of numbered equations and one-per explanations. This makes for disconcerting reading.

3. The book in general could have done with more math and code, and less "English", not to mention more and better diagrams -- they tend to be sparsely detailed (ie. a picture is worth only a hundred words). The arrangement of diagrams also needs to be better: some are in the margins, some are in the middle, again not easy and intuitive to follow.

Hopefully a future edition will address this issues.

This textbook is an extremely comfortable read. It covers a lot of material, including fundamentals of state space and digital control; however, its clarity and excellent writing ensures that the reader is never sidetracked trying to resolve what's being conveyed. The introductory chapter alone reveals the quality of this text. The organization, including the two comprehensive case studies, is perfect throughout the book. The prerequiste is nothing more than a full course on electric circuits (ideally). This book is probably my favourite among my fivty plus engineering textbooks.

Very complimentary to the main text if you are actually trying to learn and have the time and energy to go over more examples.

I do not recomend this book because the author gives poor explanations. In chapter 5, he explains steady state error for unity feed back HORRIBLY. He says the value of c(t) must be infinite or nonzero, but doesnt bother to show why. This book needs more work making concepts clearer and making less assumptions.

Its not all bad, but its not 5 stars everyone else has given it. I have read good textbooks, this isnt one of them.

Norman Nise has done a great job with this book.This book is a first hand guide for beginners who have absolutely no knowledge of Control Systems and its purposes. The book with its details of each methodology & its purposes gives an indepth view of the subject. This is excellent tool for beginners (for understanding the fundamentals) and gradually upgrading to a better level by able to design systems. The Skill Assessment Exercises are able to bring out the key techniques to solve any problem. A must buy for all people interested in Control Systems Engineering and looking for a book where fundamentals can be cleared.

As a student in control systems engineering, I found this text to be very valuable (I had the 3rd Edition then). As an engineer, I found it to be my everyday reference. A few years back, I jumped ship from the engineering field and have obtained a PhD in another field of science and to my surprise, I still reference this text today. Great Text!! Dorf and Bishop is not bad but Nise takes first place.

I like the book, like it says it explain every step in the construction of a insectronic. But I expected more from the electronics part, explaining more why the design of the diagram that in fact, I think it is the heart of the robot.

This book is incomplete. The author leaves some vital information out on most if not all of the electronic components of the build.The book is well organized but the lists provided are not specific enough! For
example,Mr.Williams tells you to purchase a 4 MHZ crystal, 78L05 voltage regulator etc. But what he neglects to tell you is were to get these parts,who makes them,and the specific part number. The problem lies in
fact that there many variations of these parts. Finding the right parts
so far on the internet has been a guessing game at best and a complete waste of my time! And forget about getting any help from the author or his website. It's been three and half months since I e-mailed him without
a single reply. He sells the circuit boards on his website, but doesn't
have a shopping cart to make the purchase. Of coarse, if he doesn't answer e-mails, would you want to send your hard earned money to this guy? Until Mr. Williams provides all the necessary information in his book and on his website you to will be disappointed too.

Although it is becoming out-of-date, it is still a very helpful source for beginners like me. It covers many aspects of robot design around a complete sample robot project. The topics it partially covers are shortly; PCB making, PIC circuit design and PIC programming, legged robots walking gaits, robotic sensors.

This book is truly amazing for robot hobbyist like me. I built a different robot using Karl Williams instructions even though it for the robot in his book. I built the robot too and it's real easy to build. I built the main controller board using a solderless breadboard and made the infared sensor board using the radioshacks PCB kits, it was a little different though. For the programs I had to tweak them because i couldn't afford the Picbasic pro, so with my little imagination I got some of the programs to work. This book is a must get and it's one of my favorites too. if you want to built a walking robot this one is worth building. so don't just look and read the book build it and I promise you will have lot's of fun just messing around with it.

An excellent book if you want to build a walking robot that really works!! I've been looking for a book like this for years. The details for building the mechanics and electronics are actually very exact and accurate. I had absolutely no problems building two of these robots. This book even gives the printed circuit board design artwork for the microcontroller board circuit and the infrared sensors, which none of the other robotics books do. This book is packed full of great practical knowledge like interfacing a radio remote control system, sonar rangefinding, and an excellent robot gripper - among other things... WELL WORTH THE MONEY. I also bought Amphibionics which is also a great book with plans for four biologically inspired robots - a really cool snake robot, frog, aligator and turtle.

While not everything I had hoped, this book does cover some of the basics and then some on building drive trains.
If you have ever tried this, you know that there are so many detailed questions, and this book does address a fair number of them.

If you are looking for a step by step guide, this is not your book. If you are imaginative and like custom solutions, this book will be of good value, even if you only use 2 or 3 chapters from the book.

Good book for starting out if you want to build things yourself and you don't know where to start for a robot drive. It goes into enough detail to explain why a user would select one option over another depending on what the final goal is. It has some basic math (very simple agebra)to cover these details and walks the user through all of it. He also list sources (books) and other links for a higher level of detail. This is a fast read and easy to follow
Nice work on the book!

It has been a month since the book was shipped--and I have not received it yet. I looked at Amazon's on line tracking, and it appeared the book was lost in transit. Amazon (Peggy) said they would immediately get another one out to me.

My concern--Why did I have to find that the book was lost. Amazon has the same information. It appears their system doesn't monitor deliveries or non-deliveries?????

Larry Cardo

Covers all the robot drive train basics in practical terms. This book has been very useful for a novice like me.

This book was a great help during the use of our wireless hexapod senior project. The book is a great read on many different levels, especially control. The PID explantion in Motor Control 201 is better then a lot of control books i've read. There are a tremendous amount of circuits in the book and code and psuedocode. the book gives a lot of technical information as well as giving you different options (chips, connection, drive trains) you can use when building your robot. This is must if you are building a robot or want a book on interfacing your microcontroller and analog circuitry.