Product Description

Want to try building a robot but you’re afraid it’s too complicated? BEAM robots are cheap, simple, and can be built by beginners in just a few hours. The ten basic projects contained in this book will help beginning level readers to get started in robot building, and includes detailed information about the basics of electronics and construction skills.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #144990 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Synopsis
Want to try building a robot but you're afraid it's too complicated? BEAM robots are cheap, simple, and can be built by beginners in just a few hours. The ten basic projects contained in this book will help beginning level readers to get started in robot building, and includes detailed information about the basics of electronics and construction skills.

From the Back Cover

Create a cool robot from scratch--in just a few hours!

Ever wonder what to do with those discarded items in your junk drawer? Now you can use electronic parts from old Walkmans, spare remote controls, even paper clips to build your very own autonomous robots and gizmos. Get step-by-step instructions from the Junkbot masters for creating simple and fun self-guiding robots safely and easily using common and not-so-common objects from around the house--or within a quick shopping trip away. Using BEAM technology, ordinary tools, salvaged electronic bits, and the occasional dead toy, you'll be able to construct a solar-powered obstacle-avoiding device, engineer a mini-sumo-wrestling robot, build a motorized walking robot bug, and much more. So grab your screwdriver, raid that dumpster, and join the robot-building revolution!

• Get an overview of basic electronics, robot construction methods, and learn the difference between "dead bug" and "live bug" electronics
• Identify the essential tools you need for mechanical assembly and gain important safety tips
• Find out why BEAM robotics is a growing alternative to traditional CPU-based robotics
• Learn "dumpster diving" strategies for collecting prime robot construction material that's available no other way
• Use a cell phone battery or solar panel from a calculator to create dual-power sources for your robot
• Understand how to use soldering equipment and various support tools

About the Author
Dave Hrynkiw (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) is the President of Solarbotics, Ltd., the largest supplier of BEAM-related equipment and parts, and benefactor of the BEAM robotics web community (www.solarbotics.net). Hrynkiw holds a masters degree in Mechanical Engineering and has been working in robotics for over ten years. Mark W. Tilden (Los Alamos, NM) is the father of BEAM Technology and the creator of B.I.O.-Bug robotic toys. Tilden is frequently quoted as a robotics expert in major media like The New York Times and National Geographic. He has been a contributing author to numerous books including The Stiquito Book (IEEE Press, 1996). Full-length articles on Tilden and BEAM robots have been featured in Readers Digest, Discovery Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, Wired Magazine, to name a few.

Customer Reviews

Not just how to build, how to design!
This book doesn't just show you how to build a dozen-or-so mini-robots. It also explains how they work, in *very* simple terms. Armed with this information, you can easily customise the robots you build, or design completely new ones, using stuff from your junk drawer. And you don't need to know Ohm's law!

The book also provides invaluable advice on how to troubleshoot problems in your new robotic friends.

Warning: Before you read this book, ask a friend to hide all your valuable electronic equipment from you. ;^) I took apart a perfectly good camera just to see if there were any useful robot parts inside. Fortunately I found a couple of tiny motors and lots of other neat things in it.

A simple and easy to understand guide to Robotics...
After reading this book from cover to cover I pleasantly find myself with an intermediate knowledge of electronics and robotics (with a few mechanical critters roaming my desktop). Firstly the book thankfully explains all about the basics of electronics- what those things sticking out of circuit boards really are and what they do. This allows those of us without a PHD in advanced electronics an insight into not too complicated electronics and means that when you go onto the projects you actually know what exactly you're soldering... Not only this, but the basics of safety, soldering and equipment.
However, perhaps the best part of this book is the idea of recycling old electronic equipment to make robots. It provides those of us without heaps of cash to throw about with an economic way of fulfilling our creative desires; with a whole section on where to get more bits than you could ever need; what's useful trash and what's just trash!
Finally are the actual robotic projects. They are much more simple than some of the ones I've seen in other books and are actually fun (shock-horror!). Starting from simple and ending in complicated these robots come with clear and simple instructions, with detailed photos all along the way to help you out. The only slight problem is that it does rely o the fact that you happen to have a pile of electronics lying about (where am I going to get a super magnet?!) but after a while you'll find you've accumulated plenty for a project or two.
If you're new to robotics and want to get into it straightaway buy this book- it is very informative, humorous, interesting and most of all fun! (However if you're looking for an advanced technical manual this isn't the book for you). Buy it now and you'll never look at that broken walkman in the same way ever again...