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123 Robotics Experiments for the Evil Genius
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| List Price: | £14.99 |
| Price: | £10.85 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery on orders over £5. Details |
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Product Description
The purpose of “Evil Genius” is to create an entertaining book made up of a series of projects that will explain electronics from static electricity (rubbing a balloon) to developing robots. The book will include the tools necessary for the reader to create the projects in the book at very little cost or inconvenience. The book will be divided into 19 sections, each one with two or more projects. The introduction to each section will take up two pages, as well as the “For Consideration” at the end. The section introduction and “For Consideration” will explain the history, theory, and parts in the section. Each project will use material readily available at “Radio Shack”, “Wal-Mart”, “Home Depot” and “Toys ‘R Us”. In some cases, the reader will have to go to Digi-Key or Jameco. It will also focus on using prebuilt components where ever possible along with using common chips instead of building circuits out of discrete components. The major sections are: -Start here -Basic electronics -Semiconductors -Applied electronics -Digital electronics -The PICmicro microcontroller and “C” programming language -Games and applications -Robot muscles -Robot sensors -Robot structures -Sample robot applications
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #206840 in Books
- Published on: 2004-03-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 355 pages
Editorial Reviews
From the Back Cover
123 ROBOT EXPERIMENTS!
* Introduces you to robotics, electronics, and programming for robotics step-by-step -- you don't need to be a science whiz to get started, but you will be when you have finished
* Vividly explains the science behind robots and the technologies needed to build them, including: Electronics; Mechanical assembly; Motors and batteries; Programming and microcontrollers
* Shows how you can create simple robots and models using materials found around the house and workroom
* Requires only inexpensive, easily obtained parts and tools
* Provides a PCB (printed circuit board) that will make it easy to create the circuits used in this book as well as your own experiments
* Gives you directions for building a maze-solving robot, two different designs for a light-seeking robot, an artificial intelligence program that will respond to you, and much more
* Explains underlying principles and suggests other applications
* Supplies parts lists and program listings IMAGINATIVE EXPERIMENTS THAT TEACH THE BASICS -- WHILE PROVIDING HOURS OF FUN!
About the Author
Myke Predko is a New Technologies Test Engineer at Celestica in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of McGraw-Hill's Programming and Customizing PICMicro Microcontrollers, Second Edition, and is the principal designer of the TAB Electronics Sumo-Bot.
Customer Reviews
Variable content; unclear of its audience
This is a 'curates egg' of a book - good in parts. The 123 'experiments' start with making model robots from cardboard tubes and pipe cleaners and how to saw plywood (!) before later moving on to reasonably skilled soldering, Basic Stamp 2 programming and advanced electronics. I am really not sure at whom this book is aimed, as the content ranges from the most basic, where resistors are described simply by their colour code, to more complex ideas of integrated circuitry and digital logic. Many of the ideas match those in the downloadable Parallax material and the circuit board supplied with the book is a 'poor man's version' of the 'Homework Board' familiar to BS2 users. However, many listed components required to make it up are not easily obtained by UK hobbyists, even on the internet, and really need a shopping trip to the USA.
If the book is patiently worked through, and the components can be found, the constructor will end up with a standard line-following differential drive robot based around the Basic Stamp 2, but BS2 enthusiasts will already be familiar with Parallax's teaching material and the BOE-Bot which will achieve the same end.
The fact that this is a first edition shows in numerous grammatical errors (poor proof reading), some of which will confuse beginners, such as resistors described as 220v instead of 220 ohms.
Despite my above reservations, this book is very useful as a revision of basic concepts and as a source of ideas and inspiration for robot construction. It works through concepts in a very structured way but I'm afraid that an 'evil genius' is likely to be left seriously disappointed!
Caution
Before considering this book try to source the major component which it is based around, a Basic Stamp BS2 module. They can be ordered direct from Parallax but the UPS worldwide charge (no alternative available) is more than the cost of a single module.
At the time of writing this review the publishers book description does not reflect the contents of the book. As mentioned the main component is a BS2 module which is programmed using parallax basic and there is no such section as "The PICmicro microcontroller and 'C' programming language" neither is there a section on "Games and applications". To see the true contents look through the first few pages of the "Search inside this book" link.
There is little point buying the book if you can't find a BS2 as you won't be able to build the more interesting examples. If you can source one then the book is a good introduction to robotics upon which you should be able to expand and build your own creations.
