Mobile Robots: Inspiration to Implementation, Second Edition

This book is definitely a classic (in all senses of the word). What hobbyist still uses the Motorolla chips? There is little or no pseudocode (especially when an example would help). Even more troubling is that level of discussion is sometimes exceedingly simple (a transistor is. . . ) and sometimes way over the top (some of the subsumption and behavior based algorithms could have used a lot more discussion room). I found this book far too general to be useful. However, I will admit that it offers enough background to get you familiar with the words. This book needs a little more modernization (newer parts/processors/languages) to make it useful today. Worth reading (you can skip entire chapters of basic stuff at a time), especially if you know somebody who will loan you their copy. My recommendation though: buy it used and save the money, as it is not worth full price.

Dated, but still a great read, does a great job of compressing a lot of ideas and concepts into not too many pages.

Could not of built my autonomous rover robot without this book!

-I read this book cover to cover and the first time I picked it up...and thumbed through it I was not won over by it. Months later I decided what the heck and got it off Amazon. I have a good deal of computer experience but at the time had no robotics experience. This book incredibly broadened my thinking. It basically covers everything from brains to brawns, citing examples quite often. I did not read the 1'st edition of this book, but I emplore you to read this. If you do not trust my opinion go down to a book store and read at least for 10 mins through the chapters. I think you will find that if you are a novice roboticist that this book will get you quickly off in the right direction to building your own bots. I also encourage you to build their "Tute-Bot" a tutorial hardware bot that can be put together for just a couple bucks. It will teach you an invaluable lesson on why robots greatly rely on microprocessors. I sat captivated by this book for upwards of 4-8 hour reading spells and I did not lose interest which says alot considering their is much that is still highly technical in this book and could, if not written well become boring or too specific for a begginers/intermediate robotics book. Prepare to see implementations/explanations on all sorts of sensors (sonar, pyroelectric, photoelectric, Infrared, etc. etc.) the "how-to's" on experimental circuit board design, creating mobile bases/chasis, and a slew of other helpful design suggestions.The only downside although minor was that this book made possibly to much reference to the rug-warrior brawn and brains.... I would not reccomend for any novice to buy the rug warrior nor the brains for it. At roughly $600 it is too high of an investment for the newbie. Do however learn from [the] Rug-Warrior design as I did, and use their ideas to implement your own rug-warrior robot. A much better buy is the "Handy Board" which is also ... a good high quality Robotic Brain for Begginners/Intermediate roboticists. Also get the "expansion board" with the handyboard, and rack up the servo connectivity...The Rug-Warrior(tm) is still an awesome robot and much can be learned from it, and reading about I found to be still fascinating even though the price was not in my range. To conclude, I would not pass up this book if you are new to robotics, it is a MUST Have! ;-)Ps. just so you know I am not affiliated with acroname nor with the publisher, I just honestly reccomend this book.VipErReD -MaD RoBoTiCiSt

For those seriously interested in hobby robotics, Mobile Robots is required reading. Its authors follow in the tradition established by the collaboration between MIT and LEGO that began to bring the fruits of robotics research out of the labs and into the hands of the general public. Unlike LEGO Mindstorms, however, Mobile Robots is not aimed at those just starting out in science. This well written book reads something like the Voice of the MIT Media Lab, and the principal robot that it describes, the Rug Warrior, is not a beginning project. However, just about anyone with a basic background in electronics, computer programming and mechanical engineering will benefit from reading, working with and referring to it. The first part of the book does a very good job of describing a tutorial robot in detail. The second part starts with a discussion of the Rug Warrior's microcontroller and related topics. Once past this technical discussion, the book moves on to address a variety of general topics in mobile robotics. The tutorial robot first described is relatively inexpensive and easy to construct, while the Rug Warrior is neither. Most anyone wishing to build Rug Warrior will have to purchase it as a kit, as it employs parts that are difficult to obtain on one's own, and the book itself does not provide adequate information to construct it. However, Mobile Robots contains plenty of good general information that can be applied toward your own designs and projects, whether or not you decide to build a Rug Warrior.

I'm posting my 5-star rating for the FIRST edition of this book only - please read the review from Dr. Anita Flynn above regarding the other versions. You can find the 1st edition by going to Amazon's Used book section. Make sure the it has a blue hardcover, and only two authors are listed. Apparently, in the newer version, the publisher allowed changes to be made to an important tutorial chapter. After I reviewed that chapter in my 1st edition copy, I found it to be concise and complete. I believe if any information was removed from it, that it would take away from the reader a solid foundation in which to build upon in later chapters.

If you look at his FAQ page Rodney Brooks the MIT AI Lab director says that "However, I do not recommend the second edition. It has an inaccurate list of authors and contains many errors." This is the guy that taught the guys that wrote the book. You milage may vary...

This is an old and getting out of date book. But it explains some nuts and bolts clearly, and doesn't assume you have access to 3D printers or CNC. With that reservation it's recommended.

Bit dated but fundamentals are the same