Customer Reviews

Build Your Own Robot!

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Karl Lunt is a wel-known name in the field of robotics. For many years he has filled a column in the Nuts & Volts magazine, primairely around the 68hc11 and 68hc12 controler. He has a lot of experience in making robots and it really shows in his book: "Build your own Robot!". The book consists of a compilation of the columns he has written for the Nuts & Volts starting back in 1992. This is a very unusual approach for a book, and the author has some pitfalls to avoid.

First of all, the information presented in the book is somewhat unstructured. For example, the book doesn't start off with the basics : "the hc11a1 also provides four PWM channels that run with no software overhead, an asynchronous serial port (SCI), a synchronous serial port (SPI) and at least 24 i/o pins, most of them bidirectional" (Getting started,page 7). The reader who bought the book because he assumed to find a step-by-step guide on how to build robots may be scared off by this early technospeak. Secondly, a book has a different audience than the Nuts&Volt magazine has. Any author knows that he should write for a specific audience, with a certain technical background, with a certain state of mind. A book has more room for laying a good theoretical foundation, a column is more of a quick score. Thirdly, the use of language in a column is different compared to that of in a book. Columns should be 'fun to read', with off topic funnies to keep the narrow attentionspan in boundaries. In a thick book like this the use of such language seems often as irrelevant and irritating after a while. Example : "Each year, a few of us gather at the South Whidbey Park for three or four days of carcamping, eating, beach-strolling, and robot designing. The setting is quiet, the scenery lush, the weather ideal, and and we spend our time discussing robotic" etc etc (page 217) Fourthly, some subjects are not appropriate in columns, some not in books. For example, one of the first chapters is a lenghty review of a totally different robot book, now written seven years ago. One wonders how up to date his information is. His lenghty monologe that we should take an internet account also seems somewhat outdated.

It seems as this is one of those books that aren't well written, but I should stress that the usefull info is there. If you're part of the intended audience an are willing to look through the unusual setup, then this book can be very rewarding. Some articles are really in-dept and written with a lot of knowledge about the field. Karl has worked on many robots, from mazerunners to firefighters to hacked toys, and his stories about his projects are very interesting for the intermediate robotbuilder.

This book is a compilation of articles written in the 1990s for Nuts and Volts magazine by Seattle Robotics Society member Karl Lunt, an avid robot hobbyist. Karl's enthusiasm for and enjoyment of hobby robotics is evident throughout. Rather than a first book or an A-to-Z 'how-to' manual for those starting out in robotics, I think this book is more valuable as a 'companion guide' or reference to accompany a beginning book such as Gordon McComb's Robot Builder's Bonanza. A variety of ideas, sources, components, schematics and the like are sprinkled throughout the articles. The book provides not only technical information, but also a sense of the history of the hobby, and a feel for its people. Karl has pretty much standardized on Motorola MCUs and focuses on the 68hc11, which typically requires at least some assembly language programming. He is more comfortable writing about software and electronics than about the mechanical aspects of robotics design, though he discusses his collaboration with people who have strong mechanical skills. Ideally, a reader of this book should have an understanding of basic electronics, experience with computer programming, and some machine shop skills. Without some background in these areas, some of the reading will be slow going. For example, Karl assumes a knowledge of hexadecimal math, and bit manipulation with Boolean operators. The book goes into a fair amount of detail in describing the 68hc11, which I think provides a pretty decent introduction to MCUs in general.

Beginning and advanced robotics builders will find Build Your Own Robot! a rare coverage of all the basics involved in building a robot, from hardware to the author's own code used to program robots. Build Your Own Robot! is as much for the hobbyist as for the student of engineering and promises to reach a wide audience with in-depth details, tips for building very different kinds of robots, and specifics on circuitry and how to avoid problems.

A collection of Karl Lunt's articles from Nuts & Volts magazine. This book is not as much of a step by step guide as the title would imply. There is plenty here for the advanced robotics hobbyist as there is for the novice. A welcome addition to my robotics library.

Beginning and advanced robotics builders will find Build Your Own Robot! a rare coverage of all the basics involved in building a robot, from hardware to the author's own code used to program robots. Build Your Own Robot! is as much for the hobbyist as for the student of engineering and promises to reach a wide audience with in-depth details, tips for building very different kinds of robots, and specifics on circuitry and how to avoid problems.

I know you can already tell by the other revies that this book isn't really for beginners, but I want to just add a bit to it.

This is a wonderful reference and tips book for the advanced robo-builder. Although I would recommend you save your money, because you can find most of the information in cheaper books and some online.

For the intermediate robotics builder, this is a must have. This will teach you all kinds of techniques that will be perfect to practice, add more information to your head about the architechture and hardware of a robot, and be a perfect reference book for those things you keep forgetting how to do.
You'll also learn new programming techniques and have a wonderful time with this. This is definitely who the author wanted to write for. This is the perfect Amateur robotic builder's guide.

For the robotics beginner, you should basically forget about buying this book now. If you want to buy it in advance and think you will become a better bot builder someday, you can still save money by buying it later when the price is down. Alhthough the author has put in some content suitible for you, it's still definitely not worth it. So if you want to turn a TV clicker into a remote control and a cooler into a walking robot, I would advise waiting a while and reading some of the books below first...

*****-INDICATES RANK

****ROBOT BUILDING FOR BEGINNERS (DAVID COOK)
****ABSOLUTE BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO BUILDING ROBOTS (GARRETH BRANWYN)
*****ROBOT BUILDING FOR DUMMIES (NANCY STEVENSON, ROGER ERRICK)
**BUILD ROBOT DRIVE TRAINS (DENNIS CLARK, MICHAEL OWNIGS)
*****JUNKBOTS, BUGBOTS, AND BOTS ON WHEELS: BUILDING SIMPLE ROBOTS WITH beam TECHNOLOGY (MARK TILDEN)
**ROBOT BUILDER'S BONANZA (GORDON MCCOMB)

I would mostly recommend the two five-stars (ROBOT BUILDING FOR DUMMIES, JUNKBOTS, BUGBOTS, AND BOTS ON WHEELS: BUILDING SIMPLE ROBOTS WITH beam TECHNOLOGY) before you could start this book, but if you absolutely want to be sure that you're ready for it, you can spend an extra few bucks with "ABSOLUTE BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO BUILDING ROBOTS."

You can look at the other books, but I would not completely recommend them, because the robot building either costs a bit ("ROBOT BUILDER'S BONANZA", "ROBOT BUILDING FOR BEGINNERS" about in the $200's if you complete all the projects), or (for "BUILD ROBOT DRIVE TRAINS") doesn't really teach the subject we're looking for, and is more for advanced beginner.

This book is not worth buying for any level of robot builders. In my opinion, It is too difficult for beginner. For intermediate level, you can find some useful infomation here. The book has 560 pages, but only a few pages worth reading.

I always wanted to build my own robot, but when I decided to purchase this book, I read a couple of reviews from beginners and thought I'd take their advice. Well, for all of you people out there who are just as lost as I am, this book will get you nowhere. As someone who has an open, intelligent mind, I just don;t get it!

was a great book i found it quite informative and easy to follow