Computational Principles of Mobile Robotics [Paperback]

Gregory Dudek (Author), Michael Jenkin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521568765 | ISBN-13: 978-0521568760 | Publication Date: February 28, 2000

This is a superb textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in the field of mobile robotics. With a special emphasis on computation and algorithms, Dudek and Jenkin address a range of strategies for enabling robots to master problems of navigation, pose estimation, and autonomous exploration. While they concentrate on wheeled and legged mobile robots, they also discuss a variety of other propulsion systems with kinematic models developed for many of the more common locomotive strategies. Chapters present algorithms for both visual and nonvisual sensor technologies, including sonar, vision, and laser scanners. In the section on reasoning, the authors thoroughly examine the subject of planning and the issues related to spatial representation. A comprehensive overview of the field, Computational Principles of Mobile Robotics complements its discussion of state-of-the art methods with 139 illustrations of key current and historical technologies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The book is a good synthesis of robotics for computer science people, and is a useful tool for approaching the area." Computing Reviews

"Technical libraries are well advised to shelve this milestone work. Readers from among upper-division undergraduates, graduates, and researchers will find a high level of legibility in the writing style, the attractive print layout, and ample quality illustrations, equations, and photographs." Choice

Book Description

This is a textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in the field of mobile robotics. With a special emphasis on computation and algorithms, the authors address a range of strategies for enabling robots to perform tasks that involve motion and behavior. The book is divided into three major sections: locomotion, sensing, and reasoning. It concentrates on wheeled and legged mobile robots, but discusses a variety of other propulsion systems. It presents algorithms for both visual and nonvisual sensor technologies, including sonar, vision, and laser scanners. In the section on reasoning, the authors emphasize the problems of navigation, pose estimation, and autonomous exploration.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 294 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (February 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521568765
• ISBN-13: 978-0521568760
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #861,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good general overview of computational robotics, March 4, 2006

By 

calvinnme - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Computational Principles of Mobile Robotics (Paperback)

This is one of only two books that I know of that are dedicated to computational issues in robotics, the other one being "Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots". Both of these books are good and excel in certain areas. I think that this book's best chapters are the two on sensors and their algorithms. Both chapters have plenty of details and even some worked numerical examples. The first two chapters on locomotion and robot hardware are pretty good and do have some equations for deriving robot kinematics, but I think that the previously mentioned "Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots" does a slightly better job at presenting that material. Chapters 5 and 6 on "Representing and Reasoning About Space" and the "Operating Environment" are about AI and its uses in the mobile robot. They are an OK introduction, but to really understand this material it would be better to get a copy of "Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach", and read the relevant chapters in that book. The next two chapters on "Pose Maintenance" and "Maps and Related Tasks" are very good chapters. They go into some specifics on AI and robot design that I couldn't find in other books, and have quite a bit on the mathematics and algorithms involved. They go into particular detail on the Kalman Filter, but you will still need a more detailed source of information on that subject. I suggest "Poor Man's Explanation of Kalman Filtering: Or How I Stopped Worrying & Learned to Love Matrix Inversion", which is very inexpensive. If you can't find it on Amazon, you can try buying it directly from the publisher, Taygeta Scientific. The last two chapters are just essay-style material on the current and future uses of mobile robots.
To get the most out of this book you should already be familiar with statics, dynamics, image processing, computer vision, and the basics of AI. No book on robotics can take you from ground zero, teach you all of these subjects AND computational robotics too. The good books on robotics, of which this is one, show how all of the related disciplines are integrated into the design of a robot.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive robotics text, May 29, 2003

By 

Nicholas G Roy (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Computational Principles of Mobile Robotics (Paperback)

The book is an excellent comprehensive survey of the mobile robotics, especially for a reader interested developing new mobile robot hardware and software. The authors discuss most of the major research issues in mobile robotics in depth, including locomotion and control, sensing and state estimation, and planning algorithms. Additionally, many of the most successful techniques are covered in enough depth to act as a how-to for implementors. For example, a popular state estimation technique is the Kalman filter, which can be readily implemented directly from the description of the algorithm in the text.

This book distinguishes itself in that it focuses on the algorithms, and general lessons learned in designing robots, both hardware and software. Many robotics books get involved in the details of hardware and become obsolete at a rapid pace. This book should be very useful for the university classroom for quite some time.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent mobile robotics textbook, September 23, 2001

By 

Henrik I. Christensen (Stockholm, Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Computational Principles of Mobile Robotics (Paperback)

This book provides a solid and fairly comprehensive coverage of mobile robotics including both basic mobile platforms, sensor systems, computational vision, method for reasoning and planning, mapping, and a few practical examples. The approach adopted is based on a solid theoretical foundation. Thus the reader needs at least first year calculus and statistics to really appreciate this book.

The coverage is comprehensive in the sense that it provides a good introduction to all the topics needed in order to develop a ombile robot system. In addition to this the text has a fairly comprehensive bibliography with adequate pointers to relevant literature. The book has a slight bias towards computational vision, which is not surprising given the history of the authors, but overall the coverage is well balanced.

This book is close to perfect for a one year university course on the introduction to "mobile robotics". Anyone entering mobile robotics to do research in this field ought to read this book.