Kickin' Bot: An Illustrated Guide to Building Combat Robots (ExtremeTech) [Paperback]

Grant Imahara (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764541137 | ISBN-13: 978-0764541131 | Publication Date: December 5, 2003 | Edition: 1

Enter the arena of the metal gladiators

Do you have what it takes to build a battle-ready robot? You do now. Here are the plans, step-by-step directions, and expert advice that will put you in competition-while you have a heck of a lot of fun getting there.

Grant Imahara, the creator of the popular BattleBot Deadblow, shares everything he’s learned about robot design, tools and techniques for metal working, the parts you need and where to get them, and plenty of tips to keep you off the ropes. When you’re finished, you’ll be ready to rumble.

Just a few of the topics you'll learn:

• Robot design 101
• Chemicals and power tools
• Popular materials compared
• Cutting your armor
• Things to know about screws
• Top ten drive motors
• Bearings, casters, couplers, and U-joints
• Roller chains and sprockets
• Better traction through chemistry
• Choosing speeding controls
• Batteries and wiring
• The driving test
• Rammers, hammers and crushers

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Enter the arena of the metal gladiators

Do you have what it takes to build a battle-ready robot? You do now. Here are the plans, step-by-step directions, and expert advice that will put you in competition-while you have a heck of a lot of fun getting there.

Grant Imahara, the creator of the popular BattleBot Deadblow, shares everything he’s learned about robot design, tools and techniques for metal working, the parts you need and where to get them, and plenty of tips to keep you off the ropes. When you’re finished, you’ll be ready to rumble.

Just a few of the topics you'll learn:

• Robot design 101
• Chemicals and power tools
• Popular materials compared
• Cutting your armor
• Things to know about screws
• Top ten drive motors
• Bearings, casters, couplers, and U-joints
• Roller chains and sprockets
• Better traction through chemistry
• Choosing speeding controls
• Batteries and wiring
• The driving test
• Rammers, hammers and crushers

About the Author

Grant Imahara is an animatronics engineer and modelmaker for George Lucas’s Industrial Light & Magic in Marin County, California. He specializes in electronics and radio control at the ILM Model Shop, and has credits on numerous movies, including Jurassic Park: The Lost World, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Galaxy Quest, AI: Artificial Intelligence, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and most recently, Matrix: Reloaded and Revolutions.
He has installed electronics in R2-D2 units for Star Wars Episodes I and II, replacing the halogen light source and rotating color wheel (for the sparkly lights) with a custom microcontroller-based LED circuit that was originally created to make the pulsating lights for the main engines of the Protector, from Galaxy Quest. He also upgraded all of the radio equipment and speed controls to modern standards. Along with R2-D2 Crew Chief Don Bies and Nelson Hall, he is one of only three official R2-D2 operators in the United States.
Grant developed a custom circuit to cycle the Energizer Bunny’s arm beats and ears at a constant rate. He performed all electronics installation and radio programming on the current generation of Bunnies. He later became the Bunny’s driver and the crew supervisor on numerous commercials.
Grant has a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California. He picked up his mechanical skills from the machinists at the ILM Model Shop, many of whom date back to Howard the Duck (1986).
For fun, Grant competes in BattleBots with his robot Deadblow, which set a record for most number of hits in the first season of the show. Grant lives in a loft in Oakland, California, where he works on his robot and pursues other projects in his spare time.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (December 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764541137
• ISBN-13: 978-0764541131
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #706,261 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Illustrations, December 5, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Kickin' Bot: An Illustrated Guide to Building Combat Robots (ExtremeTech) (Paperback)

I knew of the author from watching BattleBots on TV (he built Deadblow http://www.battlebots.com/battlebots_detail.asp?ID=60) so I pre-ordered this before it even came out.

The thing that sets this one apart from some of the other books is the illustrations - they are absolutely beautiful, and really add to the clarity and readability of the book, although I wish they were in color.

Regardless, this is a brilliant book on robotics. I imagine this is a great place to start if you are just getting into robots, and if you are like me and know some basics after building a few kits, this is a great guide to doing it all from scratch. It provides a great deal of detail, and I'll bet that even veterans are sure to pick up a few tricks here and there.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written and easy to understand, December 5, 2003

By 

Alan Richards (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kickin' Bot: An Illustrated Guide to Building Combat Robots (ExtremeTech) (Paperback)

Just getting started with robots, and this is my first book on building them. I chose this one because I eventually want to build a battlebot, although I plan to just start with a basic bot.

So far this is exactly what I wanted. It is very easy to understand, the directions are clear and easy to follow, and the drawings are absolutely killer.

Very well done, and highly recommended.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book on building robots, February 16, 2004

By 

"01raja" (Malaysia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kickin' Bot: An Illustrated Guide to Building Combat Robots (ExtremeTech) (Paperback)

This book is one of the best I have bought so far. Those of you just getting started on building robot will be especially pleased about the countless tips on the correct way to use tools and construction techniques etc. The huge number of illustrations is a welcomed bonus.

The section on choosing a Remote Control is very informative.

If you are hoping for sections on electronics, programming or building your own parts for the electrical/electronic components you will be very dissapointed as all the parts used are off the shelf.

You might want to supplement this book with Amphibionics and Insectronics by Karl Williams which has good sections of programming and electronics.

No book is perfect but if you want to build a REAL fighting robot this is the best book around and I'm saying this after having bought most of the popular ones around.