Customer Reviews

Mobile Robots: Inspiration to Implementation, Second Edition

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am Dr. Anita Flynn, an author of Mobile Robots. There has been a long-running dispute between the publisher and me that anyone considering the book should know about. See the web site at http://www.mobilerobotsbook.com for more information.

-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

Mobile Robots was clear, and to the point though I thought it was a little hobby shop oriented for a MIT Press Book. The book does cover the topic it claims, but it leaves out a lot. Many grounding, and circuit comments are left out assuming that you are using thier Robot. Little is said about SW Filtering, or dealing sensors problems. Almost nothing is said about alternatives to the 68HC11 Processor used on the Rug Warrior II brains board. A great list of resources, very impressive though a Web page for the book with all the code in soft copy would have been more up to the modern standard. All in All a good book for the beginner. Well worth the money.

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.

This book provides all the basic elements and must-know facts that one should be concerned about when designing and implementing autonomous mobile robots. I wish this book was in existence when I was in my graduate program 15 years ago. What I found real interesting was how the most critical elements of mobile robotics were introduced step by step, and how details and embellishments were added slowly. These included sensor requirements, motor drives, power systems, and how to program the system. This book is a must for all enthusiasts of robotics, especially those who are in the business of applying these advanced technologies in every day life. My interest was in large scale factory automation. Dev Pillai, Intel Corporatio

The *first* edition is an excellent text ; a bible, right up there with Horowitz & Hill's "Art of Electronics". This edition is an apparently unauthorized, butchered, ripoff of the first. The added material due to the new author (Sieger)is certainly not of the same quality. Buy the first edition (new or used), and know you're getting an indispensible book to the credit of the real, *original* authors, Joe Jones, and Anita Flynn.

This is a fantastic book for a solid introduction into autonomous mobile robotics. It will guide you step by step in the design and implementation of inexpensive computational, sensor and locomotion systems that anyone with a little technical experience can use.

Instructions on how to interface and program a Motorola 68hc11 microcontroller are provided, as well as infrared sensors, sonar ranging modules, optical motor encoders, and other sensors.

GET THIS BOOK!

http://www.eng.ua.edu/~mdowney

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.

This book is presents an excellent and in depth introduction into hobby level robotics. The circuits and tutorial information is well thought out, practical, and extremely useful to anyone who dabbles in robotics. This book covers a lot of hardware subjects, and gives a great introduction to the subsumption architecture. Highly recommended by most members of the Seattle Robotics Society

This was my first robotics book and it gives a very clear, thorough, and easy to understand overview of mobile robotics. It provides a great starting point for future experimentation in mobile robotics.