Customer Reviews

The Official Robosapien Hacker's Guide

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

 

 

With one and a half million Robosapiens sold in the Christmas season last year, this is the largest selling robot of all time. 99% of them will be played with a little, the novelty will wear off, they'll go in the closet with the rest of the old toys. But that other 1%, maybe that many, will be used as the basis for any of a number of other projects. This book shows how to take the basic Robosapien and convert, modify, add a number of alternative features and capabilities to it.

Some of these 'hacks' include, controlling Robosapien from a home computer, adding any or all of several electronic features to Robosapien, adding a different processor to Robosapien. Several of these hacks would make a very good science project for a high schooler, and would even be a pretty good introduction to abeginning class in electronics.

The majority of "The Offical Robosapien Hacker's Guide" is the 11 chapters dedicated to 11 hacks. Some hacks require an additional investment of up to several hundred dollars, while other hacks require small circuits to be built. The author provides circuit diagrams WITHOUT explanations and details of the parts needed, but fails to provide any fundamental Electrical Engineering knowledge. EE 101 students will not have much trouble, but the typical person buying the Robosapien initially as a toy will. My two favorite parts of the book: 1) The $10 WowWee Rebate (expires 12/31/06) towards purchase of a WowWee robot. 2) The chapter dedicated to the disassembly of Robosapien where the author guides you on minimal disassembly for maximum internal exposure. While the author is highly knowledgable in electronics, he is vague and lacks the ability or patience to explain areas in details. The information and presentation of that information is no better than what I would expect to find on someones personal website who was sharing it for fun and not financial gain.

Very good. A must have if you have a Robosapien.

Came very well and carefully packaged.

On the positive side, Prochnow's candid writing style makes this book very entertaining to read. Most of the projects (but not all) are interesting too including replacing Robosapien's feet with a tank tread based traction system, turning him into an alarm clock or using him as a virtual wall for your roomba. Some seem silly and out-of-place however like the chapter on dressing up Robosapien in paper clothes. On the negative side, the author assumes the reader already possesses a basic working knowledge of electronics and schematic diagrams and as such completion steps for many projects are overly simplistic without the hand holding that most beginners would need.

Why? because I was expectin something else, but first of all, I didn't expect that you have to open/make a hole in your Robosapiens to modify it, so forget it! i will not damage my Robot.

Here are a dozen hacks which you can perform with Robosapien to make it more capable and attractive than it already is: a guide which packs in instructions on how to control your robot with either Mac or PC, and which provides insights into how Robosapien functions and how its uses can be expanded. Robot designer Mark Tilden's interview enhances one of the most in-depth Robosapien references in print.

This book was a delight to read. The author has an engaging style that leads you forward to further discovery. As others have noted, some of the detail is lacking. I don't know if that's necessarily a minus-- a circuit diagram alone leads to further research and discovery; providing a PCB layout and parts list would stymie further research. The projects are very ambitious and, though I might not use the components discussed in my Robosapien, I learned quite a bit about available, inexpensive technologies that I'll enjoy as an electronics enthusiast. I was a bit put off by the author's Mac evangelism, a religion that I respect but don't gravitate towards, but that's a minor quibble. Buy this from a third-party seller at remainder prices and it will be well worth your money. I bought a new copy that came in under a ten spot after shipping. I look forward to checking out some of the author's other books. The alternative Robosapien book makes a better all-in-one guide, but you can get both from third-party sellers for less than the cost of one from A.