Customer Reviews

Robot Programming : A Practical Guide to Behavior-Based Robotics

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Behavior-based robotics is quite simply the design of robots where there are no internal "models" of the environment. Instead, the robot's action is state-machine driven via inputs gleaned from the robot's sensors. This book gives very practical advice on building and programming such a robot. Some mathematics is involved, so the reader who knows trigonometry, algebra, and the basics of computer programming would be best prepared to make good use of this book.
Chapter 1 uses the author's Java-based simulator, BSim, to observe the behavior of a working simulated robot. This chapter tries to answer the big picture questions : What exactly is a robot and what are its essential components?
Chapter 2 reviews the concept of the feedback control system in a very accessible fashion. The author uses examples from BSim to demonstrate how good control systems can go bad.
Chapter 3 shows how to build primitive behaviors, introduces the concept of triggers, and discusses ballistic versus servo behaviors.
Chapter 4 deals with arbiters, which is the software construct that all behavior-based systems must have to manage conflict between behaviors.
Chapter 5 begins instruction on writing complete behavior-based programs using everything learned up to this point. Included are techniques for homing, avoidance, and wall-following.
Chapter 6 discusses the task of decomposing a problem into the design of a robot. This chapter specifically discusses the design of "SodaBot", a robot which moves empty soda cans to recycling bins.
Chapter 7 takes a software-centered look at various common sensors, how they function, and the ways that sensor output can be misleading.
Chapter 8 rounds out the book with a case study of a behavior-based robot implementation. The example is a simple one, but it incorporates all software elements needed by any behavior-based robot. The author uses his own "RoCK", which is short for "Robot Conversion Kit", which is a self-contained electronics and sensor package based on Atmel's AVR AT90S8535 microcontroller. The author does an excellent job of discussing the code that must be written to make the robot perform as described.
Chapter 9 is the author's speculation on the features and forms of future robots.
The appendices have useful information on the mathematics of differential drive, the author's simulator "BSim", and some frequently used functions and their pseudocode. Each chapter contains exercises that are design-oriented and therefore have open-ended solutions. Thus there are no solutions given in the book or at its website.
Although this book does an excellent job of covering all of the aspects of programming a behavior-based robot, the reader might benefit from the other major text on the subject, "Behavior-Based Robotics (Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Agents)" by Ronald Arkin. That book is much more academic and less practical than this one, and it is also rather expensive. Thus, it might be best if you can get it used or from a library. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in behavior-based robots and in the practical details of creating and programming them.

You can really see that Jones knows what he is talking about reading this book, and you can see the influence participation in making a practical robot (Roomba) for mass production has had on Jones thinking. Previously Jones authored _Mobile Robots_ with Anita Flynn, a product of MIT research. Now Jones brings many practical and useful explanations in very easily understood terms to the beginner, and hidden depth to the experienced robot programmer. While many of the research level books talk "about" Behavior-Based Programming in general terms, Jones descends into specifics, such as the inner workings of arbitration, and some of the different schemes used, and the difference between ballistic and servo behaviors. Well written, an easy read, and deceptively meaty exercises. One of the appendices of the book cover some much-needed common algorithms. Another the mathematics of differential drive. Plus, this book has a companion web site, also covered in a appendix, written by Daniel Roth, where you can get your own free virtual robot to "play" with and control. You can run your own experiments with their pre-canned behaviors, and watch the results of your concept level programming in simulated action. More than a book, this is a learning opportunity for anyone wanting to understand practical robot programming "behavior style".

I first read Jones' previous book ("Mobile Robots: Inspiration to Implementation") back in 1999 and was very excited to see how simple AI could be.

This new book goes much deeper in the art of designing behavior-based robots and does a great job at it. And Even though I had already gainged a lot of experience programming my own robots, I still found it very stimulating and learned a thing or two.

I highly recommend this to any aspiring roboticist, and even the old pros!

OK, I'm no uber geek, just someone who is very curious about robotics. I have a moderately strong CS background, but have never before delved into the EE or robotics world.

I was looking for some good books to introduce me to the topic of robotics, an interest that has been scratching at the back of my cranium for some time.

I was hoping that Robot Programming would cover the software fundamentals side of the equation and it did just that. Don't get me wrong, you will not find much in the way of actual code. The book is more conceptual. It does a great job describing the topics that a nascent robot programmer will face.

The only negative was that the robot simulator is a bit over-hyped. I can't say that I ever felt the need to use it. Hey, that's just me. Others might feel differently.

Great job Joe Jones!

I have many robot books and this is the best and most informative book of all. It is easy to understand and read; I personally couldn't put it down. I wish it was twice as long while still marinating the high info density... Most authors just babble and every few pages actually tell you something; this is not the case with this book!

The programming of a robot is everything... and behavior based programming is the only way to go. This book provides a very good intro into that very subject. The only complaint I have is not about the book but his robot simulation program on is website which is referred to in the text. It seems to be rather slow and over taxing for the PC, but being a Java app it's not that surprising.

Highly recommended to anyone building robots!

This book is a collection of tips for robot design that you would otherwise have to learn the hard way through many years of experience. The author provides an overview of techniques that work, as well as common mistakes; overall, an approach for successful design patterns proven over time.

This is a nice little book. It introduces some important concepts in an overall very readable text. Of course the book doesn't offer much technical detail or any real code but sometimes it comes close. If you already have any experience in programming you can easily get the point in the example pseudo codes and adapt them for your own use.
There is a major problem about this book though. The online robot simulation program was available from the link given inside the book but this website is not active anymore so you can not practice the ideas using the "bsim" program.
I have to make a revision about the Bsim applet and the website. The website is up and running but the URL is not [...] anymore. It may be found at [...]. (02.Jan.2010)

I have read dozens of robotics books over the years and most of them suck. They were either too academic or too basic. This book is excellent and was a refreshing change.

Written by one of the designers of iRobots Roomba, this book is indeed a practical guide to robotics. It is easy to read and full of practical advice that one would only get if they spent the last 20 something years working with robots. For example, the author repeatedly warns you to expect the unexpected.

Even though this book incudes access to a simulator tool, the author constantly reminds you of what could occur in the real world. This book is for anyone attempting to build a single-purpose mobile robot (whether as a commercial developer or a hobbyist). Rather than focusing on a specific language or platform, the author uses pseudocode to explain concepts. The pseudocode should save you hours of frustration. At the very least, the authors good sense of humor makes reading the book quite enjoyable.

Most of the robot books I've purchased rarely explained the detail of how you could create some kind of "intelligent" program and expand it as you need. This book give you an example using pseudo code so basically you could implement it in any programming language usually found in embedded programming such as C, Basic/Stamp or Assembler. I would highly recommend this book for robotics enthusiast who wants to make their robot behave like it has some kind of intelligent.

Bought this from Amazon a month ago. The information in the book is fine. I was very excited to try out the interactive simulations in the book, but the website isn't active and the simulation that is not now available.