Kickin' Bot: An Illustrated Guide to Building Combat Robots (ExtremeTech) 1st Edition

by Grant Imahara (Author)

12 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0764541131

ISBN-10: 0764541137

Why is ISBN important?

Trade in your item
Get a $3.91
Gift Card.

Trade in
Learn More

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

More Buying Choices

9 New from $33.95 22 Used from $20.98

31 used & new from $20.98

See All Buying Options

Free%20Two-Day%20Shipping%20for%20College%20Students%20with%20Amazon%20Student

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

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

Available from these sellers.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Marco Antonio…

11

Paperback
$10.00
Chris Hannold

3

Paperback
Pete Miles

12

Paperback
$26.90
William Gurstelle

9

Paperback
$25.11
Mark Clarkson

7

Paperback
Chris Hannold

1

Paperback

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Enter the arena of the metal gladiators

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.

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Product Details

Series: ExtremeTech (Book 2)
Paperback: 528 pages
Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (December 5, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0764541137
ISBN-13: 978-0764541131
Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 1.1 x 9.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #703,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #372 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > Robotics
- #555 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Engineering > Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems > Robotics & Automation
- #1939 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Engineering > Telecommunications & Sensors

Customer Reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars

5 star		84%
4 star		0%
3 star		8%
2 star		8%
1 star		0%

See all verified purchase reviews

Share your thoughts with other customers

Write a customer review

Top Customer Reviews

Beautiful Illustrations

By A Customer on December 5, 2003

Format: Paperback

I knew of the author from watching BattleBots on TV (he built Deadblow [...]) 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.

Comment 21 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

Well written and easy to understand

By Alan Richards on December 5, 2003

Format: 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.

Comment 15 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

Best book on building robots

By A Customer on February 16, 2004

Format: 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.

Comment 13 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

Complete and well worth the money

By Steel Artist on January 7, 2012

Format: Paperback

I do not have a interest in building Battlebots, but I do like knowing how things are done hence the reason I got the book. It is very informative,and much of the content can be applied to machining as well-making it to where it exceeded my expectations since machining is one of my interests. Large machining tools isn't necessary though and this book covers the use of smaller tools such as jigsaws, hacksaws,drill presses, etc as well.

In addition to the basics-it has extra sections related to more advanced subjects such as R/C programming, pneumatics, etc.

Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

11 year old loves it!

By stogner on May 4, 2011

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

My son asked for this for his 11th birthday. We purchased a used copy that was shipped quickly in near new condition. It is a 500+ pg textbook format. He stayed up until 11 pm last night reading it and says it is awesome! He has already read 50 pages. Thanks for making his birthday great!

Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

Great book for beginniners

By Henry Mundstock on July 10, 2015

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

Good general overview and introduction to the basics of the sport. It does in fact hand out basic advice like what tools you'll need and how to use a drill press. General design and tactical advice, basic electronics, basic metalworking, practical robot handling. The best introduction to pneumatic systems I've seen. Good place to start from if you don't already know what you're doing. Advanced skills such as learning to weld or how to fabricate your own electronics are beyond the scope of this book.

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

See all verified purchase reviews (newest first)

Write a customer review

Most Recent Customer Reviews

Great gift for my son!

Awesome book! Well illustrated. Written well. Received in a timely fashion. Made my son very happy for birthday!

Published 17 months ago by patricia faircloth

Great job Grant!

Got this for my son. He read it a few times and uses it as a resource guide. Great job Grant!

Published on December 29, 2014 by Cindy S Dahlen

disappointing

Not much great information and it is hard to follow and does not tell you how to build a bot and does not have clear instructions.

Published on January 9, 2009 by Matt B

Robots

Its a good book but one thing to remember is that it does not deal with Autonomus robots. It just deals with R/C robots. but it is very well put togather and easy to follow

Published on November 20, 2008 by W. Pierce

Great for beginner or experienced bot builder

This book is well written. It is easy to understand and is a useful tool for a beginner, as well as an experienced bot builder. Grant did an excellent job. Read more

Published on January 7, 2008 by Deb Holmes

Outstanding robot construction book

The other reviewers have already written about how great the illustrations are in this book, about the author's ability to clearly explain some fairly difficult tasks, and about... Read more

Published on May 21, 2004 by Dave

Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Marco Antonio…

11

Paperback
$10.00
William Gurstelle

9

Paperback
$25.11
Pete Miles

12

Paperback
$26.90
Chris Hannold

3

Paperback
Mark Clarkson

7

Paperback
Chris Hannold

1

Paperback

Conditions of Use
Privacy Notice
Interest-Based Ads