Building Robot Drive Trains (Tab Robotics)

I took on a freelance job and needed to get more detailed information/advice regarding motors and motor control. This book was all I needed. It's very informative and well written. It teaches you about the types of motors, how to select the right motor for your application, and finally how to control them using different kinds of circuits and integrated circuits. If you want to know the mathematical details of torque, how to measure your motor's torque, or how to decipher motor specs, it is all in this book. This book will be a great reference even for someone who already has some knowledge of motors.

Building a robot from the ground up means that the drive train is first. This book provides everything that you need to know but is also inspiring and fun to read. I built most of the circuits in the book and all worked the first time and exhibited the discussed operation. I also built my first Robot drive train and ran into many of the issues that the authors anticipated and for which they provided excellent solutions. I read the book from front to back and it inspired me to build a robot, then as I was building it, from the ground up, I continued to find helpful information using the book as a reference. If you are even thinking about building robots start by reading this book.

Constructing mobile robots crosses so many different skills, knowledge sets, and disciplines, a book focused on just "Building Robot Drive Trains" makes good sense. Clark and Owings have done just that. They've made an excellent reference for someone focusing on the mechanical drive section of their robot. Many of the tricks and techniques developed among robot makers are cataloged here. The book can save you many hours or trying this or that, when a better solution is already known. For instance, I never knew what a spider coupling was called or how it worked before seeing a picture of one taken apart in the book. Yet this is just one of the many types of couplings described in the book. The authors did cover some electronics, for instance H-bridges and motor drive chips circuits, and some programming concerning motor control and PID loops. However, the book delivers on its promise, and broadly covers drive trains from motors to gears, and even to legs and their gaits. The book is wonderfully illustrated throughout with an average of one or two tables, photos, drawings or figures per page. The result is a very visual book, easy to scan, easy to read, easy to return to as a reference.