Personal Robotics: Real Robots to Construct, Program, and Explore the World

This book runs the gamut of basic robots that are available. I read it when I was in the process of developing a proposal for a special topics course in robotics. With a need to have some hands-on activities in the course, I was looking for some inexpensive equipment that could be programmed. I found several possibilities as well as some excellent choices for Christmas gifts for my children. The book is not about the theory of robotics, but about several robot packages that are available for purchase. Each package is briefly described, with photos, the capabilities of the robot and some sample code if applicable. The author disregards all items that are robots only in the advertising brochures, considering only machines that are programmable in some form. His second criteria for inclusion is the price, he covers only those robots that are under $3000. The description of each robot ends with the links to the manufacturer, which was very helpful to my shopping. Most of the manufacturers describe their robots in detail on their site and also have additional robotics equipment for sale. For the first time in my life as a parent, I have some of the Christmas shopping done for my children before Thanksgiving. I also have completed the proposal for the hands-on robotics class and it appears that the department will approve it. This book helped me accomplish both, it is an excellent resource for the investigation of what low-cost robotics kits are available.

Personal Robotics is comprised primarily of reviews of a few dozen robot kits and fully-assembled robots available to educational institutions and individual hobbyists. In the initial section, the author addresses the qualities which he feels distinguish small, inexpensive robots from common toys. He next discusses the development of the concept of the robot, beginning with 17th- and 18th-century automata, and moving on to such influences as Shelley's Frankenstein and 20th.-century science fiction. He compares the popular conception of the robot with today's reality of industrial robots used in manufacturing processes. The remainder of the book is a series of product reviews. The first set of products reviewed are experimenter and educational-style kits priced at $50 - $300, from Learning Curve, Robotix, Capsela, LEGO, and TurboZ. The second set describes generally more complex robots aimed at hobbyists, priced at $50 - $700, including OWI robots, the RugWarrior Pro, BEAM robots, and the Johuco Phoenix. The final section introduces the Pioneer series, an entry-level robot line from an industrial robot manufacturer priced at under $3,000, and aimed at public schools. As this book was published in 1999, the AIBO, the P3, and other robotic systems which have received attention in the press lately are notably absent. Nonetheless, hobby roboticists interested in product overviews, those interested in becoming familiar with many of the industry's active manufacturers, and those shopping for inexpensive, ready-made mobile robots will benefit from reading this book.

This book is very interesting and will help you with building robots of all kinds. This book is filled with interesting information