Always wanted to build a robot but didn't know where to start? This user-friendly guide shows what robots can do, how they work, and more Ready to enter the world of robotics? Then this book is for you! If you don't know much about electronics, high-tech tools, or computer programming, that’s okay. If you can work with some basic tools (such as pliers, a screwdriver, and a cutting knife), have a computer and know your way around it, and want to make a robot, you’re in the right place. Robot Building For Dummies walks you through building your very own little metal assistant from a kit, dressing it up, giving it a brain, programming it to do things, and even making it talk. In this hands-on guide that's illustrated with step-by-step instructions and written in plain English, you get an overview of robotics and the tools, technology, and skills you need to become a robot builder. You'll discover The various approaches to robot building, such as building from scratch or starting with a kit The mechanical parts of a robot and how they fit together The components of an efficient workspace and how to set one up Programming basics you need to enter and download commands into your robot How to add a controller, which lets you download software programs to your robot Using an editor program to connect to your robot The importance of preparing the parts of a robot kit and then assembling the chassis, wheels, and sensor whiskers The fun of making your robot functional by adding motion detection, light sensors, and more How to troubleshoot common problems and fix them to save your robot's life Along the way, you'll gather tidbits about robot history, enthusiasts' groups, a list of parts suppliers, and all-important safety tips. As an added bonus, Robot Building For Dummies comes with rebates for your robot building kit – no more waiting, grab your copy and start building your robot today.

“I wrote this book because I love building robots. I want you to love building robots, too. It took me a while to learn about many of the tools and parts in amateur robotics. Perhaps by writing about my experiences, I can give you a head start.” —David Cook Robot Building for Beginners, Second Edition is an update of David Cook’s best-selling Robot Building for Beginners. This book continues its aim at teenagers and adults who have an avid interest in science and dream of building household explorers. No formal engineering education is assumed. The robot described and built in this book is battery powered and about the size of a lunchbox. It is autonomous. That is, it isn’t remote controlled. You’ll begin with some tools of the trade, and then work your way through prototyping, robot bodybuilding, and eventually soldering your own circuit boards. By the book’s end, you will have a solid amateur base of understanding so that you can begin creating your own robots to vacuum your house or maybe even rule the world!

The book presents research from Rob|Arch 2018, the fourth international conference on robotic fabrication in architecture, art, and design. In capturing the myriad of scientific advances in robotics fabrication that are currently underway – such as collaborative design tools, computerised materials, adaptive sensing and actuation, advanced construction, on-site and cooperative robotics, machine-learning, human-machine interaction, large-scale fabrication and networked workflows, to name but a few – this compendium reveals how robotic fabrication is becoming a driver of scientific innovation, cross-disciplinary fertilization and creative capacity of an unprecedented kind.

th This volume is an edition of the papers selected from the 13 International Conference on Advanced Robotics, ICAR 2007, held in Jeju, Korea, August 22-25, 2007, with the theme: “Viable Robotics Service to Human. ” It is intended to deliver readers the most recent technical progress in robotics, in particular, toward the advancement of robotic service to human. To ensure its quality, this volume took only 28 papers out of the 214 papers accepted for publication for ICAR 2007. The selection was based mainly on the technical merit, but also took into consideration whether the subject represents a theme of current interest. For the final inclusion, authors of the selected papers were requested for another round of revision and expansion. In this volume, we organize the 28 contributions into three chapters. Chapter 1 covers Novel Mechanisms, Chapter 2 deals with perception guided navigation and manipulation, and Chapter 3 addresses human-robot interaction and intelligence. Chapters 1, 2 and 3 consist of 7, 13 and 8 contributions, respectively. For the sake of clarity, Chapter 2 is divided further into two parts with Part 1 for Perception Guided Navigation and Part 2 for Perception Guided Manipulation. Chapter 3 is also divided into two parts with Part 1 for Human- Robot Interaction and Part 2 for Intelligence. For the convenience of readers, a ch- ter summary is introduced as an overview in the beginning of each chapter. The chapter summaries were prepared by Dr. Munsang Kim for Chapter 1, Prof.

An Inspirational Book for Girls Who Love STEM “This book is an inspiration to the next-gen of women innovators all over the world.”— Charlotte Yarkoni, CVP Cloud & AI, Microsoft AZ is a young girl who finds herself in a robot building competition. Can she use girl power to overcome crashes, explosions, and hackers to beat school bully and three-time champ, Dalk? Smart and strong is the new pretty. In this funny, action-packed book about robots for kids, talented AZ fights gender and learns tough lessons on leadership. With the help of her quirky friends, Li and 10, the team builds a feisty robot named Ada. Together, they work hard, solve puzzles, grow in confidence, and learn the importance of friendship and collaboration. All science girls welcome! Written to raise awareness about the challenges faced by women in science and engineering, She’s Building a Robot celebrates voices from diverse socioeconomic and ethnic background. Perfect for bedtime stories or girls who code, She’s Building a Robot gives young women the opportunity to relate to smart characters, promotes girl empowerment, and shows that there’s room in STEM for girls. If you’re looking for young girl gifts, robot books for kids, or stories for children—or enjoyed books like The Fourteenth Goldfish, Women in Science, and Hidden Figures Young Reader’ Edition—then She’s Building a Robot is your next read!

Localization and mapping are the essence of successful navigation in mobile platform technology. Localization is a fundamental task in order to achieve high levels of autonomy in robot navigation and robustness in vehicle positioning. Robot localization and mapping is commonly related to cartography, combining science, technique and computation to build a trajectory map that reality can be modelled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively. This book describes comprehensive introduction, theories and applications related to localization, positioning and map building in mobile robot and autonomous vehicle platforms. It is organized in twenty seven chapters. Each chapter is rich with different degrees of details and approaches, supported by unique and actual resources that make it possible for readers to explore and learn the up to date knowledge in robot navigation technology. Understanding the theory and principles described in this book requires a multidisciplinary background of robotics, nonlinear system, sensor network, network engineering, computer science, physics, etc.

During the last decade, many researchers have dedicated their efforts to constructing revolutionary machines and to providing them with forms of artificial intelligence to perform some of the most hazardous, risky or monotonous tasks historically assigned to human beings. Among those machines, mobile robots are undoubtedly at the cutting edge of current research directions. A rough classification of mobile robots can be considered: on the one hand, mobile robots oriented to human-made indoor environments; on the other hand, mobile robots oriented to unstructured outdoor environments, which could include flying oriented robots, space-oriented robots and underwater robots. The most common motion mechanism for surface mobile robots is the wheel-based mechanism, adapted both to flat surfaces, found in human-made environments, and to rough terrain, found in outdoor environments. However, some researchers have reported successful developments with leg-based mobile robots capable of climbing up stairs, although they require further investigation. The research work presented here focuses on wheel-based mobile robots that navigate in human-made indoor environments. The main problems described throughout this book are: Representation and integration of uncertain geometric information by means of the Symmetries and Perturbations Model (SPmodel). This model combines the use of probability theory to represent the imprecision in the location of a geometric element, and the theory of symmetries to represent the partiality due to characteristics of each type of geometric element. A solution to the first location problem, that is, the computation of an estimation for the mobile robot location when the vehicle is completely lost in the environment. The problem is formulated as a search in an interpretation tree using efficient matching algorithms and geometric constraints to reduce the size of the solution space. The book proposes a new probabilistic framework adapted to the problem of simultaneous localization and map building for mobile robots: the Symmetries and Perturbations Map (SPmap). This framework has been experimentally validated by a complete experiment which profited from ground-truth to accurately validate the precision and the appropriateness of the approach. The book emphasizes the generality of the solutions proposed to the different problems and their independence with respect to the exteroceptive sensors mounted on the mobile robot. Theoretical results are complemented by real experiments, where the use of multisensor-based approaches is highlighted.