One of the most hands-on and exciting hobbies and extracurricular activities for students interested in STEM is participating in robotics competitions. This book, newly updated to reflect the latest advances in amateur and professional robotics, including the exploding popularity of the Maker movement, gives readers all they need to enter this competitive and dynamic field. More importantly, readers learn the basics of how to build prize-winning robots, and how to find and enter contests, including local, regional, and national ones.

“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!

A broadly accessible introduction to robotics that spans the most basic concepts and the most novel applications; for students, teachers, and hobbyists. The Robotics Primer offers a broadly accessible introduction to robotics for students at pre-university and university levels, robot hobbyists, and anyone interested in this burgeoning field. The text takes the reader from the most basic concepts (including perception and movement) to the most novel and sophisticated applications and topics (humanoids, shape-shifting robots, space robotics), with an emphasis on what it takes to create autonomous intelligent robot behavior. The core concepts of robotics are carried through from fundamental definitions to more complex explanations, all presented in an engaging, conversational style that will appeal to readers of different backgrounds. The Robotics Primer covers such topics as the definition of robotics, the history of robotics (“Where do Robots Come From?”), robot components, locomotion, manipulation, sensors, control, control architectures, representation, behavior (“Making Your Robot Behave”), navigation, group robotics, learning, and the future of robotics (and its ethical implications). To encourage further engagement, experimentation, and course and lesson design, The Robotics Primer is accompanied by a free robot programming exercise workbook that implements many of the ideas on the book on iRobot platforms. The Robotics Primer is unique as a principled, pedagogical treatment of the topic that is accessible to a broad audience; the only prerequisites are curiosity and attention. It can be used effectively in an educational setting or more informally for self-instruction. The Robotics Primer is a springboard for readers of all backgrounds—including students taking robotics as an elective outside the major, graduate students preparing to specialize in robotics, and K-12 teachers who bring robotics into their classrooms.

In Learn Robotics with Raspberry Pi, you'll learn how to build and code your own robot projects with just the Raspberry Pi microcomputer and a few easy-to-get components - no prior experience necessary! Learn Robotics with Raspberry Pi will take you from inexperienced maker to robot builder. You'll start off building a two-wheeled robot powered by a Raspberry Pi minicomputer and then program it using Python, the world's most popular programming language. Gradually, you'll improve your robot by adding increasingly advanced functionality until it can follow lines, avoid obstacles, and even recognize objects of a certain size and color using computer vision. Learn how to: - Control your robot remotely using only a Wii remote - Teach your robot to use sensors to avoid obstacles - Program your robot to follow a line autonomously - Customize your robot with LEDs and speakers to make it light up and play sounds - See what your robot sees with a Pi Camera As you work through the book, you'll learn fundamental electronics skills like how to wire up parts, use resistors and regulators, and determine how much power your robot needs. By the end, you'll have learned the basics of coding in Python and know enough about working with hardware like LEDs, motors, and sensors to expand your creations beyond simple robots.

Personal robots are about as advanced today as personal computers were on the eve of the first IBM PC in the early 1980s. They are still the domain of hobbyists who cobble them together from scratch or from kits, join local clubs to swap code and stage contests, and whose labor of love is setting the stage for a technological revolution. This book will deconstruct the 30 regional winning robot designs from the FIRST Robotics Competition in 2006. The FIRST Robotics Competition (held annually and co-founded by Dean Kamen and Woodie Flowers) is a multinational competition that teams professionals and young people to solve an engineering design problem in an intense and competitive way. In 2005 the competition reached close to 25,000 people on close to 1,000 teams in 30 competitions. Teams came from Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Israel, Mexico, the U.K., and almost every U.S. state. The competitions are high-tech spectator sporting events that have gained a loyal following because of the high caliber work featured. Each team is paired with a mentor from such companies as Apple, Motorola, or NASA (NASA has sponsored 200 teams in 8 years). This book looks at 30 different robot designs all based on the same chassis, and provides in-depth information on the inspiration and the technology that went into building each of them. Each robot is featured in 6-8 pages providing readers with a solid understanding of how the robot was conceived and built. There are sketches, interim drawings, and process shots for each robot.

The Ultimate Tool for MINDSTORMS® ManiacsThe new MINDSTORMS kit has been updated to include a programming brick, USB cable, RJ11-like cables, motors, and sensors. This book updates the robotics information to be compatible with the new set and to show how sound, sight, touch, and distance issues are now dealt with. The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT and its predecessor, the LEGO MINDSTORMS Robotics Invention System (RIS), have been called "the most creative play system ever developed." This book unleashes the full power and potential of the tools, sensors, and components that make up LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT. It also provides a unique insight on newer studless building techniques as well as interfacing with the traditional studded beams. Some of the world's leading LEGO MINDSTORMS inventors share their knowledge and development secrets. You will discover an incredible range of ideas to inspire your next invention. This is the ultimate insider's look at LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT system and is the perfect book whether you build world-class competitive robots or just like to mess around for the fun of it.Featuring an introduction by astronaut Dan Barry and written by Dave Astolfo, Invited Member of the MINDSTORMS Developer Program and MINDSTORMS Community Partners (MCP) groups, and Mario and Guilio Ferrari, authors of the bestselling Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms, this book covers:Understanding LEGO GeometryPlaying with GearsControlling MotorsReading SensorsWhat's New with the NXT?Building StrategiesProgramming the NXTPlaying Sounds and MusicBecoming MobileGetting Pumped: PneumaticsFinding and Grabbing ObjectsDoing the MathKnowing Where You AreClassic ProjectsBuilding Robots That WalkRobotic AnimalsSolving a MazeDrawing and WritingRacing Against TimeHand-to-Hand CombatSearching for Precision - Complete coverage of the new Mindstorms NXT kit - Brought to you by the DaVinci's of LEGO - Updated edition of a bestseller

The interdisciplinary field of robotics offers its practitioners many practical applications and makes it an exciting, dynamic, and cutting-edge pursuit, especially for young people embarking on their careers. This updated volume discusses the latest advances readers will need to be aware of in preparation for the professional positions of computer scientist, robotics engineer, and robotics technician. Readers will get detailed information and tips on what courses to take now and the ongoing advances in robotics that will determine their future study, internships, and more, including snapshots of luminaries in the field.