Book Recommendations?

There are a lot of books out now on robotics (about three dozen last count), many of which have a particular slant, interest, or target audience. What things are you looking for?

-- Gordon Author: Constructing Robot Bases, Robot Builder's Sourcebook, Robot Builder's Bonanza

How about something that discusses the pros and cons of the various microcontrollers? Also a book on sensors would be very helpful.

---The Mad Jesuit BTW, I just checked my books again, and I can't find Robot Builders Bonanza. Guess I was wrong about having that one.

There are a lot of books. Try going to

and perform a book search on "robot sensor". Many, many hits.

As for the pros and cons of microcontrollers? There aren't any books as far as I know of. It really depends on the task to be performed versus the cost versus the performance required as to which MCU would work the best. Another reason is whether a person prefers or is more comfortable with one MCU over another. For example, if a person uses 8051 based MCU's all the time, going with a faster more powerful 8051 based MCU is much better than trying to go with a different MCU, as that person has little or no learning curve to deal with. Cost becomes important in some projects, so sometimes choosing a cheaper slower MCU outweighs the advantages of a better more expensive MCU.

35 of the first 50 hits were either "out of stock" or "out of print"

I'm sure there are lots of MCU's. However, which are the most popular with hobbyists? I've been considering the OOPIC, but don't know enough about any others to make a truly informed decision.

---The Mad Jesuit

Mad Jesuit wrote: : Anybody recommend any good books on robotics?

I recommend starting with concept.

Try "Vehicles, Experiments in Synthetic Psychology" by Valentino Braitenberg. This is an easy to read book that really will help you get the feel for how a robot might perceive its surroundings and work within them.

DLC

: I already have "Robots, Androids and Animatrons" and : the "Robot Builders Bonanza".

: TIA

What sort of books ? What level intro , beginner , intermediate ?

On what ? sensors ? control ?

Any of Gordon McComb or Dennis Clarks books for starters.

Myke Predko books

For sensors

Robot Programming : A Practical Guide to Behavior-Based Robotics by Jones

Might be worth finding a good library university library or similar and have a browse through their robotics books.

For choosing a micro first thing is what are you going to program it in ?

assembly , c , c++, forth , java, basic ? (amoung others)

(assembly is different for each processor family)

Are you looking at short term price or long term ?

Options

8051 pic avr msp430 cypress psoc (Micro + programmable blocks)

then the modified chips

basic stamp javelin stamp oo-pic atom jstamp and others

8051 is the most commonly used micro in the world but isn't the friendliest to start with.

The modified chips (interrupters) are easier for some to start with but much more expensive long term and also limit your options eventually(can take a good few years).

Also what level are you at ? College , highschool ,uni , electronics beginner ?

Alex Gibson