robot newbie

Google?

For example:

I would start with microcontrollers, buy a PIC 16f84 microcontroller from microchip, this is a very simple and yet a very usefull microcontroller, with your math and programmers skills it will be a peace of cake to program it, do google search to make a programmer and an interface for your PIC

succes,

Yannick

Why do you say "but"? Are these things mutually exclusive? ;-)

PeterS Remove my PANTS to reply

I started out with "Building Robot Drive Trains" by Dennis Clark and Michael Owings. Gordon McComb also has some great books like "Robot Builder's Bonanza". I am using an OOPic microcontroller for low-level control. I recommend the OOPic for a hobbyist - it is very useful and easy to program. Dennis Clark wrote a book for programming the OOPic - a must-have since the OOPic documentation sucks. These books are available everywhere, like Borders Books or Amazon.com. I was surprised to see a great selection of other books at Borders.

BRW

I assume you mean robot books... Anyway, IMO, Borders probably has the better selection than Barnes & Noble. Though it varies from store to store, their computer book section is also much larger than B&Ns, with more higher-level and advanced topics.

I also like the idea of thumbing through books, and a "real" bookstore has no match. It also helps to sell books: My Robot Builder's Sourcebook does better in bricks-and-mortar stores, where people can actually leaf through it. Apart from one Luddite (probably a competing robot book author, from the tone of it) who posted a negative review of the book on Amazon, it's one of those books that people like much better when they can actually see it.

Though I like shopping for robot books at Borders, B&N has been very good in supporting the publication of robot books, hosting special end-cap displays from time to time. In fact, it was their suggestion that McGraw-Hill (who published my and Dennis' books) do a robot kit.

-- Gordon Author: Robot Builder's Sourcebook & Robot Builder's Bonanza