Yesterday I received a preview copy of Robot Magazine's "premier issue." After having seen it in very rough form during RoboNexus, I have to say that the actual print version is even more impressive. For those of you familiar with RC Driver or Fly RC, Robot Magazine will be from the same publisher, Maplegate Media, and have the same high-quality, thick paper, and rugged construction of the other magazines. Tom Atwood is also the editor of Robot Magazine.

The magazine's purpose is described in the opening comments from the Editor, Tom Atwood. He writes,

Robot magazine's coverage is multi-tiered. We will focus on hobby robots that come ready-to-run and on complete robot kits such as the emerging Robo-One humanoid robots ... We will cover homebuilt robot projects, techno hacks and the latest plug & play accessories and gear.

 
Each issue of the magazine will feature a section on "leading edge robotics news," and "appliance corner" detailing some robotic home productivity solution, "plug & play" product news, along with an "edu bots" section dealing with the latest and greatest in robotics education. The magazine's 93 pages is jam packed with quality articles and hacks, including a review of the Vex Robotics Design System by the MythBuster's team, a review of Wowwee's Robopet, a look at Robo-One walking combat robots, and a how-to article on hacking a tank and a WRT54G wireless router for internet remote control.

One of Atwood's goals for the magazines is accessibility to a wide range of people. For this reason, there is a bare minimum of code or schematics in the magazine, and all supplemental information (code, schematics, videos, pictures, etc.) can be found on their website.

  

Overall, I'm quite impressed. I don't have any complaints and I look forward to getting my next copy in the mail. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait till January of '06 for Issue 2, because, for now, Robot Magazine is a quarterly publication. But, as robotics continues to grow at the huge pace it is now, Robot Magazine will quickly gain the following it needs to be a monthly publication.

 

 

You can find pictures of the magazine here. Robot Magazine's website can be found at http://www.botmag.com. Tell them GoRobotics.net sent you!

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