A Review of Robot Building For Beginners
This is a review of Robot Building for Beginners, by David Cook.
So, you’re a beginner to amateur robotics and want to learn more. What better title to pick up than Robot Building For Beginners, right? Well, perhaps. It all depends on what you’re expecting to learn. Read on to find out what I mean.
David Cook’s latest (and as far as I know, his only) book, Robot Building For Beginners (RBFB), published by Apress, clocks in at an impressive 546 pages, sans the extensive index. For comparison to other popular robotics titles, Karl Lunt’s Build Your Own Robot! has 568 pages, and I would tell you how many pages Robot Builder’s Bonanza has if I could remember where I put it. But, the point is that RBFB ends up somewhere in the middle (though, the huge margins and largish text helps to fatten it up). The book is divided into 26 chapters plus an appendix. That chapters range in size anywhere from 10 to 30 pages in length. The book is well written, has over 400 images, and holds your attention pretty well … well … as long as you haven’t heard the stuff before.
If this book were to be compared to a pool, it would be about 5×5ft and 25ft deep. It doesn’t cover a whole lot of territory, but the territory it does cover it’s covered quite well - not to the ad nauseam point but it can become a bit redundant.
For instance, one whole chapter (15 pages) is devoted to 9v batteries. Yes … just 9v batteries. They are covered in quite a bit of detail but it seems a bit much. Also, twelve pages about resitors, eighteen about LEDs, and thirteen pages in the "Safety" section. I know liability is an issue with this safety section. But really, your brain doesn’t have to be taxed to figure out these things by itself. Basic stuff like, "wear safety goggles, don’t eat lead based solder, etc." could be condensed into one paragraph, or a simple bullet list. As with a few other chapters. But, don’t take me wrong - all this depth isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s just an issue of what you’re wanting to learn when starting off building robots. Perhaps you want to know this stuff perhaps not.
One thing that I don’t particularly care for about the book is the fact that the entire book is centered around the building of an analog line following robot. The fact that the entire book is about one robot, and an analog one at that, just bothers me. Certainly, this is good for the very beginner, in that they can have a sense of accomplishment after finishing the book, but for some, Gordon McComb’s strategy of providing "stepping stones" instead of spoon-feeding the information, may be more appealing. It’s really up to the reader though.
Another point about the book that I don’t care for is that you have to read through 500 pages of text before you finally come to even a mention of microcontrollers … and then it’s on in very brief passing. Well, actually microcontrollers are mentioned very briefly in the intro, but that is only on a very broad and somewhat theoretical level. No mention of OOPics, Atoms, Basic-Xs, HC11s, AVRs, and only a brief mention of Parallax’s Stamp modules.
Over all, like I said before, Robot Building For Beginners is a well written and easy to understand that will cover the basics of robotics - that’s all. These basics are covered in depth, and even I learned a few things that I didn’t know before. However, if you expect to be programming your own Fire Fighting robot after reading this book, perhaps you’d better look elsewhere. However, if you know nothing about electronics or robotics, and don’t need to get but the basics for the moment, I highly recommend this book. Bottom line: If you’re strapped for cash, buy Robot Builder’s Bonanza, if not, get them both. Even if you’re not quite a beginner any more, Robot Building For Beginners has some interesting ideas and techniques. While it may not totally measure up to it’s title, it’s certainly a worthwhile bookshelf item.
Buy this book
So, you’re a beginner to amateur robotics and want to learn more. What better title to pick up than Robot Building For Beginners, right? Well, perhaps. It all depends on what you’re expecting to learn. Read on to find out what I mean.
David Cook’s latest (and as far as I know, his only) book, Robot Building For Beginners (RBFB), published by Apress, clocks in at an impressive 546 pages, sans the extensive index. For comparison to other popular robotics titles, Karl Lunt’s Build Your Own Robot! has 568 pages, and I would tell you how many pages Robot Builder’s Bonanza has if I could remember where I put it. But, the point is that RBFB ends up somewhere in the middle (though, the huge margins and largish text helps to fatten it up). The book is divided into 26 chapters plus an appendix. That chapters range in size anywhere from 10 to 30 pages in length. The book is well written, has over 400 images, and holds your attention pretty well … well … as long as you haven’t heard the stuff before.
If this book were to be compared to a pool, it would be about 5×5ft and 25ft deep. It doesn’t cover a whole lot of territory, but the territory it does cover it’s covered quite well - not to the ad nauseam point but it can become a bit redundant.
For instance, one whole chapter (15 pages) is devoted to 9v batteries. Yes … just 9v batteries. They are covered in quite a bit of detail but it seems a bit much. Also, twelve pages about resitors, eighteen about LEDs, and thirteen pages in the "Safety" section. I know liability is an issue with this safety section. But really, your brain doesn’t have to be taxed to figure out these things by itself. Basic stuff like, "wear safety goggles, don’t eat lead based solder, etc." could be condensed into one paragraph, or a simple bullet list. As with a few other chapters. But, don’t take me wrong - all this depth isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s just an issue of what you’re wanting to learn when starting off building robots. Perhaps you want to know this stuff perhaps not.
One thing that I don’t particularly care for about the book is the fact that the entire book is centered around the building of an analog line following robot. The fact that the entire book is about one robot, and an analog one at that, just bothers me. Certainly, this is good for the very beginner, in that they can have a sense of accomplishment after finishing the book, but for some, Gordon McComb’s strategy of providing "stepping stones" instead of spoon-feeding the information, may be more appealing. It’s really up to the reader though.
Another point about the book that I don’t care for is that you have to read through 500 pages of text before you finally come to even a mention of microcontrollers … and then it’s on in very brief passing. Well, actually microcontrollers are mentioned very briefly in the intro, but that is only on a very broad and somewhat theoretical level. No mention of OOPics, Atoms, Basic-Xs, HC11s, AVRs, and only a brief mention of Parallax’s Stamp modules.
Over all, like I said before, Robot Building For Beginners is a well written and easy to understand that will cover the basics of robotics - that’s all. These basics are covered in depth, and even I learned a few things that I didn’t know before. However, if you expect to be programming your own Fire Fighting robot after reading this book, perhaps you’d better look elsewhere. However, if you know nothing about electronics or robotics, and don’t need to get but the basics for the moment, I highly recommend this book. Bottom line: If you’re strapped for cash, buy Robot Builder’s Bonanza, if not, get them both. Even if you’re not quite a beginner any more, Robot Building For Beginners has some interesting ideas and techniques. While it may not totally measure up to it’s title, it’s certainly a worthwhile bookshelf item.
Buy this book
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