A Review of Karl Lunt’s Build Your Own Robot
This is a review of Karl Lunt’s book, Build Your Own Robot!
Recently I was able to pick up a copy of Karl Lunt’s Build Your Own Robot from the local library. I had a brief opportunity before that to take a look at the book. I could kick myself for not buying it 20% off! Thankfully we went camping while I had the book. Most of my time was spend devouring its 568 pages of true geeky robotics info. I must say that Karl did a wonderful job on his book. Part of the reason for its huge amounts of info and well organized chapters is because the author wrote it over a period of 6 years. Not many authors have that luxery.
Build Your Own Robot is a compilation of Karl’s articles for the Nuts And Volts magazine. It has a rather appealing title, but falls a bit short on fulfiling it. Unfortunately Karl’s books follows the lead of every other robotics book. They all claim to be for ‘newbies’ and too take you from square one to a good understanding of robotics. I still haven’t found one that comes close, including Build Your Own Robot. But, don’t get me wrong. Build Your Own Robot is definitly something you will want on your techie shelf. Its pages are packed full of great info on a number of topics, including the HC11 microprocessor, forth compiler, SBasic, the BOTBoard, DC motor controll, BOTBoard2, stepper motors, the HC12, wheel encoders, dead reconing, sumo, and the 8057.
Projects covered in this book include HC11 Expansion, DC motor control, Gel-Cell chargers, a switching power supply, LEDs, ‘Hercules’, ,marble maze, ‘Tackle-Bot’, Fire-Fighting, decoding a TV remote, RF modems, 8051 developement system, a 68302 modem hack, the ‘Ready-Set-Go’ toy truck, GameBoy hacks, HC11 memory expansion, and hacking a servo. Now, try to find all that info in your favorite robotics book! Karl also details many robots. The list includes ‘Huey’,'Max’,'Back Yard Research Drone’,'Hercules’,A ‘Marble Maze’ ‘bot,’Tackle-Bot’,a mini sumo ‘bot,a Fire-Fighting robot, 6.270 robots, Deep Sea Monteray Bay ARI’s Verana & Tiburon, Tennis ‘bot, Soccer ‘bots, and BEAM robots.
For $34 this book is a great deal. Karl as a good writing style, and each chapter is filled with lots of information on a number of different topics. A few more pictures would be nice, and a bit of confusion with ‘articles’ instead of ‘chapters’, are the only problems I have with this book. Certainly a great addition to any robot junkie’s book shelf.
Buy this book
Recently I was able to pick up a copy of Karl Lunt’s Build Your Own Robot from the local library. I had a brief opportunity before that to take a look at the book. I could kick myself for not buying it 20% off! Thankfully we went camping while I had the book. Most of my time was spend devouring its 568 pages of true geeky robotics info. I must say that Karl did a wonderful job on his book. Part of the reason for its huge amounts of info and well organized chapters is because the author wrote it over a period of 6 years. Not many authors have that luxery.
Build Your Own Robot is a compilation of Karl’s articles for the Nuts And Volts magazine. It has a rather appealing title, but falls a bit short on fulfiling it. Unfortunately Karl’s books follows the lead of every other robotics book. They all claim to be for ‘newbies’ and too take you from square one to a good understanding of robotics. I still haven’t found one that comes close, including Build Your Own Robot. But, don’t get me wrong. Build Your Own Robot is definitly something you will want on your techie shelf. Its pages are packed full of great info on a number of topics, including the HC11 microprocessor, forth compiler, SBasic, the BOTBoard, DC motor controll, BOTBoard2, stepper motors, the HC12, wheel encoders, dead reconing, sumo, and the 8057.
Projects covered in this book include HC11 Expansion, DC motor control, Gel-Cell chargers, a switching power supply, LEDs, ‘Hercules’, ,marble maze, ‘Tackle-Bot’, Fire-Fighting, decoding a TV remote, RF modems, 8051 developement system, a 68302 modem hack, the ‘Ready-Set-Go’ toy truck, GameBoy hacks, HC11 memory expansion, and hacking a servo. Now, try to find all that info in your favorite robotics book! Karl also details many robots. The list includes ‘Huey’,'Max’,'Back Yard Research Drone’,'Hercules’,A ‘Marble Maze’ ‘bot,’Tackle-Bot’,a mini sumo ‘bot,a Fire-Fighting robot, 6.270 robots, Deep Sea Monteray Bay ARI’s Verana & Tiburon, Tennis ‘bot, Soccer ‘bots, and BEAM robots.
For $34 this book is a great deal. Karl as a good writing style, and each chapter is filled with lots of information on a number of different topics. A few more pictures would be nice, and a bit of confusion with ‘articles’ instead of ‘chapters’, are the only problems I have with this book. Certainly a great addition to any robot junkie’s book shelf.
Buy this book
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November 26th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
[...] Karl Lunt wrote for Nuts and Volts (more on this later) for years. Afterwards, he assembled all his articles into this fabulous book, filled with nifty ideas on how to build a robot. This is great for your bookshelf. You can read our review of Build Your Own Robot! here. [...]