Books from Amazon.com


These are some books which can help you expand your knowledge in electronics and robotics. I'm selling these to you through the Amazon Associates program where you get the same LOW Amazon price and I get a couple bucks commission which will go straight towards my tuition (I promise).
All you have to do is choose the book you'd like to purchase, click the "Buy It Now" button and you will be sent to Amazon's web site. Add the book to your shopping cart and check out when your ready.
Thank you very much and sleep well at night knowing you helped out a starving student!




Stiquito : Advanced Experiments With a Simple and Inexpensive Robot
by James M. Conrad, Jonathan W. Mills (Contributor)
Our Price: $45.00

Paperback - 328 pages Bk&Acces edition (December 1997)
Availability: This title is currently on back order. We do not have a reprint date for this title, but we expect to be able to ship it to you within 3-5 weeks. 		Buy It


Descriptions

Chiu's Rating : check check check check check

Readers will learn how to build their own Stiquito from the enclosed kit and customize their design through independent robotics experiments. The Stiquito robot is a small, inexpensive, six-legged robot that is propelled by only nitinol actuator wires. Everyone from the hobbyists to the advanced researcher will be fascinated by this unique invention.

The author, James Conrad (jconrad@acm.org) , January 1, 1998
The book includes a robot kit!
The book consists of three main parts: building instructions for Stiquito and other legged robots; examples of PC and microcontoller circuits to make the robot move; and examples of applications of Stiquito. Please note that to build Stiquito you need hobby building skills (cutting fine metal wire, tying knots in the wire, crimping wire in aluminum tubing). Also note that Stiquito has been built by at least 3000 people between the ages of 10 to, well, near 99!



Mobile Robots : Inspiration to Implementation
by Joseph L. Jones, Anita M. Flynn, Bruce A. Seiger
Our Price: $32.00

Paperback 2 Ed edition (November 1998)
Availability: This title usually ships within 4-6 weeks. Please note that titles occasionally go out of print or publishers run out of stock. We will notify you within 2-3 weeks if we have trouble obtaining this title. 		Buy It


Descriptions

Chiu's Rating : check check check check check

Booknews, Inc. , October 1, 1993
Presents the step-by-step process of constructing two different, inexpensive, and fully functional robots with a varying range of abilities. Along the way, concepts are introduced to allow the reader to later create her or his own robot design. All aspects of design are discussed, including computational hardware, designing and prototyping, sensors, mechanics, motors, power, robot programming, and unsolved problems. Appendices list suppliers, trade magazines, data books, and schematics. Many illustrations and photographs, two pages in color.
Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.


State of the art hobby level robotics. This book is presents an excellent and in depth introduction into hobby level robotics. The circuits and tutorial information is well thought out, practical, and extremely useful to anyone who dabbles in robotics. This book covers a lot of hardware subjects, and gives a great introduction to the subsumption architecture. Highly recommended by most members of the Seattle Robotics Society.



Ramblin' Robots : Building a Breed of Mechanical Beasts
by Ingrid Wickelgren
List Price: $9.95
Our Price: $7.96
You Save: $1.99 (20%)

Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days.
Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback - 144 pages (March 1997)
 Buy It


Descriptions

The author, Ingrid Wickelgren (iwick@worldnet.att.net) , March 7, 1997
Robots run and act like animals in this award-winning book.
Geared toward 7th through 12th graders, Ramblin' Robots is about robotic machines modeled after animals -- from horses to cockroaches. It describes robots that run, do flips in the air, grab soda cans off people's desks, mistake spots of light for pieces of trash, chase people on six legs, and much more. The book also explains the principles of artificial intelligence, animal behavior, neurobiology, and biomechanics that lie behind the creation of these robotic creatures, which may someday lead to agile robots that can survive on their own in the bumpy, unpredictable natural world. The book was recently selected for The New York Public Library's 1997 BOOKS FOR THE TEEN AGE, a list of the best of the previous year's publishing that is sold to school and public libraries around the world. It was also reviewed -- favorably, of course -- in the November 15, 1996 Booklist.


From Booklist , November 15, 1996
Gr. 7^-12. Wickelgren's fascinating and enlightening exploration of the history and development of robots will truly excite readers. From the beginning, the goal of roboticists has been to build sophisticated machines to accomplish complex tasks. The downside of this approach is that these robots can deal with only one set of external conditions. If the environment is changed, the robot will probably fail. But 15 years ago, researchers at MIT decided to create a different kind of robot: a "behavior-based" one with several simple computer brains, each based on an animal reflex, such as "lift leg" or "avoid objects." The result was a robot that combined these basic actions into complex behaviors so that it adapted to its environment much more successfully than its predecessors. "Reflexive robots" have since altered the landscape of robotics: equipped with the most basic animal instincts, they have the potential to reveal, through their reactions to their surroundings, how intelligence evolves. Without oversimplifying, Wickelgren outlines the background and issues of this intriguing area in terms the layperson can understand, using helpful analogies and illustrations to demonstrate difficult concepts. If they can get by the book's dull appearance, YAs will be hooked by the author's clear, enthusiastic approach. A natural resource for research reports, the book will undoubtedly spur some to investigate this fast-developing field more deeply. Black-and-white photos; glossary; endnotes; suggested reading list.
Laura Tillotson Copyright© 1996, American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the school & library binding edition of this title.



Braitenberg's Vehicles : Experiments in Synthetic Psychology
by Valentino Braitenberg
Our Price: $13.50

Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours.
Paperback Reprint edition (March 1986)
Buy It




Descriptions

None yet.



The Robot Builder's Bonanza : 99 Inexpensive Robotics Projects
by Gordon McComb
List Price: $18.95
Our Price: $15.16
You Save: $3.79 (20%)

Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours.
Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback - 326 pages (December 1987)
 Buy It


Descriptions

Chiu's Rating : check check check check check

Excellent book for beginners
This is an excellent book for beginners. It illustrates how to build robots starting from a basic frame, to locomotation, and to sensing. The author describes the multiple ways to make a robot, out of wood or plastic or metal, and provides the pros and cons out of his own experiences. This helps the reader avoid many common mistakes. He also instructs you in what parts to acquire, their ballpark costs, and where you can get them. He delves into basic electronics if you're not familiar with it. He does the same for basic mechanical parts. Overall, reading this book is wonderful because it is like going through a robotic apprenticeship.


A great book for the robotics/electronics enthusiast!
This rare gem of a book covers many important subjects related to robotics; subjects which range from mechanical design of robots, and the equally important electronic aspects. Aspects such as gripper design, locomotion, the senses of touch, hearing, speaking (yes, speaking!) and sight are discussed in considerable detail. Mechanical diagrams and lots of electrical schematics give a complete, practical solution to building the robots, and the subsystems discussed in this book. Futhermore, a lot of useful information is given concerning the electrical parts used in the designs. Finally the last few chapters deal with the fun and interesting area of computer interfacing one's robot - something which allows creation of the "intelligent" robot. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in practical robotics and electronics!



Sensors for Mobile Robots : Theory and Application
by H. R. Everett
Our Price: $68.00

Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days.
Hardcover (June 1995)
 Buy It


Descriptions

Booknews, Inc. , December 1, 1995
Based on the sensible notion that if machines are going to be moving around by themselves, the should have some way of telling where they are and where they are going, compiles information on the many supporting technologies associated with mobile robots for student and practicing developmental engineers. Discusses the principles, requirements, and both prototype and commercially available products for tactile and proximity sensing, triangulation ranging, acoustic and electromagnetic sensors, guidepaths, magnetic compasses, gyroscopes, collision avoidance, and application-specific sensors.
Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.


The publisher, A K Peters, Ltd., service@akpeters.com , March 22, 1998
Compendium of Sensors and Tools for Robot Navigation
This is an unprecedented reference work that compiles into one convenient source everything the student or experienced developmental engineer needs to know about the many supporting technologies associated with the rapidly evolving field of robotics. Presenting the material in a manner which often parallels strategies of robotic development, Everett provides a comprehensive yet easy-to-understand explanation of the theory of sensor operation. An objective review of both prototype and commercially available candidate systems is presented throughout and then followed up with practical lessons learned from actual use on various robotic vehicles. This book is a must-have for everyone in the robotics R&D community, be it in industry, government, or academia.



Minimalist Mobile Robotics : A Colony-Style Architecture for an Artificial Creature
(Perspectives in Artificial Intelligence, Vol 5)
by Jonathan H. Connell
Our Price: $44.00

Hardcover (July 1990)
Availability: This title usually ships within 4-6 weeks. Please note that titles occasionally go out of print or publishers run out of stock. We will notify you within 2-3 weeks if we have trouble obtaining this title. 		Buy It


Descriptions

None yet.



Robots, Androids and Animatrons : 12 Incredible Projects You Can Build
by John Iovine
List Price: $19.95
Our Price: $15.96
You Save: $3.99 (20%)

Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours.
Paperback - 224 pages (December 1997) 		Buy It


Descriptions

Book Description
Starting with the novice level and progressing to medium-level complexity; author John Iovine leads readers through the construction of 12 state-of-the-art robotics projects, which provides the foundations and experience for building advanced robotic projects. After outlining how to modify base platforms for locomotion, the author provides detailed information on various types of robotic sensors, including tilt, bump, and road and wall detectors. He illustrates how to implement two different types of robotic intelligence-expert and neural. The remainder of the book focuses on specific, hands-on projects, including a functional, life-like android hand created with a soft rubber material and nitinol wire; a robotic "insect" controlled with a single-board computer programmed in BASIC; and a land rover robot with telepresence systems.



Behavior-Based Robotics (Intelligent Robots and Autonomous Agents)
by Ronald C. Arkin
Our Price: $50.00

Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours.
Hardcover - 447 pages (June 1998) 		Buy It


Descriptions

The publisher, The MIT Press , October 19, 1998
The definitive book on behavior-based robotics...
BEHAVIOR-BASED ROBOTICS is an introduction to the principles, design, and practice of intelligent behavior-based autonomous robotic systems. As the first true survey of the robotics field, it is appropriate for graduate students new to AI / Robotics.
This is a definitive book on the theory and application of robots based on biological and psychological models of behavior, moving from models of behavior in animals and robots to the use of knowledge and learning in robots, onto colonies of robots and finally to speculation about future trends in robot intelligence.
Instead of abstract simulations the text refers back to real implemented robots with many pictures and hardware descriptions, making it clear that these are actual machines capable of perception, cognition and action in the world. BEHAVIOR-BASED ROBOTICS draws examples from engineering, computer science, cognitive science, biology and ethnology.



Artificial Life : A Report from the Frontier Where Computers Meet Biology
by Steven Levy
List Price: $17.00
Our Price: $13.60
You Save: $3.40 (20%)

Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours.
Paperback - 390 pages Rep edition (August 1993) 		Buy It


Descriptions

The author, Steven Levy (steven@echo.net) , March 13, 1997
The folks who set a foundation for a new kind of life
I had a great time writing Artificial Life, for two reasons. (1) The people I spent time with were (and are) fascinating, and (2) the science they are pursuing is compelling, significant, and more than a little scary. I tried to present the quest for artificially created biological behaviors --and life itself--through these people, folks like Stephen Wolfram and Chris Langton and Danny Hillis and Tom Ray and John Holland and the granddaddy of them all John von Neumann. Juging from the great reaction I still get from readers, my message got across. We're still a long way from getting real life to emerge from computer software, but I think you can understand how it can happen, and how the foundation was set, from reading Artificial Life.


A beautifully simple book on a scary, complex topic
I came to Levy's great book through another great book (search on Great Mambo Chicken) on fringe science. If you have any interest in the sort of programming which will be applied in forthcoming technological epochs, you owe it to yourself to read this primer on the basics of 'modeling complex systems', 'cellular automata', and 'genetic programming'. Easy enough to read with a basic science background, it will nonetheless leave you with hordes of ideas, so you'll find yourself scribbling self-aware code in whatever programming language you know. Moreover, after reading it you'll know how to interpret the very interesting but ofttimes scary-looking data generated by all the GP and CA programs available on the web. Even if you know about these topics, this book is a good place to find everything in one place, and to glean purple prose with which to convince doubters. Look for the topics discussed herein to gain extreme currency in the coming years, with the emergence of robot colonies and, a few decades hence, nanotechnology. Great buy.



The Art of Electronics
by Paul Horowitz, Winfield Hill (Contributor)
Our Price: $64.95

Availability: Usually ships within 2-3 days.
Hardcover - 1125 pages 2nd edition (August 1989) 		Buy It


Descriptions

Chiu's Rating : check check check check check

Booknews, Inc. , December 1, 1989
The first edition (1980) is cited in BCL3. A remarkably successful book (Cambridge reports sales of 125,000 copies of the first edition in eight languages). Emphasizes the methods actually used by circuit designers--a combination of basic laws, rules of thumb and a large bag of tricks. Retains the informality and easy access that characterized the first. Responding to the rapid changes in electronics, they offer many new tables as well as new and revised topics. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.


The best text on Electronic *design* available
This book shows you what to do with your engineering degree. If you encountered it in school, then you already know what I mean. If you didn't, then this book will transform your education from a mass of unrelated facts into a working technical knowledge. Many other fine books exist to teach electronic circuit analysis, but this is should be your first and foremost reference on electronic design.



Use this search engine to look for the book you want.
 Search: Enter keywords...
Amazon.com logo

Have you read one of these books? Or have a book that you think I should add to the list? I'd love to hear from you.
E-mail me at chiumanfu@home.com



Beam Table of Contents


hits as of Jan 21, 1999