The LEGO® MINDSTORMS EV3 Discovery Book: A Beginner's Guide to Building and Programming Robots

The best book out there is for learning Mindstorms EV3 programming. Purchased EV3 last year, and based on the included booklet and downloadable instructions (for the 5 out-of-the-box models, of which Laurens' is one - that says a lot about the author), able to build and operate the robot with basic block programming on the brick, or the included demo programs. But if you are to venture out of that comfort zone, that's where Laurens' book comes in handy (and is an essential read in my opinion). They should include his book as part of the kit! Lego messed up my EV3 order last year (they were convinced that their automated assembly line wouldn't have missed since they weigh each piece/packet and there are multiple levels of quality control that it's impossible to mess up the order - though you can find on youtube people posting instances where they got multiple parts of some nice accessories - lucky them), I posted my comment on Amazon, and Laurens happened to notice it, and help get the message through to Lego's QA, and things started moving, and after a month, got the missing pieces. He maintains an awesome site (robotsquare.com) that I scoured to compare between buying an education edition or the retail one, prior to buying my kit. I was aware of the site, but didn't pay much attention to the author until after I had had the issue with my EV3 order, and I ordered this book right after it was released to the public. My kid and I go through the chapters, and are in the process of working through the exercises. So far, everything looks good - and will update this thread once I've gotten a chance to go through it completely.

I just got this book in my hands today and I am so glad I made the purchase. I have an 11 year old son who is STEM oriented and while I find the subject fascinating I have absolutely no experience with robotics. I really felt I was going out on a limb when I purchased the EV3 kit. The plans that come with the kit are impressive, but left me feeling lost. I want my son to understand how the components work together and then challenge him to solve problems and make him work for it a bit. This book is exactly what I was looking for! It starts out at the very beginning - preparing your LEGO set for use (even tips for aligning the stickers), installing the software, etc. Then it moves on to building a simple first robot. And this is where the book goes from useful to fantastic. After presenting a concept there are discoveries (or a series of them) which challenge the reader to use his or her knowledge to create a program to meet a specific goal. An early example is this: "Discovery #4: ROBOSPELLER! Use Move Steering blocks to make a program that enables the EXPLOR3R to drive as if it were drawing the first letter of your name. How many blocks do you need for that letter?" The discoveries get progressively more challenging and are rated for difficulty (based on the presumption that you started with no knowledge and are moving chronologically through the book) and time estimates. Lest anyone mistake this for a simplistic book for beginners, I will include a portion of a later discovery (#132) which claims to be challenging and I can only presume is since it's still entirely Greek to me: "TAMAGOTCHI! Can you turn LAVA R3X into a lifelike robot with different moods and behaviors? Use the infrared remote to command the robot to walk, talk, eat, and sleep. Create Numeric variables to keep track of the robot's health by monitoring its hunger level, energy level, and happiness. Make the energy level decrease with each step the robot takes, and make it increase when you command the robot to sleep..." and so on. I hope to update my review as we work through the book. If you are just getting started with LEGO robotics and are looking for something that walks you through learning while still challenging you, this book looks to be a stellar choice.

I got the EV3 for my 7 year old son as soon as it came out. By accident, we ended up with the educational version. The instructions provided were not clear enough to get us easily up and running. I started buying other EV3 books. They generally assumed that one had done Mindstorms previously. I just did not have time to help my son figure the thing out, and it sat in a box for months. Then this book arrived. We are up and running, and my son is engrossed and so am I. The author gives terrific detail, and has small projects scattered through each chapter to help develop understanding of each of the features. We work through a few pages each evening, and do one or two projects (e.g., program the EV3 to do a figure 8). These projects are perfect. As to the educational version vs the home version..... I splurged and got the expansion set. It turns out that this just has a lot of Technics-type structural pieces. It does not have new motors or sensors. The educational packs has all of the motors and sensors of the home version with two exceptions: the remote control sensor and related beacon. I got those thru the lego site. There may be a few add'l pieces that we'll need in the future to build all of the projects in this book, but we are 1/4 the way thru and haven't found them. I'd also refer you to the book's website, which has a lot of useful information. The author has also kindly responded to specific questions (relating to education vs home versions), and has been quite helpful. So...can't recommend this more enough. I recommend it to all home users as well as school clubs.

My daughter is diving into using her Lego Mindstorms set and I thought this book would help get a general understanding on how to build, program, and operate the robot. I was surprised and impressed by how dense with information it is. Depending on the age of your child, it will likely need a parent to help work through some of the more detailed parts. Her first build was easy to follow, she did most of that part on her own, and was able to do some basic programming, making the robot move, turn, and talk. My one complaint is that it was published in 2014, and since, the Lego EV3 software has evolved. It works in a somewhat similar way, but looks different than the diagrams displayed in the book. I think it's time for an updated version to help avoid confusion for new users.

This is a great book. We have only begun, but it is already fantastic. It is not only information, but it is also a tutorial. The book includes 132 practice modules spread throughout the chapters which allow for an iterative process of learning. Additionally, the book contains 30 design modules that allow you to learn building techniques. My two sons and I (ages 9 and 11) are separately going through the book and practice/design modules with each of us tracking our progress on a tracking sheet. We do the modules individually and then collaborate to see how each of us is accomplishing the task. It's great, but it does still require you to think ahead and be organized. Just by completing a module, you don't necessarily become an expert on that topic. You will find that you will still need to play around with the features to better understand how they work. The first module that will test your understanding of previously introduced capability is Discovery Module #8 which tells you to have your EV3 make a figure 8. I was able to do it with four blocks (in the downloaded EV3 programming software from Lego). Great book for learning how to use your EV3 and for learning how to program.

So close to perfect. The author's writing is excellent, and the building instructions are beautifully illustrated. If you want to learn how to program EV3 robots, this book is truly stellar: the writing is clear, the examples are well thought out, and it comprehensively covers how to use the EV3 programming elements. I also appreciate the explanations about Lego-building techniques; they're very helpful for learning advanced Lego-building techniques. There is one quite significant oversight though: the book only talks about the retail version of the EV3, so there is no discussion about the two sensors that come in the educational version of the EV3: the ultrasonic sensor and the gyro. If you use the EV3 in a classroom setting and/or for First Lego League, those sensors are invaluable, hence my disappointment that they're not covered in the book. Hopefully the author will consider writing an extra section about them and publish on the companion website.

For those of you who want to know about Mindstorms and can understand some programming helps. This is truly written for your Lego Teen fanatic. It is super for those who want to understand this Lego Robot machine and programming better. Love it. It did help the tag along Mom understand this robot but it is very detailed and some of it needs more attention then I could give it at that time. It would be the perfect handbook for any gifted and talented parent and student as well as teacher. It is worth the read. It is worth the purchase.

This is an excellent book.As a long-time professor, this is the book I'd like my name on. The diagrams are very clear and the writing is helpful and informative. I bought the book (and the Mindstorms kit) for my grandsons, but first I wanted to build one of the robots in the book and to do some programming for it in case I needed to help my grandsons with the versions they build. I can see it will be very easy to turn over this book and the Mindstorms components to my grandsons.

El contenido del libro es excelente, te lleva paso a paso para armar un robot.

Elegí esta valoración porque este libró me gusta muchísimo me gusta de el los modelos y los programas son geniales pero lo que no me gusta es que está en inglés y se lo recomendaría a los que le gusta lego como a mí este libró tiene varios modelos algunos grandes y otro pequeño algunos modelos son muy buenos pero completamente todos no porque no tienen suficientes cosas para realizar grandes cosas pero si tienen un buen programa hacen buenas cosas yo a este libró le daría 100 estrellas porque me gusta mucho pero como sólo hay 5 pues le doy 5 ahora depende de como os guste el libro le decís la valoración espero que os guste.

J'ai acheté ce livre pour mes enfants de 7 et 11 ans qui ont monté les robots d'exemple fournis par Lego très vite sans vraiment chercher à comprendre le fonctionnement. Ce livre est tout simplement génial. Les réalisation sont de difficulté croissante et permettent de bien comprendre la programmation et les différents capteurs avec des montages et des exercices très variés. Les robots à monter sont vraiment très sympas (Ah ANTY !). Seul bémol, le livre est en anglais (très bien écris avec un anglais technique très simple)... Du coup, mon fils de 11 ans a du s'en sortir tout seul avec son dictionnaire car il était las d'attendre que je lui traduise. Comme quoi :)

Ok

A good introduction to the EV3