Robotics Demystified Paperback – November 10, 2004

Great book on robots.

I am scheduled to teach a low-level lab on introductory robotics. I chose to use this book as the course textbook because it is what the instructor before me used, so I ordered a copy and read through most of it. I'm stuck using it for this semester but if I were to teach this course again I would look high and low for another book.My two complaints are, #1. In trying to cover absolutely everything it ends up being very thin on anything specific. For example, including chapters on feedback control, electromagnetics and semiconductor physics provides the appearance of heft and technicality to the book but actually provides very little insight and practical application for the average person buying this book off the shelf. The schematics provided in chapter 10 (on capacitance) for a twin-T notch filter and diode-capacitor circuits look technical and interesting but what do they contribute to someone just picking up this book and interested in building a basic robot?And my complaint #2. (which goes hand in hand with complaint #1), is that in trying to discuss complex topics with an "awe shucks, ain't this easy" folksy kind of approach, the author completely mystifies what is happening. For example, the discussion of discrete electron levels includes the insight that if one bangs on an electron with a hammer, this will cause the electron to jump to a higher energy shell. And that electrons can have an energy of "1" or "2" but not "1.25". I know what he's driving at but the exposition is confusing in a number of places. Or invoking Einstein's theory of relativity to explain a screw going into wood doesn't help either.On the other hand I did enjoy the chapters on Simple Machines, Joints and Power Transmission. I suppose the mechanical engineering aspects are easier to pull of than the electrical engineering ideas which can be a little more abstract.But complaints aside, a book with this level of coverage cannot be easy to pull off and it must be easy to find faults with it somewhere. In the final analysis, my perception is that if I knew nothing about robotics and picked this book up, I would find it difficult to see the steps involved in putting together a non-trivial robot based upon the information contained in this book.

When working with the FIRST Robotics crew, one of the hardest things to do is to explain why something isn't working and the robot is "dead" rather than demonstrating how it can be fixed or just fixing it. This means explaining it in a way that makes sense to the student on the crew. Robotics DeMystified explains different issues and troubleshooting in a way that is useful and easy to absorb and run with. This gives the kids a great resource to first try to analyze and correct it themselves, which gives them a really thorough grasp of all the design and software issues involved in the build.And of course, it lives!! See you at the regionals!!!

Mr. Cox writes a very good review and, while I of course enjoy the warm glow of 5-star reviews, his 3-stars make sense in his context. You might even say three stars are generous, if you wanted this book as a hands-on guide to making a full robot right now.In his review he asks the rhetorical question "...including Cam Control and Card Control - who seriously uses this anymore?", and I have a practical answer.Everybody! Cams can be found everywhere!Okay, now a serious answer. I took the title seriously; I wanted to demystify robotics -- so I tried to find basic, fundamental illustrations to show the concepts involved in robotics. Cam control? To illustrate sequential control, a form of programming. Punch cards? As the camel's nose into the tent of information representation, or some such thing.Was this the right approach or not? Only the individual reader can decide; as an author, I take a chance, I shoot my ideas out into the air, and sometimes I hit the target and sometimes I miss.The main problem Mr. Cox seems to have with the text is the lack of complex circuits, examples, robot programming, or any actual complete robots! For these needs there are lots of excellent existing books on the shelves... in fact, any one robotic technology requires a full book to do it justice.I didn't want to write yet another robot or electronics cookbook. Instead, I wrote this -- a book with a different goal and perspective than what I already saw on the market. A book that tries to demystify what it means to be a robot, and to provide a look at the technologies and ideas that go into the making of a robot, with a number of simple examples to illustrate them. A book not targeted so much at the experimenter or builder, but to the curious and to the person who may be getting their very first look at the topic.As for the cover descriptions and marketing blurbs -- alas, an author doesn't have much to say about those, and they often miss the intent of the book.Edwin!

I haven't gotten a chance to read to deep into this book. Almost every book that I've gotten from the demystified brand has been superb. I did really like what I've read so far about automata of the old ages. I think if I the time to read the rest I'd give it 5 stars, so that's what I'm giving it.

Required text for my husband's robotics class. The author desperately needs an editor, and someone to check to see that his writing actually makes sense. Author thinks he is funny, but when a book is needed for a college class, cutesy is not appreciated, especially with grammatical errors and missing information. Too bad

This could be a "for dummies" book its so simple and easy to understand! The author is fun and personalities in his interaction with the reader. People of all ages will enjoy learning the principles of physics and computing as they apply to robotics from this book.

Had to buy this for one of my classes. It is pretty nice to be able to learn how basic robots function and how it all works. Some parts are pretty much like-uh duh. But it's still good.