Recent Technology Books at OPL
Build Your Own Teams of Robots With Lego Mindstorms Nxt and Bluetooth Build Your Own Networked Robots, Cameron Hughes, – 2013
Programmers will like this book, which shows how to use Java libraries in place of the standard NXT toolset, for much improved functionality. The book also discusses communications between robots, so they can cooperate in their tasks. The author previously wrote the book Professional Multicore Programming with Java. 350 pages.
Mobile Robots – Navigation, Control and Remote Sensing, Gerald Cook, Wiley, 2011
Robot system designers will want to read this. It is a textbook for an engineering grad level course. Hardcover, 300 pages.
The LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 Discovery Book A Beginner’s Guide to Building and Programming Robots, Laurens Valk, (- 2010)
If you have a NXT robotics kit, you will want to read this book. It is a guide to building some simple and not-so-simple projects, with full page diagrams. Large format, 300 pages.
Science Fair Season – Twelve Kids, A Robot Named Scorch– and What It Takes to Win, Judy Dutton, 2011
Parents of science minded kids and teachers will want to read this account of robot making for science fairs. Hardcover, 250 pages.
The New Cool – A Visionary Teacher, His FIRST Robotics Team, and the Ultimate Battle of Smarts, Neal Bascomb, 2011
This book about the FIRST robotics competitions for students (the brainchild of Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway), gets an outstanding review by Kamen himself. Hardcover, 300 pages.
Making Things Move – DIY Mechanisms for Inventors, Hobbyists, and Artists, Dustyn Roberts, McGraw-Hill, 2011
This is a good introduction to building a hobby project such as a lazy susan that moves when you wave your hand. It shows how to build a mechanism from common materials such as aluminum and plastic, and how to control it with a single board embedded micro-controller. The Arduino controller is featured. An example is the SADbot. It is the ‘Seasonally Affected Drawing robot’ which was in the window of a New York gallery. It uses solar energy to power a drawing machine which can interact with people. 350 pages.
The Nexi Robot, Toney Allman, Norwood House, 2010
Nexi is a ‘social’ robot in the MIT Lab. This slim book is written for a 10 year old, and is a good introduction to robots. 40 pages, hardcover.
Running Small Motors with PIC Microcontrollers / Harprit Singh Sandhu, McGraw-Hill, 2009.
Here is a practical and readable book on controlling electric motors. Includes schematic diagrams and example Basic source code. 300 pages.
The Lego Mindstorms NXT Zoo! : an unofficial, kid-friendly guide to building robotic animals with Lego Mindstorms NXT / Fay Rhodes, No Starch Press, 2008
Now I really am going to have to buy a NXT. 300 pages, large format, more pictures than text.
Advanced NXT : the Da Vinci inventions book / Matthias Paul Scholz, Apress, 2007
First, a short biography of Leonardo da Vinci! Then plans to build 5 of his inventions using Lego NXT.