Making Simple Robots: Exploring Cutting-Edge Robotics with Everyday Stuff - Softcover

Ceceri, Kathy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1457183633 ISBN 13: 9781457183638

Publisher: Make Community, LLC, 2015

Synopsis

Making Simple Robots is based on one idea: Anybody can build a robot! That includes kids, school teachers, parents, and non-engineers. If you can knit, sew, or fold a flat piece of paper into a box, you can build a no-tech robotic part. If you can use a hot glue gun, you can learn to solder basic electronics into a low-tech robot that reacts to its environment. And if you can figure out how to use the apps on your smart phone, you can learn enough programming to communicate with a simple robot.

Written in language that non-engineers can understand, Making Simple Robots helps beginners move beyond basic craft skills and materials to the latest products and tools being used by artists and inventors. Find out how to animate folded paper origami, design a versatile robot wheel-leg for 3D printing, or program a rag doll to blink its cyborg eye. Each project includes step-by-step directions as well as clear diagrams and photographs. And every chapter offers suggestions for modifying and expanding the projects, so that you can return to the projects again and again as your skill set grows.

About this title

About the Author

Kathy Ceceri is a writer and teaching artist who loves to share hands-on learning activities for kids and adults, with a special focus on STEM/STEAM. In addition to her books, she was a founding editor of the GeekMom blog and top writer at Wired.com's GeekDad blog, and contributed over a dozen projects to the bestselling Geek Dad series of books. Formerly the Homeschooling Expert for About.com, Kathy is the proud mom of a computer game programmer and a filmmaker. Find her @kathyceceri on Twitter, +kathyceceri on G+, the Amazing Robotics page on Facebook, and at her website CraftsForLearning.com.

Review

"Making Simple Robots" is aimed at those looking to take their experimentation further. It teaches how to solder, how to assemble an electric circuit, how to create objects on a 3D printer and how to program using the popular Arduino microcontroller. This book promises to show readers how to animate folded paper origami, design a robot wheel-leg for 3D printing, and program a rag doll to blink its eyes. --Elizabeth Floyd Mair, Albany Times Union

Kathy Ceceri's latest book, Making Simple Robots, is a grand slam -- the title says it all... I've already found two new projects I'll be including in my week-long summer camp, and I'm closing in on a third. Most of the book's projects are reasonable in price, and all of them are suited for the target age group [9 to adult] in terms of safety and skills needed. -- James Floyd Kelly, GeekDad.com

The mechanics, electronics, and programming elements become fascinating quickly because they become fathomable quickly, and that of course is the great joy of reading this book. At the end of it, everything will feel accessible. -- R.C., Goodreads

The projects are well-organized with overviews and explanations followed by detailed lists of materials, parameters (time, cost, etc.), key skills required, and, thankfully, photos that accompany step-by-step tutorials. My biggest complaint about the book's organization is that Kathy's closing note, "What I Learned Writing this Book," would be better placed in the introduction. If you're a fairly new or tentative maker, read her thoughts first. They'll provide a lot of reassurance. -- Kim Moldofsky, TheMakerMom.com

I loved the book. It showed me a wide variety of robots - many of which I didn't know about and would never have discovered on my own. This book is a great place to begin if you and your child aren't sure where to start with your robotics adventure. Although the book is geared toward teens and young adults, there is no reason an adult couldn't help a younger student with some of the projects. -- ArtisanEducation.com

Edition details

• Publisher: Make Community, LLC
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1457183633
• ISBN 13: 9781457183638
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224