Absolute Beginner's Guide to Building Robots

Finally, a robots book for people who don't know the first thing about robotics!Absolute Beginner's Guide to Robots is well-written, inviting, and action-packed, with engaging ideas and fascinating factoids about robots and robot-related arts and sciences. You are led gently into the intimidating world of robotics, but nearly 400 pages later, you emerge with a respectable knowledge of robot history, the major fields and "schools" of robotics today, and the basic skills and resources needed to create hobby robots. By the end of the book, you will be the proud owner of three bots, the first two of which demonstrate key robotic principles. The third is a programmable/expandable robot, which serves as a platform for future experimentation. And best of all, these robots are built with simple to get and inexpensive parts - many of which you already have around the house!

Gareth Branwyn is a well-known technology journalist and self-proclaimed "reluctant geek." He is writer and editor forWired, ID and Esquire magazines, and has written many books on technology topics, including,Mosaic Quick Tour (the first World Wide Web book ever published), Jargon Watch: A Pocket Dictionary for the Jitterati, Jamming the Media: A Citizen's Guide, andThe Happy Mutant Handbook. He also has contributed material to many technology books, including Que'sCatalog of Tomorrow and The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog. He is Editor-in-chief, co-owner, and site designer of Street Tech (www.streettech.com). Gareth also contributed lyrics to Billy Idol's 1993 album Cyberpunk.