🚀 go-pugleaf

fredm@MEDIA-LAB.MEDIA.MIT.EDU sez:

"I have information for building a small robotics controller board
project on line my group's FTP server.  Try anonymous login to
"cher.media.mit.edu" and go to the "pub/miniboard/doc" directory.  In
that directory there will be 5 PostScript files which you can download
and print out."

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gkwan@balboa.eng.uci.edu  sez:

"I have a couple of decent books by Mark J. Robillard: _Microprocessor
Based Robotics_, Howard Sams & Co., 1983 _Advanced Robot Systems_,
Howard Sams & Co., 1984 They may be slightly outdated, but they have a
lot of good ideas, including vision systems.  He also writes a
robotics column for _Radio Electronics_ (now _Electronics Now_) or
_Popular Electronics_ (I forgot exactly which magazine). He also used
to write for _Robotics Age_ when they were around."

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Several people referred me to the following book:

"The Robot Builder's Bonanza -- 99 inexpensive robotics projects",
by Gordon McComb, TAB books, 1987.

This is an excellent book for beginners like me.  It answers all sorts
of basic questions about hardware (which I know almost nothing about",
like which motors and batteries to choose, where to get parts of
various kinds, all about different kinds of sensors, etc.  

On the other hand, it's very geared toward a "build-it-yourself"
attitude, instead of a "piece-it-together-with-off-the-shelf-parts"
attitude, which I would prefer.  Of course, he doesn't go so far as to
insist that you build your own motors and batteries, but still, it's a
pretty low-level book.

I checked it out of my local library.  I wouldn't recommend buying it
unless you're very comfortable with the details of building electronic
circuits.

Also, if you're interested in computer control, he tells you how to
control the robot either through a printer port, or by wiring into the
bus directly, but he doesn't say anything about programming.

There's also a useful list of companies and other books, as of 1987.