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Intermediate Robot Building
For readers of Robot Building for Beginners (Apress, 2002), welcome to the next level! Intermediate Robot Building offers the kind of real-world knowledge that only an experienced robot builder can offer--the kind of knowledge beginners usually have to learn through mistakes. In this book, you'll learn the value of a robot heartbeat and the purpose
of the wavy lines in photocells. You'll find out what electronic part you should sand. You'll discover how a well-placed switch can help a robot avoid obstacles better than a pair of feelers. And you'll avoid mistakes that can cause a capacitor to explode.
Want a robot that can explore rooms, follow lines, or battle opponents in mini-sumo? This book presents step-by-step instructions and circuit and part descriptions so that you can build the robot featured in the book or apply the modules to your own robot designs.
Finally, you'll find the complete schematics for Roundabout, a room explorer that requires no programming and uses only off-the-shelf electronics. With Roundabout, you'll use many of the same techniques used by professional robotics engineers--and you'll experience many of the same challenges and joys they feel when a robot "comes to life."
Tour of Robot's Growth and Fundamental Concepts; Two Types of Homemade Couplers and Common Errors to Avoid; Making a Fixture and Drilling Solid Rods for a Coupler; Finishing the Solid-Rod Coupler; Hub Adaptor.- Electrical Modules: Standards and Setup for Electronic Experiments; Robot Power Supplies, Focusing on Linear Voltage Regulators; Driving Miss Motor, Focusing on a Simple Bipolar H-Bridge; Driving Mister Motor, Focusing on a Mosfet H-Bridge.- Obstacle Sensor: Infrared Modulated Reflector Detector; Tuning the Reflector Detector.- Roundabout: Building Roundabout Mark I: Mindless Room Explorer; Test Drive: Navigating a Room and Avoiding Obstacles; If I Only Had A Brain, The Microcontroller; Building Roundabout Mark II: Unstoppable Room Explorer; Distance Sensors; Building Roundabout Mark III: Smooth Navigator; Cadmium Sulfide Light Sensing; Building Roundabout Mark IV: Light Hunter.- A Robot with a Purpose: The Case Western Egg Hunt; Preparing the Field; Roundabout Pro, a Platform to Grow; Finding the Nests, Beacon Detection, Floor Detection; Passive Egg Capture; Active Egg Capture; Strategies and Tips; Suggestions for Future Growth.
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