Title: Build Your Own All-Terrain Robot
Authors: Brad Graham and Kathy McGowan
ISBN: 007143741X

I'm planning to build a robot this year - not a cute, cuddly little thing scared to death of the big outdoors, but a serious workaholic. Most books I've picked up about hobby robotics are about little tiny bots that couldn't outrun a flea. This book is different. The type of robots covered in this book weigh hundreds of pounds.

This book focuses on what I would call Remotely Operated Vehicles. The robots detailed in this book are not autonomous.

This book discusses how to find the parts you will need, how to build the frame, remote control systems, video systems, motor controllers, body design and a few other topics. If you already know the basics of handling DC motors with a microcontoller, you probably won't find anything new here. It does talk about H-bridge circuits, pulse-width modulation and shaft encoders, but does not delve too deeply into these topics.

It does, however, throughly cover building the frame and body. Also, two chapters are devoted to video transmission and camera controls. The remote control technology discussed is fairly run-of-the-mill. They do mention using wireless (WiFi) cards, but don't get into any implementation details. I missed this a bit. Hopefully, I'll be able to post a project on the blog soon detailing how I turned a Linksys WRT54GL into a computer to run a robot for a fraction of the cost of using a laptop as described in this book. (TIP: if this is something you want to try and you are comfortable with Linux, check out OpenWRT)

The front and back cover of the book says there are instructions and plans for "2 Video Controlled Robots" which strikes me as an overstatement at best. This book does not contain detailed plans - there are no detailed drawings or CAD files included with the book and there are no step-by-step instructions. The book could be characterized as a story about how the authors built a couple remotely operated vehicles.

I liked the book and I am not interested in selling my copy. It doesn't go into all the details I was looking for, but if they had it would have spoiled the fun of figuring things out for myself. If you are getting started on a robotics project, this book isn't likely to be the only one you will need, but it will make a useful contribution.