- Paperback: 262 pages
- Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (8 Oct 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1565926927
- ISBN-13: 978-1565926929
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 17.6 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
545,578 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #36 in Books > Science & Nature > Popular Science > Artificial Intelligence
- See Complete Table of Contents
| ||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Lego may just be another toy to many people but the release of the MINDSTORMS Robotics Invention System revealed another side to the company. Working with MIT, Lego has developed a tool for teaching people about the basics of programming and robotics and it's also a cool toy for the technically inclined. There's a lot of material on the CD-ROM that comes with MINDSTRORMS but you'll quickly find that you want to do a lot more than Lego suggests. Jonathan Knudsen has written a book that does just that--showing you what to do next.
The Unofficial Guide to Lego MINDSTORMS is divided into three sections. The first shows you how to use the programming tools that come with MINDSTORMS to develop your own robots. It's not just code: Knudsen shows you tricks of robot construction he learnt while researching the book. The MINDSTORMS programming environment isn't enough for building more complex robots, however, and Knudsen introduces three third-party languages and toolkits that help create more complex actions. These are NQC (Not Quite C), pbFORTH and legOS. You also learn about using Lego's own MINDSTORMS SDK with Visual Basic and how this can be used to control a MINDSTORMS robot directly. You don't even need to be a Windows user to get the most out of this book as the legOS system is designed for Linux and other Unix users.
This is an excellent book for the hobbyist (and the serious robotics researcher) who wants to get more out of a MINDSTORMS kit. From adding your own hardware to replacing Lego's operating system, you'll find everything you need in here--and if it isn't you're sure to find it on one of the book's comprehensive list of web links.--Simon Bisson
Product Description
The LEGO® MINDSTORMS™ Robotics Invention System (RIS) is a wildly popular kit for building mobile robots. This book contains all the information you need to get the most out of your kit. Based on hands-on robot projects, the book includes descriptions of advanced mechanical techniques, programming with third-party software, building your own sensors, working with more than one kit, and sources of extra parts. This book goes far beyond what you'll find in the official documentation to enable you to build and program whatever you can imagine.
The center of the RIS kit is a small programmable robot brain called the RCX. This book explains the software architecture of the RCX as well as the various options that are available for programming it.
The book includes:
- Hands-on robot projects, with complete building instructions and programs. Different aspects of these projects are used to explore fundmental issues of mobile robot design.
- A chapter on NQC, a popular programming environment for RIS. You'll learn how NQC fits into the RIS software architecture, as well as how to write programs using NQC's C-like syntax. Includes copious examples.
- A chapter on legOS, an alternate operating system for the RCX. legOS provides very low-level access to the resources of the RCX, enabling complex robot programming. This chapter describes legOS's structure and includes useful sample programs.
- A chapter on pbForth, another powerful option for RCX robot programming. The chapter includes sample programs in Forth.
- A chapter about building your own sensors. Making your own sensors is economical and educational. This chapter describes how to build several different sensors that will work with the RIS kit.
The book includes numerous illustrations and code examples. Many URLs are listed to serve as an introduction to the thriving online MINDSTORMS™ community.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sound, but needs updaing for RCX 2.0 firmware!,
By Tim Owen (Cambridge UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Unofficial Guide to Lego Mindstorms (Paperback)
Most of the book is concerned with alternatives to the programming software supplied with the RCX, such as NQC and the PFORTH. Since the firmware supplied by LEGO for the RCX was upgraded to 2.0, the main reason for using these alternatives has vanished. Presumably new versions of these alternatives will appear soon, but until they and this book are revised, its impact and value is somewhat diminished. The basics of how the system operates and how the hardware works is nevertheless sound.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoy playing Lego? Want to program your RCX? Get this book!,
By philip.warn@virgin.net (LONDON,ENGLAND) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Unofficial Guide to Lego Mindstorms (Paperback)
If you are fed up with the dearth of programming information given you by LEGO with their Robotics Invention System, then get this book and download the code from the sites cited (pun intended) and really play LEGO robots! Jon Knudsen really knows his stuff. I found this fascinating reading and would have liked to have seen more pics of robots and more about the coding. However it is a good "I did it my way and so can you" book - I heartily recommend this book
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Unofficial Guide to Lego Mindstorms (Paperback)
Very informative and extremely useful. Brilliant for online resources for people who like robots and lego as well
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Computing & Internet > Computer Science
- Books > Science & Nature > Engineering & Technology > Civil Engineering > Mechanics
- Books > Science & Nature > Engineering & Technology > Electronics & Communications Engineering > Robotics
- Books > Science & Nature > Engineering & Technology > Mechanical & Materials Engineering
- Books > Science & Nature > Popular Science > Artificial Intelligence
- Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
