For those seriously interested in hobby robotics, Mobile Robots is required reading. Its authors follow in the tradition established by the collaboration between MIT and LEGO that began to bring the fruits of robotics research out of the labs and into the hands of the general public. Unlike LEGO Mindstorms, however, Mobile Robots is not aimed at those just starting out in science. This well written book reads something like the Voice of the MIT Media Lab, and the principal robot that it describes, the Rug Warrior, is not a beginning project. However, just about anyone with a basic background in electronics, computer programming and mechanical engineering will benefit from reading, working with and referring to it. The first part of the book does a very good job of describing a tutorial robot in detail. The second part starts with a discussion of the Rug Warrior's microcontroller and related topics. Once past this technical discussion, the book moves on to address a variety of general topics in mobile robotics. The tutorial robot first described is relatively inexpensive and easy to construct, while the Rug Warrior is neither. Most anyone wishing to build Rug Warrior will have to purchase it as a kit, as it employs parts that are difficult to obtain on one's own, and the book itself does not provide adequate information to construct it. However, Mobile Robots contains plenty of good general information that can be applied toward your own designs and projects, whether or not you decide to build a Rug Warrior.

This is a fantastic book for a solid introduction into autonomous mobile robotics. It will guide you step by step in the design and implementation of inexpensive computational, sensor and locomotion systems that anyone with a little technical experience can use.

Instructions on how to interface and program a Motorola 68hc11 microcontroller are provided, as well as infrared sensors, sonar ranging modules, optical motor encoders, and other sensors.

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http://www.eng.ua.edu/~mdowney

This book is presents an excellent and in depth introduction into hobby level robotics. The circuits and tutorial information is well thought out, practical, and extremely useful to anyone who dabbles in robotics. This book covers a lot of hardware subjects, and gives a great introduction to the subsumption architecture. Highly recommended by most members of the Seattle Robotics Society