Building Your Own Robots. McComb Gordon
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Gordon McComb
Building Your Own Robots
BUILDING YOUR OWN ROBOTS
Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
Copyright © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2016947914
ISBN: 978-1-119-30243-8 (pbk); 978-1-119-30245-2 (ebk); 978-1-119-30244-5 (ebk)
INTRODUCTION GET STARTED WITH ROBOT-BUILDING
WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF ROBOT-BUILDING! When I was a kid I saw a scary movie about robots. But instead of being afraid, it made me want to build my own “mechanical man.”
My very first robot wasn’t a robot at all – it was just a tin can with wires sticking out the top. But it started me on a lifelong journey of building stuff that moved and blinked … some of my robots have even walked and talked.
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Robot building isn’t just one skill, it’s a whole lot of them.
In order to build a robot, you have to learn how to use tools, craft new things out of existing parts or raw materials, apply basic concepts of electricity to motors and switches, plus much more.
Building Your Own Robots helps teach you these and other core concepts, while showing you how to construct four different fun and interesting robots. Each of the four projects in this book is designed to be inexpensive, and they each require no more than two hours of building time. Special tools aren’t needed.
You’ll discover things like:
Everything is designed for kids. None of the building plans require using sharp or dangerous tools. (Still, be sure to read and follow all the safety guidelines provided!)
What this book isn’t about: Sorry, this book won’t teach you how to build your own R2-D2 or C-3PO. Those kinds of robots are far more complicated than what can be explained here.
But when you’re done with this book, and you want to discover more, don’t stop! See “Finding the Stuff to Build Your Robots,” at the back of this book, for a list of resources for continuing your robot-building education.
BASIC TOOLS AND SUPPLIES
Here’s what you need to do the projects in this book:
ABOUT YOU
Any book with projects has to make a few assumptions about the folks who read them. To get the most out of this book, my assumption is that you have: