Product Description

From the publishers of BattleBots: The Official Guide comes this do-it-yourself guide to BEAM (Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics, Mechanics) robots. They're cheap, simple, and can be built by beginners in just a few hours, with help from this expert guide complete with full-color photos. Get ready for some dumpster-diving!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64379 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

From the Back Cover

Create a cool robot from scratch--in just a few hours!

Ever wonder what to do with those discarded items in your junk drawer? Now you can use electronic parts from old Walkmans, spare remote controls, even paper clips to build your very own autonomous robots and gizmos. Get step-by-step instructions from the Junkbot masters for creating simple and fun self-guiding robots safely and easily using common and not-so-common objects from around the house--or within a quick shopping trip away. Using BEAM technology, ordinary tools, salvaged electronic bits, and the occasional dead toy, you'll be able to construct a solar-powered obstacle-avoiding device, engineer a mini-sumo-wrestling robot, build a motorized walking robot bug, and much more. So grab your screwdriver, raid that dumpster, and join the robot-building revolution!

• Get an overview of basic electronics, robot construction methods, and learn the difference between "dead bug" and "live bug" electronics
• Identify the essential tools you need for mechanical assembly and gain important safety tips
• Find out why BEAM robotics is a growing alternative to traditional CPU-based robotics
• Learn "dumpster diving" strategies for collecting prime robot construction material that's available no other way
• Use a cell phone battery or solar panel from a calculator to create dual-power sources for your robot
• Understand how to use soldering equipment and various support tools

About the Author
McGraw-Hill authors represent the leading experts in their fields and are dedicated to improving the lives, careers, and interests of readers worldwide

McGraw-Hill authors represent the leading experts in their fields and are dedicated to improving the lives, careers, and interests of readers worldwide

Customer Reviews

High BEAM's
I am just investigating BEAM for some physical computing course work and was pleased by the straighforward nature of the examples and explanations of what it takes to make your own "bugbots".
Tilden is the father of this movement and Dave Hrynkiw injects a friendly warm tone to the writing that makes this easy to peruse.
I built the first bot yesterday and had a really great time with the process. I agree with previous posters that some of this is on the internet, but this book is moderately priced and worth having around.

Beautiful & Simple
As a graphic designer by trade, I dabble in building robots. The BEAM philosophy for building robots is really quite amazing because the focus is on reuse of discarded electronics while striving to make your robots look as asthetically pleasing as possible. The strength of this work is that now everybody may build a robot easily and quickly.

Great book
This book is very well done. The photos are phenomenal, the mechanical diagrams are very consice and exact and the subject matter is explained very well. The only reason I give it a 3-star rating is because all of the material is available on the internet for free - although I do like having the book on my shelf. I don't agree that the simple beam technolgy will stand the test of time because what they call a "nervous network" is actual just a simple analog sequence generator and cannot be programmed to allow the robot to do practical work. If you want to have some control over what your robot is going to do, then you need to get a book that explains the use of microcontrollers. Try a book by Myke Predko. Definitely buy this book though!!