The Robotics Primer (Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Agents series) Paperback – Illustrated, August 17, 2007

This is an excellent book for beginners in the field of robotics and robotic programming. I teach an introductory class in robotic programming and use this book. While there are no sample programs or even much actual code, this book is excellent at presenting complex ideas in a simple way. Those just getting into the field are presented with concepts at a high level, which help place into context their actual programs. For example, when the book covers the topic of behavior based robots it helps my students understand how their simple robot programs (running a Lego robot) fit into the much broader field of robotics. The concepts in this book may be simple to those experienced in the field, but the book successfully casts a lot of complex theory into clearly understandable ideas.On the other end of the spectrum, someone that may already be familiar with the academic literature and research can profit from this book because abstract ideas are presented in a simple manner. This can spark additional ideas because we often become so enmeshed in minutia we fail to step back and look at some of the fundamental ideas upon which our "minutia" are based. This book is a quick read for experts but is still a very good broad survey of the field. The bonus is that the book is not too expensive.Because the field of robotics is changing so fast a book containing specific pieces of technology or code will likely be out of date within a year. I would rather have a book that presents a survey of the fundamental concepts behind the technology and code. That type of book goes out of date much more slowly. Don't let the publication date keep you from purchasing this book.Good book. Get it.

This is a good book for beginners in the field of robotic programming. This book does a good job of explaining complex concepts in a simple way and is a good text to use for an introductory class to robotics.Anyone who is familiar with robotics would not gain much from reading this book. Especially since robotics is such a rapidly changing field of study.

It was in perfect condition. This book is well worth the money. A lot of great information in it.

Excellent price, fast shipping and the book condition is excellent. For sure I do recommend for any student who is willing to buy good quality product and affordable price.

I used this book for an introduction to robotics class that I taught this summer. It was quite helpful. I like the organization.

Feels a little “dusty” if you know what I mean. Not obsolete in the slightest, but certainly could use an updated edition with more modern analogies and examples. The field advances rapidly. But for this price, it’s quite informative and a great place to start.

I enjoyed reading this book but I was looking for a book that more specifically discussed programming robots. The book takes such a general approach to that subject that I can't imagine it could be very useful to anyone.I will give the author some benefit of doubt as I did not perform any of the experiments because you need your own robot, such as an accessorized iRobot Create, in order to perform the experiments and exercises. A robot and controllers can easily set you back $300-$500.The book does not actually get down to the fundamentals of designing and fabricating your own robot although it devotes adequate space to the discussion of the advantages of different sorts of motor drives and sensors.It was disappointing to me that author carefully distinguishes between a physical robot and a computer emulation and devotes almost no time to robot simulations.Most chapters have suggestions for further reading. If you don't need this book for a class, I'd suggest that you borrow a library copy, glance through it, and jot down some of those references and buy them instead.

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