Practical Arduino Robotics: A hands-on guide to bringing your robotics ideas to life using Arduino

Build your hardware, electronics, and programming skills, and use them to realize your advanced robotics projects with this powerful platform

Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook

Key Features

• Become an expert in selecting sensors, motors, and Arduino boards for any robotics project
• Discover how to write effective and reusable code for your Arduino robotics projects
• Learn to build a camera-based line follower and a self-balancing telepresence robot on your own

Book Description

Every robot needs a “brain,” and the Arduino platform provides an incredibly accessible way to bring your Arduino robot to life. Anyone can easily learn to build and program their own robots with Arduino for hobby and commercial uses, making Arduino-based robots the popular choice for school projects, college courses, and the rapid prototyping of industrial applications!

Practical Arduino Robotics is a comprehensive guide that equips you with the necessary skills and techniques that can be applied to various projects and applications, from automating repetitive tasks in a laboratory to building engaging mobile robots.

Building on basic knowledge of programming and electronics, this book teaches you how to choose the right components, such as Arduino boards, sensors, and motors, and write effective code for your robotics project, including the use of advanced third-party Arduino libraries and interfaces, such as Analog, SPI, I2C, PWM, and UART. You'll also learn different ways to command your robots wirelessly, such as over Wi-Fi. Finally, with basic to advanced project examples, this book illustrates how to build exciting autonomous robots like a self-balancing telepresence robot.

By the end of this book, you'll be able to design and create your own custom robots for a wide variety of applications.

What you will learn

• Understand and use the various interfaces of an Arduino board
• Write the code to communicate with your sensors and motors
• Implement and tune methods for sensor signal processing
• Understand and implement state machines that control your robot
• Implement feedback control to create impressive robot capabilities
• Integrate hardware and software components into a reliable robotic system
• Tune, debug, and improve Arduino-based robots systematically

Who this book is for

If you’re excited about robotics and want to start creating your own robotics projects from the hardware up, this book is for you. Whether you are an experienced software developer who wants to learn how to build physical robots, a hobbyist looking to elevate your Arduino skills to the next level, or a student with the desire to kick-start your DIY robotics journey, you’ll find this book very useful. In order to successfully work with this book, you’ll need basic familiarity with electronics, Arduino boards and the core concepts of computer programming.

Table of Contents

1. Introducing Robotics and the Arduino Ecosystem
2. Making Robots Perceive The World with Sensors
3. Making Your Robot Move and Interact with the World with Actuators
4. Selecting the Right Arduino Board for Your Project
5. Getting Started with Robot Programming
6. Understanding Object-Oriented Programming and Creating Arduino Libraries
7. Testing and Debugging with the Arduino IDE
8. Exploring Mechanical Design and the 3D Printing Toolchain
9. Designing the Power System of Your Robot
10. Working with Displays, LEDs, and Sound
11. Adding Wireless Interfaces to Your Robot
12. Building an Advanced Line-Following Robot Using a Camera

(N.B. Please use the Read Sample option to see further chapters)

Lukas Kaul is a robotics Research Scientist, currently working at the Toyota Research Institute in Silicon Valley, where he develops mobile manipulation technologies to support people in their homes and in their workplace. Throughout his career he has worked on projects as diverse as humanoid robots, aerial robots and mobile manipulation systems. A maker at heart, Lukas has been using Arduino technology extensively for more than a decade in countless side-projects, ranging from mapping systems to self-balancing robots. Lukas is passionate about teaching robotics with Arduino to inspire and empower anyone who wants to enter the exciting field of robotics. He holds a PhD degree from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany.