Robotic Vehicles Design : A Coding Approach with the New ArduPilot Libraries

This book is your gateway to mastering advanced robotic programming. Covering everything from hardware to software, Robotic Vehicles Design seamlessly connects theory with real-world applications in the development of unmanned vehicles.

The book introduces the latest Ardupilot libraries, complete with detailed, hands-on examples. These include cutting-edge mechatronic projects: a single-motor aeropendulum, dual-motor aeropendulum, a quadcopter embedded in a spherical joint, and a free-quadcopter controlled in both height and orientation. You’ll find four fully guided mechatronic examples, thoroughly covering mechanical, electronic, and control designs, along with complete code. These examples provide a step-by-step guide for users to build their own prototypes and replicate the book’s core programs.

Designed for a wide audience, from high school students to postgraduates, this book is written in an accessible yet comprehensive style. It breaks down complex concepts, walking readers through everything from the simplest details to final implementation. Whether you're just starting out or looking to sharpen your skills, this book is the perfect resource to elevate your robotic programming expertise.

What You'll Learn

• How to use the new Ardupilot libraries

• How to employ them in mobile robots

• How to design mechatronics and aerospace projects from scratch

Who This Book Is For

The book is intended for people interested in programming mobile robots (aerial, underwater or ground vehicles), and the target audience goes from high school students, hobbyists, undergraduate students, postgraduate ones and even researchers. People with basic skills and experience ranging from high schools to professional researchers.

Secondary audiences are mechatronics students and aerospace ones.

Julio Alberto MENDOZA-MENDOZA

Mechatronics Engineer and Computer Sciences PhD, currently a researcher and professor of mechatronics, bionics, telematics, energy and automotive engineerings at UPIITA IPN, and also a member of the national system of researchers of Mexico, He has 2 books published with Apress, one of them has been translated in China and SouthKorea, his interest areas are robotics, mechatronics, automatic control, AI, programming, electronics, haptics, intellectual property and human languages, He won the prize to the Mexican inventor in 2020 granted by the Mexican ministry of economy. He has currently 8 JCR papers with Springer, IEEE and Elsevier. He was a partial time professor at UNAM from 2018-2020. We dediced to write this book in order to give an upgrade to our previous Apress books and in order to be useful for our projects and teaching activities

Orlando GARCIA-PEREZ

holds a Master's and Doctoral degree in Sciences in Autonomous Navigation Systems for Air and Underwater Vehicles from the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute. Currently serving as a professor-researcher at the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo, his research interests encompass autonomous multirotor vehicle control, embedded systems, and optimal control.

His passion lies in mobile robotics, with ongoing projects focusing on autonomous navigation with multirotors for tasks such as monitoring, terrain mapping, and disease identification in crops using computer vision and drones. With a background in Computer Systems Engineering, he likes programming, particularly object-oriented programming for embedded systems like Pixhawk using Ardupilot libraries

Jorge FONSECA-CAMPOS received a B.S. degree in engineering physics from Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, CDMX, in 1997 and an M.S. degree in sciences with a specialty in optical physics from Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, in 2021. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree with the Department of Biotechnology and Bioengineering at CINVESTAV IPN. He has been a Professor with UPIITA-IPN since 2001. His research interests include optics, data acquisition systems, solar energy, electronic instrumentation, data analysis, water quality monitoring, biotechnology, and unmanned aerial vehicles.