PDA Robotics

By Douglas Williams

PDAs and robotics come together in this innovative resource Here is the ONLY BOOK to provide in-depth designs and concepts on how to create a robot that utilizes your PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) as the remote control--or ""brains.""

* Allows any PDA to communicate with and control the robot
* No connectors necessary--works on a wireless link between the PDA and the robot
* Requires only inexpensive, off-the-shelf components
* Modules can be easily customized for individual use
* Covers specialized software, control circuits, and interfaces ideal for creating artificial life forms

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0071417419
• ISBN13: 9780071417419
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Tab Electronics
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Makes ALOT of sense - great help

I was interested in electronics and robotics so I purchased this book. The flow of the book is a little choppy but I must say that the information helped me win high school science fairs and I am now studying electrical engineering at university! The support site is great and the author was very helpful. The well writen software projects I downloaded from the support site helped my dive into the project and allowed me to get a solid understanding of PalmOS, windows CE development, circuit fabrication and PIC programming. The project does required that you purchase a PIC programmer but if you are to pursue a career in robotics it is well worth it! Thank You!

fantastic !

I would like to thank the author for helping me to create an Infrared bridge between an electonic project that I have been working on and my PDA ! I searched the net and the library for this information to no avail. I found all the information useful and will apply some of the design concepts and software in my next project. I must counter the last review by janek243. The book contains no more than perhaps 5% microchip specs ! The specs that are included help explain the components used and tie the project together. The subject was more than just 'touched on', the author has created a great working piece of technology.Looking forward to more of Doug Williams' work.

very helpful

I found this book to be a very valuable reference for interfacing with hand held computers. It covers alot of information from interfacing the motor controllers and IrDA chip to the Micro controller and all the software needed to tie everything together. The last review from JAN SZYMANSKI is incorrect, the book contains no more than 5 to 10% Microschip specifications and those that are included are very helpful in understanding how all the electronics fit together AND I think the subject was more than 'slightly touched on'. It got me going on this subject and I now have a deeper understanding of PalmOS, WIN CE, Microchip programming and the fundamentals of Robotics! Did JAN do more than gloss over the book ? The author does a good job of explaining the circuit, electronics and the software source code included. I contacted the author on the site mentioned in the book as well and he e-mailed me the entire source code projects (they are available on the site for download as well) that compiled and linked without any problems. This saved me months of researching, code crunching and electronic design to get a fairly complicated undertaking working flawlessly.Thanks Again.

Cool book with lots of great ideas!

This has some great ideas in it! I am using the concepts outlined to put an iPAQ onto a Lynxmotion H2Stealth Walker robot kit.The author does a great job showing how to interface a robot to a Palm or iPAQ, using Infrared instead of a serial port, which has lots of advantages (I'm going to use the serial port for a CMU Camera).As a bonus, when I had further questions, I went to the author's web site, and he quickly answered my questions. He was VERY helpful!I highly recommend this book! At under [money amount], it's a steal!

Great book

An interesting, informative and easy to follow project. I like the fact that it touches on micro controllers, PalmOS and Windows operating systems. The electronics were explained in enough detail that I had no problem following the circuit and should be able to create it without difficulty.I'm a PalmOS and Pocket PC enthusiast and found the code snippets for creating the IrDA (infrared) and 802.11b links to be a great resource. I'm going to the site referenced in the book to download the entire software projects...