The LEGO® MINDSTORMS EV3 Laboratory: Build, Program, and Experiment with Five Wicked Cool Robots

I use dozens of mindstorm projects in our High School Robotics tutorials, and this is by far the most advanced, complete and innovative, and by FAR the most clearly illustrated. I tried out the projects at an advanced teach the teachers conference (also using Blankenships fine book: Robot's in the Classroom ), which we buy in quantity, and even MS beginners "got" the pictures immediately. The projects worked great with few glitches, and typical of No Starch, the code and diagrams were well edited and functional right out of the book. The author has a "save you money" attitude, and tries to show processor block techniques that don't require a laptop to execute, but also includes PC interfaces (see page references below) in advanced projects. As you probably know, you DO need the $350 Lego Mindstorms kit to conduct these experiments and build these projects! (For reference it is a great deal on Amazon, it is here: LEGO Mindstorms EV3 31313 ). This is a PROFESSIONAL level robotics kit, but one that even HS kids can enjoy. Most books like this concentrate either on code or mechanics, and few do both well, let alone theory. I mean, even at over 400 pages and with 5 real projects, there is a LOT to cover, especially since this author really likes autonomous designs and working on deep (and custom!) details, like math and software that turn gear activators into transmissions via math (functions/code). Of the other top 3 MS project books, this is the ONLY one that not only covers scripting in detail, as well as gears/servos etc. AND also goes very deeply into logic, math, technical aspects of robotics, etc. Remember, this young author is the one who created an award winning Rubik's cube solver! Some of the predator-prey code is done so elegantly that the military drone types will probably be looking at it-- in advanced work these sims require graduate school level differential equations, yet this inventor does it with minimilist code that High Schoolers and self taught hobbyists get right away! As long as your "prey" has a signature (eg IR), you're good to chase and eat with your voracious T Rex. Part of the value you don't get in any other book is that the writer is a true inventor both mechanically and codewise, and you can see his practical experience on every page of shortcuts, wisdoms and rules of thumb you can use even in the most advanced robotics. A "solver" mind can write 5 lines of Haskell that will solve any Sudoku puzzle, while other more imperative coders take over 40 lines of Java. In robotics, with memory always at a premium even in those that run Linux, authors like this with real world accomplishments don't teach you a bunch of techniques you have to unlearn later, and get you and your students/ kids/ grandkids on the right track from day one, even with the physics, mechanical engineering and math. The "comic book" adds really give you a break from the plentiful "parts" mechanical illustrations and programming action throughout. Takes a high school level mind to get most of it, and undergrad for some of the advanced concepts, but any intelligent layperson can get these done with K-12 "helpers." I don't know about Italy, but shop classes in the US are virtually gone (like sports programs are going!), so Lego Mindstorms is one of the few "STEM" courses that can hide out as math, science and engineering yet still teach numerous practical mechanical techniques, gears, angles, etc. while having real FUN. Highly recommended, at the top of my top 5 list in this subject area, whether you're a hobbyist, teacher, student, or professional robotocist. GREAT adjunct gift with an MS purchase too-- I wouldn't invest in an MS kit without this book! AND if you don't have the $350 to shell out on an MS right now (who does today?), the "wisdom" of the code and projects (although not the specific mechanics, as the numerous illustrations are obviously MS) also work for parallax, robobasic and many other projects that require less investment. Some more advanced libraries are offering MS as a checkout item also, although the last one I got for one of my kids was an earlier version than this text covers, yet still 90% applicable. A few page number references for the above topics (NOTE: this book is literally FILLED with illustrations, so don't worry if the text topics seem complex, the author takes painstaking time to illustrate everything from component builds to screen shots to a complete in-book comic! There also are little "Digging Deeper" boxes that explain advanced concepts. There are FAR more illustrations than there is text, even though the breadth of topics is amazing). PAGES-- Brick connect to PC where needed: 75; Remote control programming: 240; Hunting prey with your T-rex (an infrared target): 376 (includes seek and chase blocks and teaches basic state priorities and transitions); power vs. speed: 297; Pythagorean theorem vs. lego angles: 261; actuator/motor speed regulation: 188; Patrolling a room on two legs with block alone (no pc needed): 131; Using math blocks directly: 95; Keeping distances in any room (wall following w/ IR): 64; Logic operators and De Morgan's laws (of logic): 373. Many more features, and nearly an entire second book is online on half a dozen of the author's and publisher pages, generally in the benedetelli dot com series, enjoy!

First of all a caveat: I do not work for Amazon, LEGO or No Starch Press, and I'm not related to the author. I'm a 63 year old kid who was weaned on Tinker Toys and Erector sets. I enjoy building things, can follow instructions and use a computer, and am innately curious about how the things I build actually work. I bought this book to better understand how the EV3 robots actually work, both mechanically and programatically, and have found it to be extremely useful. Thus far I've built and programmed the first four robots (Chapters 1-14). I had no problem following the monochromatic instructions, although an ebook in full color is now available via No Starch Press. The most interesting part for me is the clear explanation of how the programming blocks work, both singly and in combination. I didn't find the information on programming via the EV3 Brick App to be particularly useful--I suspect that most users will program on their PCs--however, you don't have to know any programming language to replicate and modify the programs which are richly illustrated. And those not interested in programming at all can simply download the programs from the author's website. The entire book is organized with just enough information for everyone--from those interested in making the robots "come alive" to those desiring a deeper understanding so they can create and activate whatever their imaginations can conceive. A bonus: If you get stuck along the way you can email the author for guidance. He's already helped me on two occasions which has both improved my understanding and fueled my enthusiasm. And there's no charge! I recommend this book to everyone, young and old. Almost makes me wish I was back in high school taking a robotics class. Well, almost.......................

This book doubles the fun with Lego EV3 set and you will learn many new things besides. It covers the Lego robotics theory from both construction and programming perspectives. By making the great models you will have more fun with the Lego Mindstorms and you can learn how different real problems can be solved. The models are really inspiring, we build them with my son, holding the breath until its finished, so we can play with it. Ease of explanation is admirable, the author has really huge experiences and the book is sharing them in understandable way. I enjoy the book very much, but after first opening I was really disappointed with the gray scale printing, it is sometimes a small problem to choose the right color of a piece, as we have many other Lego sets mixed together - the result looks a bit different compared to the other users on the web. No big problem, though. I know there are all the programs on the web, but I wanted my son to go through the programming process and make it on our own - and this is impossible in some cases (e.g. the switch cases in Fig.12.10 or 12.11), so we had to surrender and use the downloaded program in some cases. Full-colored eBook would be a better choice for us. In summary, I recommend this book to everybody, it's really valuable piece. I will definitely buy any other book from this author.

What I object to the most is the overuse of exclamation marks on almost every page of text, and at the end of almost every chapter. Writers and publishers simply cannot take ordinary sentences and turn them into something exciting merely by slapping an exclamation mark at the end. It is condescending and insulting to the intelligence of the paid customers to do so. If writing is exciting, it will be demonstrated by the actual words themselves, and not by the cheap trick of merely slapping on a fake exclamation mark. Sadly, this cheap trick is employed by so many authors and publishers today. How about showing some actual respect for the intelligence of your paying customers, who can choose for ourselves whether something is worth reading or not? The information itself in the book is most excellent. I would give it more than 5 stars, if it was possible, I have purchased 8 previous Lego books from No Starch Press, and will continue to do so. But, please, show more respect for your readers, and get rid of the insulting multiple exclamation marks. We are not the stupid idiots that you seem to assume we are. We cannot be tricked into thinking that a sentence is exciting, when it is obviously not (along the lines of, "And now on to the next chapter!"). Have some respect for us, please. The banal, intelligence-insulting, and gratuitously violent "comic strip" throughout the book is also annoying. It adds absolutely nothing to the content or usefulness of the book, and the "story" it tries to convey mostly makes no sense at all. Fortunately, it is easy enough to remove most of those idiotic pages from the book, or at least fold over the others that have actual useful text or diagrams on the other side. Did your in-depth market research really show a strong customer demand for repeated exclamation marks and idiotic violent "comic strips" in your Lego books?

The idea of this book is AWESOME and my kids have read most of it several times. I too have read it several times but unfortunately that was because most of the programming that my kids attempted to follow from the book did not work as expected. started over multiple times and could not reproduce the results. I am very experienced with robotic builds and know my way around a number of microcontroller platforms but something with this book and the EV3 platform is not meshing. I assumed that it was because the book was written with an earlier pre-release version of the software but not sure. Wish there was an easy website with errata but multiple trips to the author's website ended in frustration. The kids still love reading the book and building the models but we are looking elsewhere for EV3 programming instruction.

The author (a modern day Leonardo DaVinci - musician, artist, educator, roboticist) delivers instructive and useful Lego Mindstorms EV3 build, program, and design steps for users at all levels. The book is well illustrated and engaging (featuring a comic book story that ties the instructions together in an exciting narrative). The author takes great care to make the topics approachable, including a focus on EV3's programmability right on the robot "brick" - rather than cooping readers up on their computers right away. Great fun, and a thrilling step into creating your own experiments, programs, and of course robots!

This excellent book makes no assumptions about prior knowledge, so starts at the beginning and takes you thoroughly and in-depth through the EV3 hardware and software in a clear step-by-step manner. My six year old and I already knew the basics and had built and programmed a number of robots. We had fun and learned a lot as we worked through the book. I read some complaints that the illustrations are not in color. Though we are used to color building instructions, we found these just as easy to follow as any others we've encountered. I found the comic book story that is interspersed through the book to be annoying - kind of strange, actually - and contributing nothing, but don't let that stop you. If you feel the same just ignore that part of the book and the rest is great.

I really enjoyed reading the book, which has 5 models to build as well as some challenges to try yourself. I also liked the mixture of comic, building, and programming in the book, which makes it exciting to read. Although I didn't have the required set (31313), and had the 2 education sets (45544 + 45560) and had to manage the missing parts issue by myself. which is also a fun and challenging part to do. What I also liked in the book is the building concepts that are made, like the different combination for connecting gears together to make different movement outputs. All in all, this is a great book to have.

There are a lot of Lego NXT books out there, and I own a few of them. This book is by far the best I have purchased (I read it cover to cover in a single sitting the day I received it), but it will not please everyone. Why? Let me explain. I am not an automatic fan of everything Lego. I don't collect sets, and I don't furiously build everything I stumble upon. I bought the NXT 2.0 kit with the sole purpose of educating my kids, just as I bought real fossil sets, kumon math books, small and not so small microscopes, etc... Call me a sucker for anything that claims, with a reasonable grounding in reality, to be technically and scientifically educational. Sadly, I was probably a bit over-optimistic: a 6 years old boy and a 3 years old girl are not a good audience for a robotic kit. Now that they are a few years older, I decided to try again, with the same goal - entertaining education - and an EV3 kit. It is from that perspective that I will judge this book. The book begins with a good and brief introduction to the EV3 kit pieces and their names. Unlike some of the other NXT 2.0 books I own, this part is not an overly verbose page filler. Mentions of structures and frictions are a hint of things to come. Chapter 2 and 3 introduce the mandatory base platform and the visual block programming. This is probably the weakest part of the book: while they are excellent and have to be there if only for the users who will only buy one book, I can't help thinking it deprives us from a bit more of what follows, which is even better. Chapter 4, 5 and 6 dive deeper into programming and the first application. Interesting experiments are suggested, not randomly but in the framework of a logical pedagogical approach. Chapter 7, "The math behind the magic" floored me, because I didn't expect it. It could have said something like "the robot doesn't perform greatly, but hey, its only Lego and real robots performed better" No, like an invisible hand guiding us through experiments, it quietly introduces the notion of measurement noise. A fundamental notion that touches so many things in our modern science and technology, that our kids could eventually encounter during their secondary studies if they have a good math or science teacher, is presented in a way that a 12 years old boy can understand! And followed up by experiments that lead to immediate practical improvements in the robot's behavior. Chapter 8 is a cookbook of Lego recipes that addresses structural integrity, friction, typical machine parts. It is goal oriented: do you want strength? A lot of friction or none? This is again a place where I have seen other books (and Lego's own instructions) fail: they give you building instructions but don't tell you why the model is being build that way. Here, your get a good primer on common mechanisms and structural issues. After reading it, you won't think in terms of "I put a beam here because the instructions say so" but you'll know the reason why you are doing it "I put a beam here because I want to improve the rigidity of that important piece". Again, fundamental issues of mechanical engineering insidiously pushed into the brains of our kids (and I like that!) The rest of the book follows a regular pattern. Build a robot, experiment a bit, improve, experiment more, think. It touches essential programming concepts (the notion of variable, arrays, logic etc....), fundamental software architecture patterns (state machines!) in a style that is never boring or paternalistic. A bit of math is used here and there but nothing (except maybe the basic use of trigonometry) that a 12 years old couldn't understand. The added bonus, of course, is that kids realize that the math they learn at school is useful in the real world. To summarize: this book marvelously introduces kids to fundamental scientific, engineering and software programming concepts. Its flow and pedagogical approach is so smooth that kids aren't bored and don't even realize they are taught those things (which is a very, very good thing with kids - try to force them study polygons properties by rote because polygons are important). Now, for the caveat: The only audience that could be a bit disappointed is the type of audience that wants to build spectacular robots for the fun of it, or because they find the Lego build process mindlessly relaxing. The robots in the book aren't fancy or truly spectacular. For the adult who wants to build solid robots and learn sound building and design techniques: an excellent book. For my purpose: the almost perfect book. (I find something like Bricx to be ultimately better than the standard visual development environment and its quirks)

This book in the programming side is a little complicated,but once you understand it its very easy. The models are also very nice. Five stars

Meine aktive Lego-Zeit ist nun schon 40 Jahre vorbei und für mich als Informatiker suchte ich einen Einstieg in das EV3 System mit dem Ziel jungen Menschen die Robotik nahe zu bringen. Das Buch ist dafür ein optimaler Leitfaden: Erst werden die einfachen Schritte des Systems mit einem modularen Rad-Roboter vermittelt und dann die Brücke zu Mathematik und Physik geschlagen, ohne auf die Motivation junger Menschen zu verzichten. Mein Favorit der sehr schön konzipierten Roboter ist die Gans. Die muss man als Lego Fan gebaut und beobachtet haben. Ich kann das Buch für jeden (Wieder-) Einsteiger empfehlen! Das Englisch ist gut verständlich und stellt keine Hürde dar!

Amo molto i libri ben fatti, soprattutto se l'obiettivo principale è quello di formare menti fresche ad un mondo così dinamico. Libro ben strutturato che invoglia la lettura già dalle prime pagine e il desiderio di vedere realizzate le creazioni qui proposte. Solo chi ama il proprio lavoro è in grado di trasferire altrettanta passione agli altri. Inoltre il libro è in inglese: mi sono reso conto tardi di quanto sia importante conoscere bene una lingua.Ora anche mio figlio di 9 anni si sta avvicinando a questo libro e pian piano sta imparando la terminologia con me al suo fianco. Un'ottima occasione per stare insieme e condividere passioni. Molto soddisfatto Dario

El autor de este libro es un genio. Um libro muy completo y bien explicado. Incluye temas que son imprescindibles y básicos para empezar, y que además no deben estudiarse por separado: Técnicas básicas de construcción, teoría y práctica con trenes de engranajes y programación. Y por supuesto todo ello puesto en práctica con sus alucinantes propuestas de robots.