Review: The Definitive Guide to Building Java Robots
Posted 5 Apr 2006 at 21:04 UTC by steve 
The Swirling
Brain has been reading Scott Preston's latest
book, The
Definitive
Guide to Building Java Robots. Using Java on a
robot would have seemed crazy just a few years ago but every day we're
reporting on microcontrollers and laptops with faster CPUs and more
memory. You might as well put all that memory and horsepower to use. So
if you like programming in Java, there's really no reason not
to try it out on a robot. Scott's book provides a good introduction to
using Java with sensors, motors and other robot necessities. He also
covers navigation, speech, and vision. Read on for
the full review.
Review by Jim Brown
Help support robots.net by purchasing
this book now from Amazon.com!
Title: The Definitive Guide to Building Java Robots
Author: Scott
Preston
ISBN Number: 1-59059-556-4
Publisher: Apress
Number of Pages: 419
List of Chapters:
Chapter 1 - A Primer
Presents his java/laptop/ssc
paradigm/architecture he'll be using.
Chapter 2 - Serial Communications
Tells how to connect and use pc to robot via serial ports &
bluetooth
Chapter 3 - Motion
Tells how to use servo controllers for servo and wheel control
Chapter 4 - Sensors
Tells how to use compass, switch, and distance sensors
Chapter 5 - Speech
Tells how to use speech output and speech recognition
Chapter 6 - Vision
Tells how to get a camera image and process it
Chapter 7 - Navigation
Tells how to make your robot get about
Chapter 8 - Other Topics
Talks about using Scheduling, Ant, MySQL, Tomcat and Groovy
Chapter 9 - Sample Programs
Puts it all together and explains using diagnostics and such
Appendix A - The Definitive Guide API
Gives descriptions of all the classes created in the book
Appendix B - Microcontroller Reference
Gives brief explanations of some of the controller commands used
Appendix C - Robot Parts Reference
Lists some great URLs
When Steve asked me if I would do a book review, I said OK, but
little did I know that he would pick out such a great book for me
to review! I'm a Java coder myself so a Building Java Robots book
is right up my alley. One of the things I asked him when he passed
the book to me was, "Do I get to keep the book?" He said I
couldn't because after the review it would be donated to the DPRG
library. I'm so upset. Perhaps I can check out the book
indefinitely from the DPRG
library. [Evil grin] Really! The
book is that cool!
The book starts off by explaining the architecture he uses and it's
just what I would want to use for a perfect power robot: A laptop
with serial control boards all controlled by Java. He bagged me
right there! What's cool about Java is that it has all of these
great Libraries and APIs such as video, speech, and more that you
don't have to reinvent. Scott shows how to take great advantage
of all of these. A laptop with control boards is to me like the
Holy Grail of personal robotting. Forget piddling around with
dinky robot boards. A laptop bot is the way to go and all you need
is Java and a few support boards for sensors and motors and stuff.
So while I read this book, his ideal robot paradigm was mine too so
I was really connecting.
The way Scott lays out the book is really good too. He talks a
little bit and then he jumps into some sample code. But, the way
he does it is the way everyone should do it. First, he has a "Code
Objective" which is a quick sentence about what he's about to do,
and then he has a "Code Discussion", which is a paragraph or two
explaining the code, and then he presents the raw code, but always
not too complex. For almost every code section, you'll want to
bookmark the pages because you'll want to steal, er, um, use them
for your own robot. Pretty soon you'll see you'll have practically
the whole book earmarked, as just about every code snippet is very
useful! Oh man, you can use just about all his classes and sample
code for your robot the way it is!
So, you stop and think about what all you want your robot to do,
and low and behold Scott tackles just about everything and lays out
how to do it. You want your robot to control servos via a serial
port, got it. You want your robot to recognize speech and talk,
got it. You want your robot to see and recognize things, got it!
You want you robot to navigate and avoid obstacles, got it! And,
what's so nice, he explains everything in easy to understand
terms and provides sample code that you can use right away. I
mean, I read the Speech section and I feel totally confident that I
can incorporate what he discussed and have my robot talking and
listening in no time flat!
The book reads as though he knows the topics are advanced but he
keeps it simple as if you can do it too. I mean really, you have
to know a lot of advanced things to build a robot but the
way he approaches it, he keeps it simple and you'll believe you can
do it too and they won't seem so daunting! I'd say it's not for
dummies by any means, but if you already have a little bit of
robotic technical wits about you, you'll be on the level.
Of course, there's always some "gotchas." The book is really
geared toward the programming side of robotics and is not for the
novice programmer. If you don't know Java, you'll need to learn
it first or it may be difficult to understand the Java code,
which is a lot of what the book is all about. You'll need to know
about BASIC Stamps and how to code them as he uses them.
You'll need to buy a few things like serial servo controllers and
other robot parts, but you knew that right? You'll need to be
acquainted with all the tools Scott uses such as the Java tools,
Internet protocols, and other tools that he discusses in the book.
Really, though, if you're much of a programmer, you'll likely pick
up on all these topics fairly quickly. Scott kindly lists all the
places on the Internet that you can get the tools and libraries for
free as he talks about them in each chapter so you're never in the
dark. Even more information can be found on Scott's website.
So for me, I'm thinking as soon as I start building my laptop bot,
I want to have this book around for reference. It really seems to
be a definitive guide to have around for a powerful personal robot.
It's a hard cover so you'll know it will last through all your
page turning. He covers all the necessary topics to build a Java
Laptop bot and it would save a lot of time for getting such a robot
up and going. I would highly recommend this book for those wanting
to build a Java Laptop bot! Great job Scott! To me, it's a must
have book for power robot builders.
It sounds like a very good book, not only for robotic applications but
for general control of external circuitry using a PC. I'm considering
buying a copy.
Serial ports are getting rare on laptop computers. Is USB communication
described, or is there a way using Java to use a USB-to-serial converter
to talk to subordinate RS-232 controller boards?
Basic Stamps are mentioned - is this book very Stamp-centric? I've
owned two of them (a BS2 and an older one), and don't care for them.
Great review, Jim!
I tested all the code at my PC and Basic Stamp BOE, before uploading to
the Robot. I used the USB-Serial converter for that and have a picture
of it on page 3.
Have fun reading. Let me know if you have any questions.
- Scott
The book uses the BS2 because Parallax was nice enough to donate a few,
but the core of the book is Java. If you have other microcontrollers,
you should still be able to use about 90% or more of what's in the book.
I also talk about the Lynxmotion SSC-32.
USB - serial, posted 7 Apr 2006 at 14:16 UTC by steve »
(Master)
My Laptop (Dell Inspiron 8600 running Fedora Linux) has no serial ports,
just USB and Firewire. I've been using a USB to serial converter for a
while with my MRM board and it works fine with all the software I've
tried. Seems to be totally transparent to the software on the laptop. I
know some folks who've had similar luck but others who've gone through two
or three brands of USB to serial adapters until they found one that
worked for them.
While I was reading, even though Scott used bs2 in his examples, I
didn't feel like Scott was locking you into bs2 stuff. I think there
was some bs2 code in the book but just for example and nothing at all
complex that couldn't be reworked easily for something else. It seemed
the code for the bs2 code was not the focus but rather the java code pc
side of things was the focus.
USB to Serial for new laptops is a little tricky, but it's getting to be
a pretty common yet easy to deal with problem. One other option that
Scott mentioned in the book was using bluetooth. In the book, he shows
what to do in java and it's just as easy to use as a serial port!!!
Look ma, serial comm with no cables! That's sort of what you want for a
robot anyway, right?... no cables back to the pc? If you're not
familiar with bluetooth serial comm sw & hw, he details how to do it in
the book!
Another thing that was interesting in the book was he mentioned setting
up the robot to act as an internet server. He got a Tomcat servlet
engine going on the robot (he has a laptop robot remember). That way
you could access your robot or make it do stuff from your pc through a
browser! You could get access the web cam pictures on a webpage, etc.
You could connect it to the internet and control your robot from
anywhere. You could be at work and send your robot commands!
While I had the book I noticed that I must have spilled something on the
top right corner of the book or laid it in something! On closer
inspection I noticed that it was actually some kind of art that was
printed on the cover. Whew! It got my wife too! She thought I got
something on the book! Later, even though I knew the book was printed
with that greasy spot looking thing on the top right corner, I'd still
take a second look at it now and then. Scott, tell Apress they spilled
something on the cover artwork! -- Does anyone remember having a
"Chicago" album where the inside record jacket had fingerprints printed
on it. You pulled it out and thought you had gotten the jacket dirty
with your greasy fingerprints? I know, speaking about vinyl records
tells my age. Those were the "good times I remember." Yeah, it must
have happened Saturday in the park, I think it was the 4th of July.
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