Book Image

Building Smart LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Robots

By : Kyle Markland
Book Image

Building Smart LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Robots

By: Kyle Markland

Overview of this book

Smart robots are an ever-increasing part of our daily lives. With LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3, you can now prototype your very own small-scale smart robot that uses specialized programming and hardware to complete a mission. EV3 is a robotics platform for enthusiasts of all ages and experience levels that makes prototyping robots accessible to all. This book will walk you through six different projects that range from intermediate to advanced level. The projects will show you building and programming techniques that are used by engineers in the real world, which will help you build your own smart robot. You'll see how to make the most of the EV3 robotics platform and build some awesome smart robots. The book starts by introducing some real-world examples of smart robots. Then, we'll walk you through six different projects and explain the features that allow these robots to make intelligent decisions. The book will guide you as you build your own object-tracking tank, a box-climbing robot, an interactive robotic shark, a quirky bipedal robot, a speedy remote control race car, and a GPS-navigating robot. By the end of this book, you'll have the skills necessary to build and program your own smart robots with EV3.
Table of Contents (9 chapters)

Security Tank – Object-Tracking Robot

It is time to tackle our first project! In this chapter, we will build and program a small EV3 tank that uses infrared sensors to track and target a beacon. You can think of it as a miniature model tank that you can use to keep your room safe from intruders!

The tank demonstrates how smart robots in the real world use infrared technology. We briefly mentioned this technology in the first chapter. Infrared refers to a wavelength of light that is invisible to the human eye. However, robots can incorporate sensors that can detect infrared light. This makes infrared a convenient way to invisibly send messages to a robot or allow a robot to see something that a human cannot see.

The EV3 remote control can serve as a beacon that continuously emits an infrared signal. The tank we will be building in this chapter is equipped with two EV3 infrared...