Chapter 1: Introduction to Robotics
Throughout this book, we will build a robot and create programs for it that give the robot behaviors that make it appear intelligent and able to make decisions. We will write code to use sensors to observe the robot's surroundings and build real-world examples of advanced topics, including vision, speech recognition, and talking.
You will see how the simple build techniques, when combined with a little bit of code, will result in a machine that feels like some kind of pet. You will also see how to debug it when things go wrong, which they will. You'll find out how to give the robot ways to indicate problems back to you, along with selecting the behavior you would like to demonstrate. We will connect a joypad to it, give it voice control, and finally show you how to plan a further robot build.
Before we start building a robot, it's worth spending a little time on what a robot is. We can explore some types of robots, along with basic principles that distinguish robots from other machines. You'll think a little about where the line between robot and non-robot machines is located, and then perhaps muddy that line a little bit with the somewhat fuzzy truth. We will then look at a number of robots built in the hobbyist and amateur robotics scenes.
In this chapter, we will be covering the following topics:
- What does robot mean?
- Exploring advanced and impressive robots
- Discovering robots in the home
- Exploring robots in industry
- Competitive, educational, and hobby robots