Reviews (12)

Great Text!!
As a student in control systems engineering, I found this text to be very valuable (I had the 3rd Edition then).As an engineer, I found it to be my everyday reference.A few years back, I jumped ship from the engineering field and have obtained a PhD in another field of science and to my surprise, I still reference this text today.Great Text!!Dorf and Bishop is not bad but Nise takes first place.

Best Book for understanding the fundamentals of Control Systems
Norman Nise has done a great job with this book.This book is a first hand guide for beginners who have absolutely no knowledge of Control Systems and its purposes. The book with its details of each methodology & its purposes gives an indepth view of the subject. This is excellent tool for beginners (for understanding the fundamentals) and gradually upgrading to a better level by able to design systems. The Skill Assessment Exercises are able to bring out the key techniques to solve any problem. A must buy for all people interested in Control Systems Engineering and looking for a book where fundamentals can be cleared.

Very well written but a bit too "Mickey Mouse"
For an applied math (and physics, to an extent) text, it is surprisingly interesting! The chapters are pretty easy reads but the coverage is thorough. In fact, it's too thorough at times. Nise has a little habit of taking a relatively simple concept and beating it to death. However, this is a good thing if you're a slow learner.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Automatic control    2. Automation    3. Electronics - General    4. Engineering - Mechanical    5. Industrial Technology    6. Robotics    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Systems Engineering    9. Technology    10. Technology & Industrial Arts    11. Automatic control engineering    12. Technology / Electronics / General   

Reviews (83)

Take care of yourself - immortality is near!

Caution, Maestro at Work
Ray Kurzweil is utterly relentless, merciless, and authoritative as he hammers home his vision of the future.He doesn't just make this stuff up, but opens his book with about fifty graphs depicting the exponential trends in current technology.Graphs depict the increase in computer power, its reduction in cost, the nanotechnological patents applied for, the size of chips, and so on. Dr. Kurzweil doesn't so much indicate trends, as prove that they are inevitable.
Theoretical Science Masterpiece
Kurzwell's vision isn't perfect.But part of the point of this book is that no one single person will comprise the evolutionary singularity, it will take every single part of humanity to plug into our world for that to happen.He's doing a relatively noble thing, standing on the edge of reality, and sending out a jolting vision of the future that is one of a kind.There's no need to worship Kurzwell, it's simply that people ought to pay attention to this theoretical science masterpiece and heed it's alarming beautiful call to arms against pessimism and backward oriented thought.Awesome. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biotechnology    2. Brain    3. Evolution    4. Genetics    5. Human Evolution    6. Life Sciences - Biology - General    7. Nanotechnology    8. Philosophy & Social Aspects    9. Science    10. Science/Mathematics    11. Social Aspects    12. Technology And Social Change    13. Technology / Robotics   

Reviews (23)

Good Book
A good book for who wanna learn about Real Time Operative Systems. Easy to read and full of interesting information

It's a good book, but ...
Actually I think that it's a great book only if you have a strong background about how a kernel or RTOS works. I've spent a lot of time reading a theoretical books that teach you what a kernel is about, so for me the reading was easy. The fact that the book includes the source code makes it awesome, 'cause you can see inside a truly real kernel, and eventually write your own (what is I want to do). But if you are an unexperienced user of kernels, or just want to learn something about it, you should start somewhere else. The one a recomend you is that of Andy Tanenbaum, the creator of MINIX (minix is a tiny unix running in an intel 8086 cpu), and this other one that I bought here: Real-Time Concepts for Embedded Systems by Qing Li, Caroline Yao. After you deeply understand what a pipe o scheduler is, among other things, then you should start thinking about coding, because the book has some lack of theory. Anyway I strongly recomend it for experienced users. Have a nice coding =)

Writing style is often confusing
I have a general background in computer science and am trying to learn about embedded systems from this book.My main objection is that the writing needs to be edited to improve clarity.For example on page 61, the author states "Generally, the first message inserted in the queue is the first message extracted from the queue (FIFO).In addition, to extract messages in a FIFO fashion, uC/OS-II allows a task to get messages Last-In-First-Out (LIFO)."The second sentence is ambiguous.Does it mean "In addition to the ability to extract messages in a FIFO fashion, ..." or "In addition, in order to extract messages in a FIFO fashion, ..."?On the next page the author states "Interrupts allow a microprocessor to process events when they occur, which prevents the microprocessor from continuously polling (looking at) an event to see if it has occurred."In this sentence, "prevents the microprocessor from" should be changed to "removes the need for the microprocessor to be".The average reader already knows enough about LIFOs, FIFOs, and interrupts to interpret these sentences correctly, but in many other cases the lack of clarity is a serious impediment to understanding.The book also contains various errors.For example, the path name of a .xls file, given on pages 370 and 403, is incorrect. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books And Software    2. Computers    3. Computers - Operating Systems    4. Microprocessors    5. MuC/OS    6. Programming - General    7. Real-time control    8. Robotics    9. Operating systems & graphical user interfaces (GUIs)    10. Technology / Engineering / Electrical    11. Embedded computer systems   

Reviews (3)

insufficient for all levels
I found this book to be inadequate at all levels. It does not go into sufficient detail for beginners, and neither does it provide rigor for the experienced controls student. Do yourself a favor and buy separate texts for the basics (like Brogan's Modern Control Theory) and for the advanced.

Good Book
Up to this time,there are no 5 stars books in Linear Systems. However,this book is one of the best 4 stars books available for the subject.Through the book, the author sometimes assumes that you know or understandsome topic, formula,...etc. without mentioning it. However,you can do it,but it may take you some time to figure out what it is. If you are goodenough in linear algebra you will have no problems to handle the book up tothe last page. Chapter 2 & 3 are the most important chapters in thebook because they prepare you for the rest of the book. MATLAB is beingused in a nice and helpful way to visualize some concepts and applicationsof the linear control theory. I recommend this book as a textbook for anintroductory linear systems course and also for self teaching purposes.

The Good, the Bad, and the Insufficent
My overall impression with this book is:satisfactory.Though there are a more errors then desired, and a few that are pretty confusing, the majority of the book is accurate and very instructive.I would recommendthis book as a reference for introductory treatment of Linear System Theoryand DI just completed this book in the beginning of March.Having aControls background I found this book both helpful and instructive, yetlacking in sufficient detailed explanation on some tough topics.Chapter2: 'Mathematical Descriptions of Systems' was very helpful with thedetailed definitions and easy examples. Chapter 3: 'Linear Algebra' is achapter that could use expanding.Some of the topics addressed in thissection are speedily discussed and rapidly completed.The first edition ofthis book was chided for it length.This edition must be chided for itbrevity.However, when lack of explanation abounds, examples and homeworkproblems can make up for deficient instruction.Chapters 4 through 6 areeasy to follow and through in their treatment.Chapter 7, however, isanother chapter where too much explanation was removed.The examples arehard to follow in this chapter, and there are a few very confusingmistakes.Chapters 8 and 9 are very well written, though confused attimes.However, they yield a sufficient knowledge of the addressed topics. Read more

Subjects:  1. Advanced    2. Computer Engineering    3. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    4. Linear systems    5. Mathematics    6. Robotics    7. Science/Mathematics    8. System design    9. Systems Analysis    10. Technology & Industrial Arts    11. Applied mathematics    12. Cybernetics & systems theory    13. Engineering & Technology | Electrical & Computer Engineering    14. Systems analysis & design    15. Technology / Engineering / Electrical   

Reviews (30)

Good Book-Keep These Things Mind
This book is great, whether your a beginner or an expert just wanting to go back to your roots. Every part is described and you have websites that you can order them from. It's all very good. But there are just some things to keep in mind. First of all, there's a section on motors where he describes them and what they're used for. I assumed that we needed to buy them, so I bought the 5 pack that he mentions. Now on the next chapter afterwards, it turns out that we dont need those motors, but we need gearhead motors. So to me I was a little bummed because the motors he describes are basically for you to test and have fun with. It wasn't expensive but I was a little misguided and didnt like the shipping expense I made on motors I wasn't even going to apply to the robot. This brings me up to my next point: BUY ALL THE PARTS YOU NEED IN ONE ORDER. I had the idea of slowly ordering my parts as I read the book but the problem is that places like Digi-Key charge you a ridiculous amount for shipping, and when you need only 3 resistors and the shipping is about 10-20 times its cost, it gets a little annoying. So I would suggest just skimming the whole book to see what parts you will need and then getting them all together. This will also save you time as you go through the book since you will have all the parts that you need.
This book is exactly as described in the title.
This book is perfect for a begginer or someone with a little experience. I ordered it because I had some knowldge about electronics but none related to robots. It fills in everybit of knowldge you could want, giving you the tools you need to actually accomplish something. After reading you have everything you need to build the robot in the book or something completely different and more to your liking.

Amazing Find for Teaching Kids Electronics and Robotics
I have bought other robot building books in the past for my teenage son, yet I quickly got lost in each of them. Not sure how much he retained. Then I found this book. It's wonderful!
Read more

Subjects:  1. Artificial Intelligence - General    2. Computer Books: Database    3. Industrial Robotics    4. Robotics    5. Technology    6. Technology & Industrial Arts   

Reviews (5)

From an Industrial Practitioner of Process Measurement & Control
An excellent reference about PID controllers, Process Models, and Tuning Methods.
A survey on a broad topic
This book is a survey on a broad topic of PID control.
Very good and thought through!
I have used this book as a "self study", when I was working in control industry (Kongsberg and ABB) and found it very helpful.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Control Engineering    2. PID controllers    3. Robotics    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Technology & Industrial Arts    6. Technology / Engineering / Industrial    7. Automatic control engineering    8. Engineering - Industrial    9. Industrial quality control    10. Process control    11. Technology   

Reviews (2)

Not bad as a reference
This books deals with all kinds of manipulators. It has a good amount of math but looks not enough and not easy to understand (I did not go into the math details). I think this book would be a good reference in your library where it has a good amount of advanced information about manipulators.

a branch of applied maths
For decades, physics and engineering undergraduates have used texts on classical mechanics that often contained what some students might consider to be abstruse ideas, with little everyday usage. But this book on robotics is a worthy rejoinder. It can be regarded as an advanced text in classical mechanics.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Engineering - Mechanical    2. Industrial Robotics    3. Robotics    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Technology & Industrial Arts    6. Mathematical theory of computation    7. Technology / Engineering / Electrical   

Reviews (8)

Book poorly written 3rd edition
Many of the example problems take short cuts while trying to explain the material through practical problems.When reading the book one is forced to constantly, turn the pages backward for previous references in order to understand the short cuts.The book is in need of some serious editing.Nevertheless, not all engineering books get better with editing.Spotts, machine design, for example in the 6th edition is a Great Book! In the 8th edition, it is useless.This book has the potential to be a good textbook. However, in this form it is just about 3 pounds of paper and cardboard with a fancy cover.Not the worst textbook ever, but it made the list.

Typo ridden clunker...
The textbook attempts to cover basic kinematics, forward and backward chaining through the Euclidean approach to describe DH conventions, torque, and so forth.The first three chapters would lead one to expect an excellent textbook, and then the textbook descends into a nightmare.
review for Introduction to Robotics: Mechanics and Control (2nd Edition)
Item was shipped and in great condition except for a few highlight marks. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    2. Engineering - General    3. Robotics    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Technology    6. Technology & Industrial Arts    7. Applications of Computing    8. Technology / Robotics   

Reviews (8)

Practical advice for a novice
I am a novice robot builder. I appreciate the thoroughness and practical approach of this book. I have understood and implemented several circuit ideas from this excellent book.
Truly excellent!
This book (and it's prequel, Robot Building for Beginners by the same author) is extraordinarily good.It picks up where the previous book (which is the best book in existence for the beginning roboticist, in my opinion) leaves off, getting into details of milling parts, microcontroller circuits, and such.A truly wonderful book.If you read the previous book, and then read this book, you will have an excellent grounding in robotics, and have a very entertaining time doing it.Highly recommended!

A course in analog electronics
Very cool narrative aimed straight at the hardcore tinkerer. For the restless kid inside you, that really digged hands on experience, and who perhaps is left neglected by all this software/web browsing.Read more

Subjects:  1. Artificial Intelligence - General    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computers    4. Robotics    5. Robots    6. Technology & Industrial Arts    7. Computers / Artificial Intelligence   

Reviews (19)

Very good book about a very cool system.
MindStorms is an absolutely fascinating robot building system for children, adults, and those who don't fit well into either category. This book helps you delve more deeply into the principles behind making really cool robots with MindStorms. The opportunities for learning are just never-ending, and at the same time, thelimitless fun anyone can have, from pre-teen to geezer, makes the learning very rewarding. This book helps open this potential.
This is it!
This is the best book on lego building techniques I've seen so far. The basic mathematical foundation is extensive and done without holes or errors, and the ideas, from the mechanical to the lego-technical are well choosen. Something missing in this book? yes, heavy treathment of diagonal matching gear, but it's partly explained why not... the book is so well written that you probably won't feel it like a loss..

Building Robots With Lego Mindstorms : The Ultimate Tool for Mindstorms Maniacs
Great accompaniment for the Lego kit. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Games    2. Design and construction    3. Engineering - Mechanical    4. Games    5. Hardware - Personal Computers - General    6. LEGO toys    7. Microcomputer Programming    8. Popular works    9. Programming    10. Programming Languages - General    11. Robotics    12. Robots    13. Science/Mathematics    14. Technology & Industrial Arts    15. Video & Electronic - General    16. Computers / Computer Engineering    17. Computers/Programming Languages - General    18. Technology / Robotics   

Reviews (3)

Good presentation of both beginning and advanced material
Of the several computer vision textbooks that I haved owned and read, this book provides the best combination of introductory techniques with more advanced material in a very readable style.
Best Intro. Text I've Used
This text is excellent as the basis for an introduction to CV, it treats a wide variety of topics in a clear and accessible manner. I particularly appreciated the books coverage of topics which aren't traditionally considered to be CV topics (like classification and some material on probabilistic inference). Highly recommended.

Excellent introduction guide
The book presents a nice complement to Image Processing, Analysis and Machine Vision (Image Processing, Analysis, and Machine Vision, 2nd ed., M. Sonka, V. Hlavac, and R. Boyle, 1998, IPAMV). As the difference in names implies, Computer Vision is not appropriate as an image processing textbook. It contains sufficient information on image processing to implement computer vision algorithms, but the focus of the book is on image analysis and high-level vision. The result is that the combination of IPAMV and Computer Vision cover the spectrum from intensive image processing and manipulation to high level analysis, object recognition and content-based image retrieval.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Graphics - General    2. Computer Vision    3. Computers - General Information    4. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    5. Reference    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Signal Processing (Communication Engineering)    8. Technology    9. Technology / Robotics   

Reviews (1)

Isidori's Magnum Opus
This is simply the best book written on nonlinear control theory.The contents form the basis for feedback linearization techniques, nonlinear observers, sliding mode control, understanding relative degree, nonminimum phase systems, exact linearization, and a host of other topics.A careful reading of this book will provide vast rewards.A fantastic book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Applied    2. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    3. Feedback control systems    4. Geometry, Differential    5. Nonlinear control theory    6. Robotics    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Technology    9. Technology & Industrial Arts    10. Aerospace Engineering    11. Automatic control engineering    12. Chaos theory    13. Control    14. Control Theory    15. Dynamical Systems    16. Electrical Engineering    17. Mathematics for scientists & engineers    18. Nonlinear Control    19. Nonlinear Systems    20. State Feedback    21. Systems analysis & design    22. Technology / Engineering / Electrical   

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Industrial Robotics    4. Programming Languages - Java    5. Robotics    6. Technology & Industrial Arts    7. Technology / Robotics   

Reviews (16)

Computer vision
I think this book is the most complete computer vision arguments. In fact it start to speaks from radiometry to steriovision passing by filter uses!!
A good up-to-date reference. Not for self teaching.
First of all, I got a 2003 reprint, and somehow, every single fraction bar (the division sign) is missing in the math expressions for the entire book! Very annoying. I had expected more from Prentice Hall.
Not a good book to begin with
The book fails to explain simple concepts in a clear way. Trying other literature such as 'Shapiro and Stockman's' book is enough to convince yourself that the same concepts can be explained clearly without losing insight. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Artificial Intelligence - General    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Vision    4. Computers    5. Computers - Other Applications    6. Problems, exercises, etc    7. Technology / Robotics   

Reviews (3)

great for agricultural machinery application
This is the best parallel mechanisms reference book I've seen thus far.

phenomenal content
an exciting book having phenomenal contents

A must see by Mech E grad students and advanced undergrads.
A very readable, and by far, the most detailed and modern account of the mechanics of both serial and parallel systems. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Automation    2. Engineering - Mechanical    3. Industrial Robotics    4. Manipulators (Mechanism)    5. Robotics    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Technology    8. Technology & Industrial Arts    9. Technology / Engineering / Mechanical    10. Technology / Robotics    11. Technology-Engineering - Mechanical   

Reviews (8)

great book, great support
I've had this book for a couple of weeks and already had some questions. I went on the Atomic Zombie support spy gadgets forum and found the answers to my questions right away. It's nice to know that the authors do provide support and answer your questions in a day or so. There are some others on the forum that also help. It's a great community so if you buy this book make sure you also join the forum. There's a great section on where to find parts used in the projects. What more could a person ask for!? A great book and great support right from the authors. I'm very impressed.

Great book!
Love it. Must have. Not much else to say.
It's about time!
This kind of Evil Genius book is long overdue. I like the series for the variety of projects, but honestly most are expensive, complicated and forget finding all the parts you need unless you work at a research centre or university. This book is refreshingly different from the rest of the series.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Design and construction    2. Electronic apparatus and appliances    3. Electronic security systems    4. Electronic surveillance    5. Electronics - General    6. Equipment and supplies    7. Juvenile literature    8. Robotics    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Technology    11. Technology & Industrial Arts    12. Electronics & Communications Engineering    13. Security & fire alarm systems    14. Technology / Robotics   

Subjects:  1. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    2. Kalman filtering    3. Mathematical optimization    4. Nonlinear systems    5. Robotics    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Technology    8. Technology & Industrial Arts    9. Electronics & Communications Engineering    10. Probability & statistics    11. Technology / Engineering / Electrical   

Reviews (1)

Just About Everything You Need to Know
This is the big book on robots. In its third edition, it is more than seven hundred pages of information. This information basically includes virtually everything there is to know about modern robotics from converting a toy into a working robot to fairly fancy electronics that handle functions like speech (systhesis and recognition) eyes, collision detection and avoidance through the computer programming that will be required to tie everything together and make it work.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Robotics    2. Science/Mathematics    3. Technology    4. Technology & Industrial Arts    5. Technology / Robotics   

Reviews (6)

Good for Kids, maybe. For adult hobbyists it comes up short.
I should start off by saying that I'm not a kid, nor did I buy this and give it to a kid. I am 22 and I'm working on a completely hand-built robot. Since nobody else has written a review from this perspective - the adult hobbyist - I thought I would
awsome soooooo cool
this was an awsome robot i got it two weeks ago and im 13this robot has a cool way to be able to be progrmaed i already tried life simulation and many othersthis is the best robot with the most features its unbelievable i recommened it for beginners and those who love robotics it will be the envey of your block
great bot!!!!
This is a great bot.I recommend it for everyone.Easy to put together and lots of fun. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Engineering - Mechanical    2. Industrial Robotics    3. Programmable Controllers    4. Robotics    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Technology    7. Technology & Industrial Arts    8. Computers / Programming / General   

Reviews (4)

From an Industrial Practitioner of Industrial Process Control
This book is an excellent option for students taking their first course in Control systems. The topics are covered in a clear way, with many examples, and illustrations.
Modern Control Systems
So far this book has done a good job of explaining some of the key concepts used to design contol systems.The book was obtained in apporximately the condition that was stated by the seller.It did however have scratches on the front cover.Overall it was a good purchase.
Its a good text but not a "Nise" text
This is a very good text and I would recommend it to students BUT if the Nise text is available then it is a better choice in my opinion.This text however is a very close second.I have both texts and have them as references in work quite often. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Control Systems    2. Control Theory    3. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    4. Feedback control systems    5. Robotics    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Technology    8. Technology & Industrial Arts    9. Automatic control engineering    10. Technology / Engineering / Electrical