Page 15 - Designing Autonomous Mobile Robots : Inside the Mindo f an Intellegent Machine

Foreword

This is not a book full of complex equations. Everything you need to know about
math you learned in geometry class. Nor is this a book about how to build a robot.
Instead, this is a book about how to organize a robot design so that building it
follows naturally. Robot design is not so much about inventing as it is about redis-
covering. The concepts are all familiar; they just need to be placed into a snowflake.

The ideas presented here are based on 18 years of robot design experience. There
can be no doubt that others have discovered many of these concepts and given them
different names. As I have said, this is about discovery as much as it is about inven-
tion. Let me apologize in advance if I have failed to give anyone credit here.
Finally, designing an autonomous robot teaches us many priceless lessons, not the
least of which is a deep humility and appreciation of the miracle of the simplest
living creatures. Yet for me, there is nothing that compares to the thrill of turning
your creation loose to fend for itself! Once you have mastered these concepts, you
will be able to approach the design of any complex control system with complete
confidence.

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