Rating: 
Summary: Great book; Great example~!
Review: Excellent book, I would dare say that this is certainly better than his previous books on Pic. As bculver13 says he focuses mainly on the PIC16F627/84. The only issue that I have with this book is the fact that most example code are in C language instead of Basic. I am impress with the info in the book, its basically everything you can possibly find about Pic on the net. What's better is that he actually EXPLAINS it~!! making my life a whole lot easier...
Rating:
Summary: Great book; Great example~!
Review: Excellent book, I would dare say that this is certainly better than his previous books on Pic. As bculver13 says he focuses mainly on the PIC16F627/84. The only issue that I have with this book is the fact that most example code are in C language instead of Basic. I am impress with the info in the book, its basically everything you can possibly find about Pic on the net. What's better is that he actually EXPLAINS it~!! making my life a whole lot easier...
Rating: 
Summary: Fair, lacks on GOOD ROBOT APPLICATIONS.
Review: Hello, i had this book for quite some time now.
The title is very good, you buy it expeting to have a good sense of what controller programming for robots (the title) should be only to find your self with a lot of unnecessary (in my opinion) "stuff".
In his introduction there is a part named "Prerequisites for this book", let me comment on that because í think it's very important.
"Programming Robot Controllers was written for robot developers with some experience in developing robots. I will not be going into detail explaing basic programming, electronics, or PC operation, but you will have to be familiar with these areas of study".
He's right, his code is written in C, so if you are still to learn Basic or C, you should go elsewhere.
The code provided in his book is somehow simple and very understandable (again, you need to have some programming background).
Chapter 1, chapter 2 and most of chapter 3 are a good reference of what a µicrochip PIC is, what is a compiler, and information regarding the latters subjects.
The end of chapter 3 is a good, quick lesson on how to build an inexpensive programmer "El Chepo" (El barato, this i like since i'm from México).
Chapter 4 is about how the microcontroller works, conneting it to the world.
In this chapter he gives situation-code examples, very simple codes that you can get better explained (on Karl Williams books, or Gordon McComB's master piece) elsewhere.
The one approach of programming that i really like was the one about odometry (chapter 4, page 307-313). Here he explains the problem with turns on robots and how you should compensate for them.
On Chapter 5 the explains and gives examples on how the whole code works together.
The rest can easily be left out of the book (pages 360-456).
The book is good if you are not sure how some taks are done (on Pic's µicros) and my overall "feeling" of is:
You don't get what you might expect; i was thinking i might get some flow diagrams, no flow diagrams. But i did get some information that i use (the odometry lesson).
It maybe good or bad, i can only say that i found better "Programming" on "Build you own combat Robot" by Pete miles, the books by Karl Williams and even from Gordon McComb, they have programs written in basic but you can adopt them to assambler or C, because the code is simple and they provide flow charts.
Well, there it is.
Mario Alberto Camarillo Ramos
Rating: 
Summary: no help at all
Review: I have worked in electronic for 15 yrs, and still couldn't understand what he tried to explain about PIC. but he wrote a lot of books about PIC...
Rating: 
Summary: Robotics...Really?
Review: Much of the book has little to actually do with building a robot. Or even interfacing a controller into a system. Much of the book takes you through using a LCD. Little is done with inputs from sensors or controlling motors. Although it is a good tool to learn C for the PIC. It's not the best for using with robotics.
Rating:
Summary: Great for interfacing sensors
Review: Myke focuses on interfacing sensors to PIC's. His focus lies primarily on the PIC16F627/84. This book has been instrumental in helping me quickly interface my robots sensors, and specially test them quickly. I am a software programmer so it made my life easier. The CD which accompanies it contains the book's code examples, a great interactive interface, PIC tools (compilers, etc.), documentation, and more. I am impressed with Myke's work so far. Thanks Myke.
Rating:
Summary: On my SEcond Copy
Review: The first two books in the "Robot DNA" series are rehashes of well worn subjects but Predko's book is a really good treatment on a subject that hasn't been looked at before in any kind of depth: how the robot controller itself is programmed and interfaced with sensors and motors. After working through the book, you will be able to design code that will work with (and integrate!) light sensors, mechanical whiskers, IR object sensors, RC servos, DC motors and more. Each interface is very well explained and Predko goes into depth into integrating multiple functions together (even going so far as showing how to make some simple robots for testing out ideas). Being a hobbyist, what I really appreciated was how Proedko wrote his examples in common "C" and then provided actual example programs using A FREE C COMPILER instead of a product that could cost hundreds of dollars (or more). The examples are written for a cheap PIC microcontroller and Predko shows how you can get started for just a few bucks. Again, nicely done and somethign different for the series instead of the McCombs, Owings and Clark offerings which just rehashes information that is found in many other books. Ray Blome
Rating:
Summary: On my SEcond Copy
Review: The first two books in the "Robot DNA" series are rehashes of well worn subjects but Predko's book is a really good treatment on a subject that hasn't been looked at before in any kind of depth: how the robot controller itself is programmed and interfaced with sensors and motors. After working through the book, you will be able to design code that will work with (and integrate!) light sensors, mechanical whiskers, IR object sensors, RC servos, DC motors and more. Each interface is very well explained and Predko goes into depth into integrating multiple functions together (even going so far as showing how to make some simple robots for testing out ideas). Being a hobbyist, what I really appreciated was how Proedko wrote his examples in common "C" and then provided actual example programs using A FREE C COMPILER instead of a product that could cost hundreds of dollars (or more). The examples are written for a cheap PIC microcontroller and Predko shows how you can get started for just a few bucks. Again, nicely done and somethign different for the series instead of the McCombs, Owings and Clark offerings which just rehashes information that is found in many other books. Ray Blome
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: This book has been a real help with my PIC based robot project. While I had microcontroller background, I had no experience with PIC's. The books focus is small robots using the PIC16F627 programmed in C. There are no assembly code examples, but the C code is well written and serves as a good model for translation to assembly. I have found that much of the content is scalable to my larger project (and a different PIC processor). There is no substitute for data sheets and app notes for essential knowledge about the PIC family, but this book provides a valuable jump start. I particularly found the discussion of software development tools (for PIC) to be useful. There are lots of useful PIC interface examples in chapter 4 (Microcontroller Connections). I liked the appendices (a little bit of everything) and found few errors in the book - an important feature for me. If I find too many technical errors, I will toss an otherwise useful book (good editing, whoever did it). I also found the author to be helpful in answering questions via email. Thanks, Myke.
Rating:
Summary: Love the projects
Review: this book is very helpful and easy to understand
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