The LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Laboratory: Build, Program, and Experiment with Five Wicked Cool Robots Paperback – Illustrated, October 13, 2013

I use dozens of mindstorm projects in our High School Robotics tutorials, and this is by far the most advanced, complete and innovative, and by FAR the most clearly illustrated. I tried out the projects at an advanced teach the teachers conference (also using Blankenships fine book: Robot's in the Classroom), which we buy in quantity, and even MS beginners "got" the pictures immediately.The projects worked great with few glitches, and typical of No Starch, the code and diagrams were well edited and functional right out of the book. The author has a "save you money" attitude, and tries to show processor block techniques that don't require a laptop to execute, but also includes PC interfaces (see page references below) in advanced projects. As you probably know, you DO need the $350 Lego Mindstorms kit to conduct these experiments and build these projects! (For reference it is a great deal on Amazon, it is here: LEGO Mindstorms EV3 31313). This is a PROFESSIONAL level robotics kit, but one that even HS kids can enjoy.Most books like this concentrate either on code or mechanics, and few do both well, let alone theory. I mean, even at over 400 pages and with 5 real projects, there is a LOT to cover, especially since this author really likes autonomous designs and working on deep (and custom!) details, like math and software that turn gear activators into transmissions via math (functions/code). Of the other top 3 MS project books, this is the ONLY one that not only covers scripting in detail, as well as gears/servos etc. AND also goes very deeply into logic, math, technical aspects of robotics, etc.Remember, this young author is the one who created an award winning Rubik's cube solver! Some of the predator-prey code is done so elegantly that the military drone types will probably be looking at it-- in advanced work these sims require graduate school level differential equations, yet this inventor does it with minimilist code that High Schoolers and self taught hobbyists get right away! As long as your "prey" has a signature (eg IR), you're good to chase and eat with your voracious T Rex.Part of the value you don't get in any other book is that the writer is a true inventor both mechanically and codewise, and you can see his practical experience on every page of shortcuts, wisdoms and rules of thumb you can use even in the most advanced robotics. A "solver" mind can write 5 lines of Haskell that will solve any Sudoku puzzle, while other more imperative coders take over 40 lines of Java. In robotics, with memory always at a premium even in those that run Linux, authors like this with real world accomplishments don't teach you a bunch of techniques you have to unlearn later, and get you and your students/ kids/ grandkids on the right track from day one, even with the physics, mechanical engineering and math. The "comic book" adds really give you a break from the plentiful "parts" mechanical illustrations and programming action throughout.Takes a high school level mind to get most of it, and undergrad for some of the advanced concepts, but any intelligent layperson can get these done with K-12 "helpers." I don't know about Italy, but shop classes in the US are virtually gone (like sports programs are going!), so Lego Mindstorms is one of the few "STEM" courses that can hide out as math, science and engineering yet still teach numerous practical mechanical techniques, gears, angles, etc. while having real FUN.Highly recommended, at the top of my top 5 list in this subject area, whether you're a hobbyist, teacher, student, or professional robotocist. GREAT adjunct gift with an MS purchase too-- I wouldn't invest in an MS kit without this book! AND if you don't have the $350 to shell out on an MS right now (who does today?), the "wisdom" of the code and projects (although not the specific mechanics, as the numerous illustrations are obviously MS) also work for parallax, robobasic and many other projects that require less investment. Some more advanced libraries are offering MS as a checkout item also, although the last one I got for one of my kids was an earlier version than this text covers, yet still 90% applicable.A few page number references for the above topics (NOTE: this book is literally FILLED with illustrations, so don't worry if the text topics seem complex, the author takes painstaking time to illustrate everything from component builds to screen shots to a complete in-book comic! There also are little "Digging Deeper" boxes that explain advanced concepts.There are FAR more illustrations than there is text, even though the breadth of topics is amazing). PAGES-- Brick connect to PC where needed: 75; Remote control programming: 240; Hunting prey with your T-rex (an infrared target): 376 (includes seek and chase blocks and teaches basic state priorities and transitions); power vs. speed: 297; Pythagorean theorem vs. lego angles: 261; actuator/motor speed regulation: 188; Patrolling a room on two legs with block alone (no pc needed): 131; Using math blocks directly: 95; Keeping distances in any room (wall following w/ IR): 64; Logic operators and De Morgan's laws (of logic): 373. Many more features, and nearly an entire second book is online on half a dozen of the author's and publisher pages, generally in the benedetelli dot com series, enjoy!

What I object to the most is the overuse of exclamation marks on almost every page of text, and at the end of almost every chapter. Writers and publishers simply cannot take ordinary sentences and turn them into something exciting merely by slapping an exclamation mark at the end. It is condescending and insulting to the intelligence of the paid customers to do so. If writing is exciting, it will be demonstrated by the actual words themselves, and not by the cheap trick of merely slapping on a fake exclamation mark. Sadly, this cheap trick is employed by so many authors and publishers today. How about showing some actual respect for the intelligence of your paying customers, who can choose for ourselves whether something is worth reading or not?The information itself in the book is most excellent. I would give it more than 5 stars, if it was possible, I have purchased 8 previous Lego books from No Starch Press, and will continue to do so. But, please, show more respect for your readers, and get rid of the insulting multiple exclamation marks. We are not the stupid idiots that you seem to assume we are. We cannot be tricked into thinking that a sentence is exciting, when it is obviously not (along the lines of, "And now on to the next chapter!"). Have some respect for us, please.The banal, intelligence-insulting, and gratuitously violent "comic strip" throughout the book is also annoying. It adds absolutely nothing to the content or usefulness of the book, and the "story" it tries to convey mostly makes no sense at all. Fortunately, it is easy enough to remove most of those idiotic pages from the book, or at least fold over the others that have actual useful text or diagrams on the other side. Did your in-depth market research really show a strong customer demand for repeated exclamation marks and idiotic violent "comic strips" in your Lego books?

This book doubles the fun with Lego EV3 set and you will learn many new things besides.It covers the Lego robotics theory from both construction and programming perspectives. By making the great models you will have more fun with the Lego Mindstorms and you can learn how different real problems can be solved. The models are really inspiring, we build them with my son, holding the breath until its finished, so we can play with it. Ease of explanation is admirable, the author has really huge experiences and the book is sharing them in understandable way.I enjoy the book very much, but after first opening I was really disappointed with the gray scale printing, it is sometimes a small problem to choose the right color of a piece, as we have many other Lego sets mixed together - the result looks a bit different compared to the other users on the web. No big problem, though. I know there are all the programs on the web, but I wanted my son to go through the programming process and make it on our own - and this is impossible in some cases (e.g. the switch cases in Fig.12.10 or 12.11), so we had to surrender and use the downloaded program in some cases. Full-colored eBook would be a better choice for us.In summary, I recommend this book to everybody, it's really valuable piece. I will definitely buy any other book from this author.