Robot Builders Source Book - Gordon McComb Episode 1 Part 7 pptx

How Google.com ranks the relevancy of the keywords it finds on pages is a closelyguarded secret, but through observation, it’s apparent the search engine favors keywordsthat appear in th

222

Searching Wisely

Enter robotics into the Google.com search bar, and you’ll get over a million Web pages!

As you can imagine, robotics is a popular field of endeavor, but using a common searchphrase such as this will get you nowhere, fast Fortunately, Google.com provides a num-ber of ways to narrow your search, so that you have more chance of finding what youwant Here are some tips

Like most search engines, Google.com uses keywords to match your search phrase withthe content of a Web page Keywords can be contained in the title, a special hidden key-words section of the underlying HTML code that forms the Web page, or the text of thepage How Google.com ranks the relevancy of the keywords it finds on pages is a closelyguarded secret, but through observation, it’s apparent the search engine favors keywordsthat appear in the title of the page Therefore, if a page says “ Robotics Stink,” it will likely beranked highly among pages on robots, simply because the phrase “robotics” is in the title.Knowing this, you can more readily search for companies, products, or information, byusing search terms that are most likely to appear in the title of Web pages Those Webpage creators that use non-descriptive titles, or leave them blank, will be ranked muchlower in the search results That’s too bad for them

You can tell Google.com to ignore keywords if they don’t appear in the title, thereby

limiting the search to only words that appear in the titles of pages You do this with the intitle modifier (or its close cousin, allintitle) Use

intitle:robotics

to find Web pages on which robotics appears only in the title Note the colon after intitle Also note there is no space between the colon and the keyword.

Ignoring Nonrelevant Pages

Try the intitle:robotics search You’ll find that at least some of the so-called hits on the first

couple of pages are not about mechanical robots, but about the U.S Robotics brand ofmodems, fax modems, and early PalmPilots Unless you tell it otherwise, Google.comdoesn’t know the difference between robots that roll or walk on the floor and productsmade by the old U.S Robotics company

There is a simple way to remove these kinds of nonrelevant pages: Use the minus (-)character to tell Google.com to skip any Web page that contains a given keyword Here’sone way:

robotics –us

This fetches all Web pages with robotics, then omits all those pages with the keyword

us This works, but unfortunately, us is a common word The better way is to use quotes

to form a keyword phrase, like this:

robotics –”us robotics”

This time, only those pages that contain us robotics, as a complete phrase, are omitted.

Combining Keywords

It’s often handy to search for multiple keywords, such as robotics and vision With few exceptions, Google.com does not use Boolean searches—robotics AND vision, for exam-

ple—like some other search engines Google’s syntax is a lot easier, yet isn’t limited

+robotics +vision Finds pages with both of the word forms

robotics vision Same as above

“robotics vision” Finds pages with the specific phrase robotics vision

Except for the whole phrase “robotics vision” the keywords in a multiple-keyword search

do not have to appear next to each other on the Web pages That is, robotics can appear at the beginning of a paragraph, and vision later in the paragraph That said, Google.com

appears to give precedence to those pages where the keywords are found closer together

internet-search 223

Note the + (plus) character in one of the examples Google.com automatically ignoresvery common words and does not include them in the results Adding a + character to the

word ensures that Google.com considers it in your search While both robotics and vision

are not common words and will not be ignored, it’s a good practice to include the + acter whenever you want to ensure words are considered in the search

char-When using the + character, be sure to add a space before it and to type the keywordimmediately following:

robot +about Good

robot+about Not good

robot + about Not good

No Wildcards, But

Google.com doesn’t support wildcards, special characters—like ? and *—that denote anycharacter or characters However, the search engine allows you to construct phrases tolook for multiple forms of words by using the OR search modifier

+robotics eye OR eyes

Note OR in capitals Google.com searches are not case sensitive, but you must

capital-ize OR in order to use it as a search modifier This phrase looks for all pages with

robotics, then matches those pages with either eye or eyes.

Try Multiple Searches

Some searches will require a couple of different alternatives One simple way of finding

pages when you want to look for multiple word forms—robotics or robot, for instance—is

to perform separate searches For example:

robotics eye OR eyes

robot eye OR eyes

The first search looks for robotics with eye or eyes The second, for robot with eye or eyes.

Additional Advanced Searches

Google.com supports an Advanced Search page where you can specify a number of

special qualifiers, including limiting the found pages to a given language or to those thathave been updated within a certain period of time Similarly, you can also look for just

HTML Web pages, Adobe Acrobat PDF files, or many other common file types

There are several handy Google.com search tricks you’ll want to know about Be sure

to read the help pages on the Google.com site for more information

Reversing the Order of Keywords

Google.com ranks the relevance of pages from the order of the keywords in your searchphrase You get the same pages no matter what order you use, but the pages that appear

at the beginning of the list are altered by changing the keyword order For example:

zebra barcode Returns pages that favor the Zebra brand.

barcode zebra Returns pages that favor bar coding in general, followed by

those that also contain the keyword Zebra.

More than Just Web Pages

The Google.com search engine is not limited to just Web pages You can also find images(not as useful to robot builders), Usenet newsgroups, and a subject directory

• The Groups search let you sift through years of archives of newsgroup messages

• The Directory search provides Web links to submitted and approved sites Some of these

may be paid advertisements; nevertheless, it’s a good way of locating major suppliers

224

At the time of this writing, Google.com was experimenting with a new feature calledGoogle Catalogs This service provides scanned and indexed pages of hundreds of con-sumer and business mail-order catalogs If you don’t see a Catalogs search option on themain Google.com home page, try the following URL:

http://catalogs.google.com/

En Français Anyone? Page Translations

Robotics isn’t limited to just those who speak English You’ll find plenty of Web pages in avariety of languages Several free services offer text translation from and into the world’smost common languages The translations are not perfect, but they are often closeenough to allow you get the gist of what the Web page is all about

Among the better Web page language translators are Google.com and Altavista.com;

my favorite is Google’s, so we’ll talk about that first To translate a Web page, go here:

http://www.google.com/language_tools

and in the appropriate text box enter the full URL, including the http:// portion, of the

Web page you want to view Select the “from” and “to” language choices, such as

Spanish to English, or French to German The translation takes anywhere from a few

sec-onds to over a minute, depending on the length of the page

Note that only normal text is translated Text in a graphic image is not translated and isshown in the original language

AltaVista’s similar offering is available at:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

It works in a similar fashion to Google.com’s translation page and offers additional guages such as Korean, Russian, and Chinese

lan-Other Search Engines

Of course, there are other search engines on the Web, some good, and some terrible.Here is a listing of some additional general-purpose search engines

About—http://www.about.com/ (careful, pop-up window city!)

Google Search: Dome

Squirrel Baffle 203658

This search finds domes for bird feeders Metal and

plastic; many are clear polycarbonate

Google category list for electronic hardware:

connec-tors, standoffs, fasteners, knobs, etc

Google Search: Electronics 202791

http://directory.google.com/Top/Science/

Technology/Electronics/

Google category list for general electronics Check the

subsections for narrow fields of interest, such as test

and measurement, semiconductors, and design

Google category list for fasteners, including nuts, bolts,

screws, rivets, clips, and specialty fasteners

Google Search: Horror Movies 202789

http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Movies/

Genres/Horror/

Google category list for horror films, which sometimes

also include movies about crazed robots

Google Search: Industrial Metals 202691http://directory.google.com/Top/Business/

Industries/Manufacturing/Materials/Metals/Google category list for industrial metals

Google Search: Industrial Robotics 202707http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Robotics/Industrial/

Google category list for factory automation and trial robotics

indus-

Google Search: Materials Handling 202684http://directory.google.com/Top/Business/

Industries/Industrial_Supply/Materials_Handling/Google category list for materials handing, whichincludes casters and wheels and conveyors

Google Search: Metal for Crafts 202781http://directory.google.com/Top/Shopping/Crafts/Metal/

Google category list for metals and working with it

Google Search: Metalworking 202749http://directory.google.com/Top/Shopping/Crafts/Supplies/Metal_Craft/

Google category list for working with metal, as well asmaterials and supplies

internet-search 225

Google Search: Motion Control 202708

Google category list for industrial optoelectronics

(such as LEDs, photosensors)

Google category list for plywoods, including those using

hardwoods or exotic woods

Google category list for building robots

Google Search: Robotics 202792http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Robotics/

Google category list for general robotics topics

Google Search: Science Fiction Movies

202787http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Movies/Genres/Science_Fiction_and_Fantasy/

Google category list for science fiction movies, ing those in which the robot is the good guy

includ-

Google Search: Science Museums 202790http://directory.google.com/Top/Reference/Museums/Science/

Google category list for science museums Look forones that specialize in science, physics, and mechanicalexhibits

Google Search: Switches &

Encoders 202697

http://directory.google.com/Top/Business/

Industries/Electronics_and_Electrical/

Switches_and_Encoders/

Google category list for switches and encoders

(includ-ing absolute and incremental, mechanical and optical)

Google category list for video topics, including

cam-eras, imagers, recording, transmitting, and

Yellow Pages on the Internet Look up North Americanbusinesses by category or keyword

“news,” per se The function of most groups is to shareideas and to post and answer questions

See also Internet-Bulletin Board/Mailing ListFAQ: rec.toys.lego (LEGO) 202410http://www.multicon.de/fun/legofaq.html

Support FAQ for the rec.toys.lego newsgroup

Google Groups: comp.robotics.misc News Archive 202227http://groups.google.com/groups?

hl=en&group=comp.robotics.miscGoogle maintains an archive ofmost public news-groups; this URL is for the ever popular comp.robot-ics.misc (or c.r.m.) Current messages are no morethan a day “old,” and the archive goes back manyyears

Of course, you can view the archive for other

news-groups Just click the “Group” link near the top of the

window, and locate the group of your choice

Newsgroups: comp.arch.embedded 204175comp.arch.embedded

Newsgroups: comp.arch.embedded.picbasic 202798comp.arch.embedded.picbasic

Newsgroups: comp.arch.embedded.piclist 202799comp.arch.embedded.piclist

Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.embedded 202805comp.os.linux.embedded

internet-usenet newsgroups 229

Newsgroups: Information Beyond the Web

Newsgroups were born in the days long before the Internet became a global

market-place A newsgroup is a discussion group, a bulletin board, for posting and reading sages Unlike chat, newsgroups are not real time; you don’t directly communicate withothers while everyone is online Newsgroups, which are part of the Internet sometimesreferred to as Usenet, can be an excellent source of information and feedback

mes-As newsgroups are the result of the early Internet, their structure follows something of

a gearhead’s design of the world, and some aspects of it may be confusing and cryptic.However, it’s not complicated once you learn your way around

What’s a Newsgroup?

First and foremost is that newsgroups are divided into two main forms, public and private.Public newsgroups are open to anyone, and most likely, your Internet service provider (ISP)maintains computers just for the purpose of storing newsgroup messages Your ISP’s com-puters are connected to all the other public newsgroup computers around the globe, andthey constantly trade messages back and forth The end result is that even though you may

“connect” to a newsgroup via your local ISP, you are reading the messages of others wide; if you post a message of your own, within a few hours it will circulate around the globe.Private newsgroups are set up by companies or organizations to support their products

world-or agenda They may world-or may not be open to the public In most cases, you must use thenewsreader portion of your Web browser to separately log into these private newsgroupservers; they are not part of the public newsgroups provided by your ISP

Newsgroup Hierarchy

Newsgroups follow a hierarchy, with some one dozen “top-level” categories to choosefrom The categories of primary interest to robot builders are highlighted in boldface type:

alt Anything and everything

biz Business products, services

comp Computer and technical hardware, software

humanities Fine art and literature, Philosophy 101

misc What won’t fit anywhere else

news Info about Usenet newsgroups

rec Games, hobbies, personal interests, sports

sci Applied science, social science

soc Social issues, culture, politics, religion

talk Current issues and debates

Newsgroups are further divided into one or more additional sublevels, with each level separated from the top-level category name by a period For example, the main

sub-robotics discussion group for amateur and professional sub-robotics is comp.sub-robotics.misc;

the group is under the comp top-level and is further under the robotics sublevel By the

way, there are few sublevels under robotics, so don’t expects lots of resources here This

is just how it is for newsgroup subtopics

Newsgroup Reading and Writing

To read (and optionally post) messages on a newsgroup you need to crank up a newsgroupreader program, which is most often part of the browser you use for surfing the Web, or ispart of the operating system I won’t get into exact steps here, as the procedures are docu-mented in your software Newsgroup readers are supported as part of Outlook Express ifyou’re a Microsoft Internet Explorer user; Netscape has a newsgroup reader built-in

Newsgroups: rec.woodworking 202811rec.woodworking

Newsgroups: sci.electronics.basics 202801sci.electronics.basics

Newsgroups: sci.electronics.components 202806sci.electronics.components

Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design 202803sci.electronics.design

Newsgroups: sci.electronics.equipment 202807sci.electronics.equipment

Newsgroups: sci.electronics.misc 202802sci.electronics.misc

internet-usenet newsgroups

230

Newsgroup Shorthand

The categories and subcategories in newsgroups are in a kind of shorthand Here are

what several of the more common ones mean:

rec Recreation ai Artificial Intelligence

Web rings are collections of Web sites—some

commer-cial and some not—that share a common theme or

interest These days, most Web rings are hosted by

Yahoo! and similar outfits Joining and participating are

free, but expect advertisements The following listings

are for the hubs of the Web rings The hub lists the

member sites belonging to the ring

Web Ring: 8051 Microcontroller 202042http://o.webring.com/hub?ring=80x51

Resources for 80x51 families of microcontroller andrelated embedded technologies

or assemble electronics products in Australia

Manners and Etiquette in Newsgroups

Newsgroups can be a horrendous sink of time and energy Take my advice: Avoid usingthem as a soapbox, and avoid getting involved in heated discussions People say things innewsgroups that they’d never say in person, simply because folks are protected sittingbehind a computer screen

Here are some other tips:

• Unless you are an adult, don’t reveal your age If you’re old enough to read this book,you’re old enough to understand why

• Sexual harassment is still a problem, particularly in public newsgroups where “joy ers” and “trolls” only stick around to cause trouble So, if you’re female, I suggest youuse a male name for your login Obviously, this isn’t a huge problem in groups fre-

rid-quented mostly by women, but harassment is known to be a bigger issue in inated interest groups

male-dom-• If you include your e-mail address, use a “throw-away” e-mail account that you can

close should the spam (unsolicited commercial mail) get too abundant

• If you read a message that angers you, don’t reply immediately Flag it, and return to it

a day later If you still want to reply, don’t add to any possible “flame war.” They sume way too much time

con-Web Ring: Basic Stamp SX 202105

http://v.webring.com/hub?ring=stamp

Basic Stamp computers, PIC microcontrollers, and

related embedded technologies

Motorola 68HCxx microcontrollers family and relatedembedded technologies

internet-usenet newsgroups

232

Web Ring: BEAM Robotics.

Web Ring: Circuits and Electronics 202391

The Electronic Music Ring (eMusic) features Web sites

dealing with the creation and distribution ofelectronic

music

Web Ring: Electronics Engineering 202402

http://q.webring.com/hub?ring=eewebring

Dedicated to all Web sites and users that participate in

or around the world of electronics engineering

Web Ring: Linux Robotics 202388

http://n.webring.com/hub?ring=linuxrobotics

Noncommercial Linux-based robot projects Includes

sites with mechanical design, electronic circuits, and

program code associated with designing and building a

Circuits and tutorials of interest to do-it-yourselfers of

all skill levels

Web Ring: PalmPilot 204171

http://p.webring.com/webring?ring=geoff

Where Palm users can show off their favorite

applica-tions, devices, and Palm accessories

Web Ring: PICMicro 202107

http://o.webring.com/hub?ring=picmicro

Sites and pages dedicated to the Microchip PIC

micro-controller and related projects

internet-usenet newsgroups 233

{ Journals and Magazines

Whether they are available for free or by subscriptions,

journals and magazines offer a tremendous

informa-tion base on special-interest subjects This secinforma-tion lists

both online and printed journals and magazines (some

are available as both) In most cases, the online

ver-sions are free, though there may be a limit in the

num-ber ofcurrent articles posted each issue In other cases,

the online version is just a teaser to the printed

maga-zine

Several of the listings that follow are for so-called

con-trolled circulation magazines These are free to

quali-fied readers The qualification requirements vary

depending on the scope of the publication, but most

look for readers in a purchasing or

recommenda-tion/consulting role You receive the magazine at no

cost if you qualify Even if you don’t, however, the

online versions of these magazines are often complete,

with all columns and articles intact, or the publication

is available for free reading at the local library

SEE ALSO:

Books-Technical: More printed information

Internet-Informational: Free online sources

Manufacturers (various) : Look for

down-loadable datasheets, application notes, and case

histories

Advanced Robotics 203456

http://www.advanced-robotics.org/

Advanced Robotics is the official international journal

of The Robotics Society of Japan and is edited by Dr

Hisato Kobayashi The publication is in English

See also the home page for The Robotics Society of

Circuit Cellar offers practical, hands-on applications

and solutions for embedded-control designers

Recommended reading for the intermediate and

advanced robot constructor

V

Dr Dobb’s 202934http://www.ddj.com/

Dr Dobb’s is an old and trusted journal for softwaretools for the professional programmer By paid sub-scription; content is also available on the Web site Forexperienced programmers

V

ECN Magazine 202901http://www.ecnmag.com/

ECN Magazine contains product news and informationfor the electronic designer and engineer Subscriptions

to the printed magazine are free to qualified readers

EDN Access 202940http://www.e-insite.net/ednmag/

EDN is a free (for qualified readers) magazine lished twice monthly for electronic designers and sys-tems managers Selected articles are available on theWeb site

pub-Electronic Design 202941http://www.elecdesign.com/

Electronic Design magazine is for electronics engineersand students Each issue contains new productannouncements, design articles, tutorials, and how-tos

ED is the home of columnist Bob Pease, who always hassomething interesting to say Free to qualified readers;the Web site reproduces content from the magazine inAdobe Acrobat PDF format

Electronics Products 202942http://www.electronicproducts.com/

Electronics Products keeps readers abreast of new uct announcements and technologies The magazine isfree to qualified readers

prod-Electronique Pratique 202418Publications Georges Ventillard

2 12, rue Bellevue Paris 75019France

French-language magazines for robot and electronics

Electronics magazine, published in the U.K Available

by subscription or at newsstands in many countries

V

Embedded Systems Programming 202943

http://www.embedded.com/

Embedded Systems is for the microcontroller and the,

hmmm, embedded systems developer Subscriptions

are free to qualified readers, and many of the articles

are reproduced on the Web site

Everyday Practical Electronics 202375

http://www.epemag.wimborne.co.uk/

A U.K.-based electronics magazine, catering to hobby

construction articles Subscriptions available

V

IEEE Spectrum 203283http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/

Spectrum is the official monthly magazine of the IEEE.Selected articles are available online

Journal of Forth, The 203638http://www.jfar.org/

Online technical reference for Forth programmers andprogramming Serious stuff, and it includes several arti-cles directly relating to robots An example is “FiniteState Machines in Forth.”

LinuxDevices.com 202816http://www.linuxdevices.com/

Online publication specializing on the use of the Linuxoperating system for embedded applications

Micro Magazine.com 204010http://www.micromagazine.com/

journals and magazines 235

GPS World specializes in global positioning

satellites.

From the Web site: “MICRO is the only magazine

dedicated to advanced process and equipment

con-trol, defect reduction, and yield enhancement

strate-gies for the semiconductor and related advanced

microelectronics manufacturing industries Now in its

20th year ofpublication, MICRO is recognized by

readers as the leader in its field for its technical

content as well as its industry news and product

cov-erage.”

All that, and it’s free to qualified readers

MMS Online 202109

http://www.mmsonline.com

MMS Online is the online component of the magazine

Modern Machine Shop Subscriptions are free to

quali-fied readers

Model Airplane News 203299

http://www.modelairplanenews.com/

Model Airplane News covers the R/C flying hobby

Some articles available on the site; the majority is about

constructing the air frame and flying the plane, but

there are others that deal with electronics and are

therefore useful in robotics

Model Aviation 203300

http://www.modelaircraft.org/mag/index.htm

Official publication of the Academy of Model

Aeronautics; available by paid subscription The

maga-zine includes monthly columns, features, technical and

how-to articles

Modern Materials Handling Online 203257

http://www.manufacturing.net/mmh/

Magazine about materials handling Before you yawn,

this subject includes things like omnidirectional ball

casters and conveyor belt parts In other words, good

stuff for a robot

MRO esource.com 203519

http://www.mro-esource.com/

Online publication specializing in motion control

tech-nologies and mechanicals

For the curious, MRO stands for “maintenance, repair,and operating,” and represents the parts and suppliesinvolved in this wide-ranging endeavor Some of it, likewheels, casters, metal framing, bearings, and rollerchain, is useful for robot building

Online version of venerable print magazine New coveries and breakthroughs are commonly printedhere first Some online content of the print magazine isavailable; the printed version is available through paidsubscription

The magazine has regular columns on robotics and the

Basic Stamp

Check out their bookstore, including the Nuts & Volts

Basic Stamps (reprint of columns)

V

PC/104 Embedded Solutions Magazine

203200

http://www.pc104-embedded-solns.com/

Monthly online and printed magazine on PC/104

sin-gle board computers Subscriptions are free to qualified

readers

Plastics Technology Online 202110

http://www.plasticstechnology.com/

Plastics Technology Online is a free (to qualified

read-ers) magazine about plastics and plastics manufacturing

Popular Mechanics 203278

http://popularmechanics.com/

Popular Mechanics is a monthly magazine about

under-standing and working with mechanical and modern

devices Occasional article or short about robots, but

regular science features on such things as new sensor

technologies, video systems, and other robot-related

Popular Science is the “what’s new” magazine It

explains, in lay terms, breakthroughs in science and

technology I wrote lots of articles for PopSci in the

early 1980s (though not on robots) Publishes the

occa-sional article on robots and robotics-related topics

V

Publications of the American

Assocation for Artificial Intelligence 203455

http://www.aaai.org/Publications/publications.html

AAAI publishes nearly 100 proceedings, technicalreports, edited collections, and magazine issues eachyear, in hard copy, CD-ROM, and electronic form TheAAAI divisions responsible for the bulk of this activityare AI Magazine and AAAI Press

R/C Car Action 203301http://www.rccaraction.com/

Monthly magazine, available at newsstands or by scription, for the R/C enthusiast

sub-R/C Modeler Magazine 203302http://www.rcmmagazine.com/

Monthly magazine (available at newsstands or by paidsubscription) all about R/C model airplanes Includesproduct reviews, how-to articles, and lots of ads You canuse the ads to find R/C parts like servos and hardware

mag-For an independent Web page supporting the RealRobots product, see also:

V

journals and magazines 237

Science Daily 203280

http://www.sciencedaily.com/

Science Daily is a digest of the latest happenings in the

science world, including new advances in robots, robot

sensors, artificial intelligence, and related topics

Science Magazine 203270

http://www.sciencemag.org/

The “granddaddy” of scientific journals, many

break-throughs are published here first Subscriptions are

pricey, but you can read digests and summaries of the

main articles online And this magazine is available at

many public libraries As an alternative, you can

pur-chase a 24-hour pass if you’d like access to a specific

article or to do research

V

Science News Online 204145

http://www.sciencenews.org/

Science News is a weekly digest-style magazine that

cov-ers the latest happenings in all science disciplines The

Science News Online site provides limited access to

arti-cles (unless you’re a subscriber) Check the weekly

table of contents to see if there are any news bits or

arti-cles about robots, sensors, or related subjects

Sensors Online 202456http://www.sensorsmag.com

Sensors Online is dedicated to sensor technology Thisfree magazine covers sensors for automotive, industrial,commercial, and consumer products It’s a great way tostay abreast of new potential eyes and ears for yourrobots

Silicon Chip Magazine 204167P.O Box 139

Collaroy, NSW 2097Australia

 +61 2 9979 6503

 silchip@siliconchip.com.au

 http://www.siliconchip.com.au/

Silicon Chip is an Australian magazine aimed primarily

at professionals and hobbyists interested in electronicsand electronics projects Available by subscription inAustralia and New Zealand and by air mail delivery toother parts of the world

Supply Chain Systems Magazine 203844http://www.idsystems.com/

Supply Chain is a print and online magazine for “usersand implementers of supply chain automation and col-laboration.” Topics include RFID and bar code Theprint version of the magazine is free to qualified readers

Transactor Online Archive 202991http://www.csbruce.com/~csbruce/cbm/transactor/Says the site: “This is an online archive of TheTransactor magazine, provided with permission TheTransactor was a popular magazine for the old 8-bitCommodore computers, which was renowned for itsoverall high quality and the unusually deep technicallevel of its articles As a bonus, it was also produced inCanada.”

WebElectric Magazine 202998

http://www.webelectricmagazine.com/

Calling itself “the Web magazine for do-ers,” the free

WebElectric Magazine publishes articles on modern

electronics, with a decided slant toward

microcon-trollers Read the current issue, or browse back issues

Edited and published by Lawrence Mazza Some of the

projects presented in the magazine are for sale

maga-

Woodworking Pro 202995http://www.woodworkingpro.com/

A portal for the woodworking professional News, links,buyer’s guide, and a woodworkers magazine (free toqualified readers)

journals and magazines 239

t Kits

A great way to learn about something new is to build a

ready-made kit You get all the parts you need and a

how-to construction plan to follow The next sections

list resources for both electronics and robotics kits; the

two are separated for convenience, though in some

cases, a single resource may carry both

Nearly all of the kits listed here are for hobbyist use and

are priced accordingly You’ll want to select a kit based

on your skills Most electronics kits require soldering,

so if you need to brush up on your soldering skills, start

with a simple low-cost kit You can learn from it and

graduate to bigger and better things

These resources manufacture, distribute, or sell

elec-tronics kits For manufacturers and distributors, you

can consult the company’s Web site for technical

docu-mentation, schematics (when available), construction

notes, and other pertinent information

SEE ALSO:

Electronics-Circuit Examples: Schematics

and plans for electronic circuits you can build

Internet-Plans & Guides: Free details on

robot-ics and electronrobot-ics projects

Kits-Robotics: Robot construction kits,

includ-ing those for beginners

Robots-Hobby & Kit: Additional kits, mostly

Kits: electronic, radio, educational lab Also soldering

equipment, surplus, pinhole cameras, tubes, and

Two locations:

USA: Amazon Electronics

South Africa: Archimedes Products

x V

C & S Sales 202350

150 W Carpenter Ave

Wheeling, IL 60090USA

d V

Carl’s Electronics Inc 202283P.O Box 182

Sterling, MA 01564USA

• Stepper motor kit

• Kits (assortments) of resistors, capacitors, crystals

Components (active, passive, cables, connectors,

fasten-ers, etc.), kits, and hand tools

Scottsdale, AZ 85261USA

• Passive and electromechanical components: ies, cables and wire, circuit boards, fans, hardware,keychain lights, knobs, sockets, power supplies,relays, solenoids, switches, test equipment, tools,voltage converters

batter-• Sensor components: bar code scanners, phones, piezos, sensors, video cameras

micro-• Kits and specialty: alarms and sirens, electronicsproject kits, motors, optics, robot items, strobe,ultrasonic items

Catalog in PDF format available; printed catalog sent toU.S addresses only Be sure to check out the interestingand unusual (and low-cost) robotics kits

 x d V

kits-electronic 241

One of many kit product pages at Electonic Goldmine.