Robotics, Vision and Control. Fundamental Algorithms in MATLAB

Citation

Whitty, M. (2012), "Robotics, Vision and Control. Fundamental Algorithms in MATLAB", Industrial Robot, Vol. 39 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2012.04939faa.005

Robotics, Vision and Control. Fundamental Algorithms in MATLAB

Robotics, Vision and Control. Fundamental Algorithms in MATLAB^®

Article Type: Book review From: Industrial Robot: An International Journal, Volume 39, Issue 6

Peter Corke,Springer,Berlin,2011,572 pp.,$79.95,ISBN: 978-3-642-20143-1,www.springer.com/engineering/robotics/book/978-3-642-20143-1

While initially conceived as a tutorial for the robotics and machine vision toolboxes developed by the author, this book’s scope is far reaching. Starting from the very basics of systems of representation in Part I, Parts II and III expand on the application of these to mobile robots and serial-link manipulators, respectively, addressing a range of topics from control to localization, kinematics and kinetics. Part IV introduces computer vision and proceeds to thoroughly explore this topic as the heart of this volume. Part V then concludes with the integration of the previous sections through treatment of vision-based control or visual servoing. However, this book is more than a sum of its parts.

A roboticist must be multi-talented by definition, efficient at comprehending and practical by nature. The strength of this book lies in its ability to encapsulate all three of these traits in a compelling read that is hard to put down. First, the book encompasses the theoretical foundations of the traditional fields of machine vision, dynamics, and control en route to the final goal of visual servoing. Second, the theory is given full credibility by being littered with an abundance of facts, figures and advice gleaned from a lifetime of experience in the field. Code snippets are absolutely integral and used effectively throughout the text, with an accessible style that allows the readers to master the basics very efficiently. Third, close integration with the supporting toolboxes gives immediate access to powerful methods that can be simply invoked. These encourage practical experimentation and provide aspiring roboticists with essential training on which advanced research can be based.

By tackling such a broad spectrum of problems the book is an ideal supplementary text for a wide range of courses from dynamics and control to computer vision and project based robotics courses. However, the exercises provided at the end of each chapter are fairly cursory, and limit its use as the sole source of teaching material for a latter year undergraduate course. The accompanying website and online discussion group keep the content up to date and address the inevitable errors the creep into such large software packages and their documentation.

There are very few contemporary texts which dare to be as broad in scope and none which do so as enthusiastically. Few roboticists will not benefit from its perusal and since Matlab is so widely used across the robotics community, its longevity as a reference manual is ensured. Thus, I would high recommend this book to both students and professionals alike and I have no doubt time will cement its position as essential reading matter.

Mark WhittySchool of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia