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Chapters

This textbook is organized into 19 chapters covering 537 concepts. Chapter 19 is optional and is marked as advanced.

Chapter Overview

  1. Setting Up Python for Robotics - Reviews Learning Python and adds the tooling every lab uses: virtual environments, pip, packages, JSON configuration, command-line arguments, and git.
  2. Anatomy of a Robot Arm - Introduces links, joints, degrees of freedom, workspace, payload, and repeatability, plus leader and follower arms and open-source desktop arms.
  3. Electricity, Power, and Safety Basics - Covers voltage, current, power supplies, and wiring, together with the core safety habits: pinch points, work envelopes, emergency stops, and supervision.
  4. Serial and CAN Communication - Explains how a computer talks to motors using UART, TTL serial, and CAN, with packets, registers, and the pyserial and python-can libraries.
  5. Actuators and Sensors - Compares hobby servos, serial bus servos, and CAN actuators, and covers gearing, torque, encoders, feedback, and torque and speed limits.
  6. Sourcing Parts and Planning a Budget - Teaches how to read a bill of materials, compare kits with self-sourced builds, choose vendors, and budget for the SO-ARM100 and reBot-DevArm.
  7. 3D Printing, Fasteners, and Tools - Covers printing the arm's structure, then fasteners, servo horns, crimping, soldering, cable management, and the multimeter.
  8. Building and Calibrating the SO-ARM100 - Walks through the open-source repository, preparing and testing servos, assembling leader and follower arms, calibration, and troubleshooting.
  9. Building the reBot-DevArm and Choosing a Platform - Covers CAN motor setup, assembly, and high-voltage power distribution for the reBot-DevArm, then compares both arms to help choose a platform.
  10. A Python Hardware Library for Robot Arms - Builds a Python hardware library with classes, dataclasses, type hints, a fake arm for testing, and safe connection handling.
  11. Moving the Arm: Trajectories, Grippers, and Teleoperation - Teaches joint-space moves, control loops and timing, smooth trajectories, gripper control, pick and place, and leader and follower teleoperation.
  12. Kinematics: Where Is the Hand and How Do I Get There - Explains coordinate frames, forward and inverse kinematics, multiple solutions and singularities, the Jacobian, and Cartesian motion.
  13. Logging, Testing, Simulation, and ROS 2 - Covers logging and plotting, testing with pytest and the fake arm, simulation with URDF, and guided tours of Pinocchio, Isaac Sim, and ROS 2.
  14. Cameras, Perception, and Learning from Demonstration - Introduces cameras and OpenCV, calibration, mapping pixels to arm coordinates, and learning from demonstration with LeRobot.
  15. AI Agents, Tools, and OpenClaw Skills - Teaches the agent loop, tool calling, OpenClaw and its skills, and how to write a robot-arm skill with bounded, validated commands.
  16. Agent Planning, Vision, and Interfaces - Covers task planning and replanning, vision-language models, local and cloud agents, MCP and ROS 2 bridges, and safe web API calls.
  17. Safety Layers and Evaluation for Agent-Controlled Arms - Explains safety layers, command validation, dry-run modes, audit logs, prompt injection, and how to test and evaluate agent-controlled arms.
  18. Projects, Operation, and Teaching - Brings the book together with capstone projects, startup and shutdown procedures, maintenance, and classroom and makerspace use.
  19. Optional Advanced Chapter: The Mathematics of Arm Paths - An optional advanced chapter on orientation math, the Jacobian, trajectory polynomials, path planning, and predicting and measuring arm paths.

How to Use This Textbook

Read chapters 1 through 18 in order. Each chapter builds on the ones before it, and every chapter lists the earlier chapters it depends on. Chapter 19 is optional: no other chapter depends on it, so you can skip it and still complete every build and project.

Note: Each chapter includes a list of concepts covered. Make sure to complete prerequisites before moving to advanced chapters.