Top Robotics books recommended by experts

At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we've connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favourite Robotics books – and here are the answers.

Table of Contents

Fundamentals of Robotics

Understanding the concepts of Robotics starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.

Introduction to Robotics: Mechanics and Control (3rd Edition)

Blending traditional mechanical engineering material with computer science and control theoretical concepts, the text covers a range of topics, including rigid-body transformations, forward and inverse positional kinematics, velocities and Jacobians of linkages, dynamics, linear and non-linear control, force control methodologies, mechanical design aspects, and robotic programming.

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The LEGO Power Functions Idea Book, Vol. 2: Cars and Contraptions

This second volume of The LEGO Power Functions Idea Book, Cars and Contraptions, showcases small projects to build with LEGO Technic gears, motors, gadgets, and other moving elements. You’ll find hundreds of clever, buildable mechanisms, each one demonstrating a key building technique or mechanical principle.
You’ll learn to build four-wheel drive cars, adorable walking ‘bots, steerable tan…

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Factory robots

General Motors brought the first factory robot to life in 1961. The 4,000-pound assembly-line robot was named Unimate. It proved it could build cars twice as fast as humans could! In this childrens tech title, the behind-the-scenes robots that make factory work fly get much-deserved attention.

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Encyclopedia of Electronic Components Volume 1: Resistors, Capacitors, Inductors, Switches, Encoders, Relays, Transistors

Want to know how to use an electronic component? This first book of a three-volume set includes key information on electronics parts for your projects―complete with photographs, schematics, and diagrams. You’ll learn what each one does, how it works, why it’s useful, and what variants exist. No matter how much you know about electronics, you’ll find fascinating details you’ve never come across…

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Probabilistic Robotics

Probabilistic robotics is a new and growing area in robotics, concerned with perception and control in the face of uncertainty. Building on the field of mathematical statistics, probabilistic robotics endows robots with a new level of robustness in real-world situations.

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Build a Drone: A Step-by-Step Guide to Designing, Constructing, and Flying Your Very Own Drone

Whether you plan on using drones for recreation or a more serious purpose (from search and rescue through farming to scanning construction work on a high-rise apartment buildings), Build a Drone will make sure that you not only understand how to construct a drone, but the proper and safe ways to maintain and handle them.
Within the last couple of years, the usage of drones in both the publi…

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Additional Robotics Reading

These books are not required for you to learn Robotics, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.

Robot Futures

In Robot Futures, the roboticist Illah Reza Nourbakhsh considers how we will share our world with these creatures, and how our society could change as it incorporates a race of stronger, smarter beings.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Springer Handbook of Robotics

Unlike other handbooks that focus on industrial applications, the Springer Handbook of Robotics incorporates these new developments. Just like all Springer Handbooks, it is utterly comprehensive, edited by internationally renowned experts, and replete with contributions from leading researchers from around the world.

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Awesome Robotics Projects for Kids: 20 Original STEAM Robots and Circuits to Design and Build (Awesome STEAM Activities for Kids)

Get ready to build all kinds of incredible robots―right in your own home! Designed for young robot builders, these do-it-yourself robotics for kids projects will teach you about science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) as you assemble an amazing collection of real working robots!
From scribblebots to two-legged walkers, this book walks you through robotics for kids, one beaut…

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Mechanics of Robotic Manipulation

Mechanics of Robotic Manipulation addresses one form of robotic manipulation, moving objects, and the various processes involved—grasping, carrying, pushing, dropping, throwing, and so on. Unlike most books on the subject, it focuses on manipulation rather than manipulators.

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Running with Robots: The American High School's Third Century

Toppo and Tracy intersperse these reports from the present with bulletins from the future, telling the story of a high school principal who, Rip Van Winkle–style, sleeps for twenty years and, upon awakening in 2040, can hardly believe his eyes: the principal’s amazingly efficient assistant is a robot, calculation is outsourced to computers, and students, grouped by competence and not grade lev…

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Robotics: Modelling, Planning and Control

Robotics provides the basic know-how on the foundations of robotics: modelling, planning and control. The text develops around a core of consistent and rigorous formalism with fundamental and technological material giving rise naturally and with gradually increasing difficulty to more advanced considerations.

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This list is curated by MentorCruise and can include Amazon affiliate links. Have any other suggestions? Add here.

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Jasmine Lawrence, an accomplished Senior Product Manager and Founder, brings a wealth of experience in developing innovative consumer and developer-focused products. Formerly a Technical Product Manager at NVIDIA and Cruise, she played a key role in advancing the development of autonomous vehicles. With notable roles at Everyday Robots (Google), Facebook, …

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Hi there, my name is Janit Anjaria. I am a technology leader, AI Advisor, Technology and AI Coach, Mentor and a curious people loving person. About me: I have spent more than a decade in the industry and academia working on some of the most challenging and thereby interesting problems …

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I’m a 3x startup founder (2x venture-backed) with deep experience building companies from research to market. My first startup spun out of my PhD in robotics and machine learning, giving me first-hand insight into turning cutting-edge research into real products and businesses. Moving from Australia to the US to found …

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Previously at: - AI Product Manager at Synthesia (London): a London-based startup ($90M Series C, Unicorn 🦄) building a Generative AI-based video content creation platform. - Product Manager at Autonomous Driving startups across Silicon Valley and London (Wayve and Deepen AI) - co-Founder of Tactile Robots, an Italian startup designing …

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