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.

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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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.

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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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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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Geometric Fundamentals of Robotics

The distinguishing feature of this book is that it introduces mathematical tools, especially geometric ones, for solving problems in robotics. In particular, Lie groups and allied algebraic and geometric concepts are presented in a comprehensive manner to an audience interested in robotics.

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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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Additional Robotics Reading

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

The Robotics Primer

The Robotics Primer is unique as a principled, pedagogical treatment of the topic that is accessible to a broad audience; the only prerequisites are curiosity and attention. It can be used effectively in an educational setting or more informally for self-instruction. The Robotics Primer is a springboard for readers of all backgrounds—including students taking robotics as an elective outside th…

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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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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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Modern Robotics: Mechanics, Planning, and Control

This introduction to robotics offers a distinct and unified perspective of the mechanics, planning and control of robots. Ideal for self-learning, or for courses, as it assumes only freshman-level physics, ordinary differential equations, linear algebra and a little bit of computing background. Modern Robotics presents the state-of-the-art, screw-theoretic techniques capturing the most salient…

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Foundations of Robotics: A Multidisciplinary Approach With Python and Ros

It is written for students of all ages and backgrounds who want to learn about the broad fundamentals of robotics. This includes artists, designers, and writers who want to learn more about the technical workings of robots, and engineers who want to learn more about the cultural history of robots.

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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…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

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Augment your Robotics books

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Jasmine Lawrence, an accomplished Staff Technical 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), …

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I'm a technology executive with 18+ years of building teams to launch next-gen products in cutting edge industries - Custom AI Silicon, Datacenter Clusters, Autonomous Vehicles, Robotics & Consumer Electronics. I've worked globally, directly managed global teams, and empowered teams to launch breakthrough products. I have successfully up-skilled and enriched …

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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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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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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 …

$360 / month

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