My most anticipated book of 2015 (and 2014)

Ugh. I must wait another week and a half - after already waiting months - for a book I've quite been looking forward to sharing with the young'un: Making Simple Robots.

That's okay, I guess: Books are like video games. Late ones are only late until they're released, bad ones are bad forever. Better to get it right than fast.

The projects from this book were a big hit and I think she's ready to take the ideas up a notch. Certainly I am!

MORE: Well, there are a few interesting projects here, but "robot" is a bit strong for some of them. I'm sinking some money into a small introductory robotics library  - and a couple of kits - for ideas and instructions on more complex builds. The projects in this book are fine for where the young'un is now, but don't move the ball a lot toward more substantive robotics beyond the craft and puppetry range. Also, I'm not a great fan of using the Little Bits platform for the book's electronics. The circuits are simple enough to where one really shouldn't need that product. My 8-year old granddaughter can put together a circuit and solder it; anybody who can actually read this book and hopes to "build robots" should be able to figure that much out.

UPDATE (4/12): Since this post I've expanded my entry-and-intermediate level robotics library quite a bit, with a skew toward Arduino-based projects. More on these topics as summer approaches.