On Tuesday, October 30, 2012, O’Reilly is presenting a free webcast with Michael Margolis, author of the Arduino Cookbook and Make An Arduino-Controlled Robot:

Building a robot and enabling it to sense its environment is a wonderful way to apply your Arduino knowledge to the real world. This webcast introduces Arduino techniques for controlling wheeled robots that can move around and use sensors to see and explore their environment.

The webcast will cover:

• Why a robot is great choice for your next project
• Principles of controlling robot speed and direction
• Introduction to sensors used for robot navigation
• Techniques for implementing robot behaviour: edge avoidance, line following, and obstacle avoidance.

Even if you are not building a robot, this webcast provides practical information on controlling motors and using sensors with Arduino.

You can find more information and register here.

Michael’s robot book is included as part of two Maker Shed kits, both of which include everything you need to build one of these robots:

• Rovera 2WD Arduino Robot Kit (pictured above)
• Rovera 4WD Arduino Robot Kit

Update: the video of the webcast is now available: