title: The LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Discovery Book: A Beginner's Guide to Building and Programming Robots
author:  Laurens Valk 
description: Gr 6 UpA tome for fans of robotics and LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Kits. Hyper-detailed instructionswith full color, easy-to-read and understand illustrationshelp budding enthusiasts navigate EV3 Kits with clear language and step-by-step directions. Readers learn the basics of assembling a simple robot before being introduced to various programming tricks to be used on the EV3 Brick, the colloquial term for the Mindstorms mini-computer. Be forewarned that in order to take full advantage of the programming functionality of the kit, including the ablity to create and edit programs, users must have a computer to connected to their EV3 Brick (though basic programming on the EV3 Brick can be done without one). Each chapter contains several short challenges, dubbed "discoveries," which are cleverly accompanied by a legend: whimsical gear wheels represent the estimated amount of building time; tiny Microsoft Windows-esque blocks show the expected level of programming expertise; and a small clock estimates the length of time it should take to solve the challenge. Later chapters describe building intricate robots with fun objectives: a racing robot, ANTY (a robotic ant), and the SNATCH3R (complete with a robotic arm that grabs). Readers who are intimidated by the discoveries can skip these and instead focus on the building projects and the programming tricks that do not involve the use of a computer. The size, advanced vocabulary, and organization of the book evokes a science or physics textbook, which is warranted due to the amount of complex and detailed programming information contained within. However, colorful images keep it from feeling too academic. VERDICT This book will find a home in libraries with makerspaces and/or those that offer robotics or science clubs, LEGO teams, or other STEM-oriented groups.Amy M. Laughlin, Darien Library, CT
zlib_text: The LEGO
  ® MINDSTORMS
  ® EV3
  Discovery Book: a beginner’s
  guide to building and
  programming robots
  Laurens Valk
  Published by No Starch Press
  
  about the author
  Laurens Valk is a robotics engineer based in the Netherlands, where he
  earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Delft
  University of Technology. He is a member of the MINDSTORMS
  Community Partners (MCP), a select group of MINDSTORMS enthusiasts
  who help test and develop new MINDSTORMS products. He started
  building robots with the EV3 system a year before its 2013 release, and
  one of his designs appears on the EV3 packaging as an official bonus
  robot.
  Laurens enjoys designing robots and creating tutorials to build and
  program them, so that robot fans around the world can re-create the
  designs and learn more about robotics. He has worked on several LEGO
  robotics books, including the best-selling first edition of this book, The
  LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Discovery Book (No Starch Press, 2010).
  He blogs about robots at ht