If, like us, you’ve ever had the deep pining associated with wanting to build a robot or two, this book is definitely for you. This 360-page guide to everything you’ve ever wanted to know about robots covers how they work and how to build your own. You’ll learn how to select the right power source, use the tools you’ll need and how to build a robot from things you have around the house or from kit form.

The perennial kids’ favourite evolves into an exciting gateway to advanced engineering

If I'd seen one of these when I was an 8 year old, I would have gone on a hunger-strike until my parents bought me one.

It really must be the future if we have robot pets.

Not just a roadie-killing piece of innovation, but a stunning guitar too.

The freakish looks are cool but Roboquad is frustrating to use: it doesn't react fast enough and the functions aren't that impressive

Packed with features, works like a dream and can take pictures of your cat from the other side of the world. What more do you want?

Spybotics isn't the general-purpose robotics kit of Mindstorms, but it offers similar fun.

Primera's Bravo is designed to produce large numbers of professional quality CDs on short order: it combines a 40x IDE CD burner and a CD printer, and it also comes with a robotic arm to automate the production process.

Primera's Bravo is designed to produce large numbers of professional quality CDs on short order: it combines a 40x IDE CD burner and a CD printer, and it also comes with a robotic arm to automate the production process.

We've all had the experience of speaking to someone on the phone and having their voice drowned out by the background noise. The problem is usually accentuated with mobile phones and public telephones which by their very nature are prone to this annoyance.

The cream of the turn based strategy genre just got deeper.

Robots are supposed to be helpful or entertaining. Roboreptile, with his limited movements and irate demeanour, is just unpleasant

Epic plot and an intruiging mix of RPG and FPS make Mass Effect worth a look, though we can't help but see some similarity with Knights of the Old Republic.

What could have been the perfect RTS game is marred by poor performance.

Designed for the curious enthusiast or habitual tinkerer looking to push the boundaries of knowledge, PC Toys has projects to suit the interests and skills of readers from all walks of life.

2003 is going to be remembered as the year of the Matrix glut, with two movies, A multi-platform computer game and DVD releases across the year. Rumours are that there is even another game coming out, although this one may not hit until 2004. For now, in between Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions theatrical releases is the release of the companion DVD, Animatrix.

TrueSpace has always led the pack in terms of features as far as Windows 3D animation packages under $2,000 are concerned. Recently, however, the market has become rather crowded, with a powerful upgrade to Ray Dream (reviewed issue 9, p100) and the cut-down version of LightWave 3D (Inspire 3D) both challenging it on features and price.

This is a game that pushes PC hardware to the limit, and puts so called ‘next-gen’ consoles to shame.