"Virtual Futures" explores the ideas that the future lies in its ability to articulate the consequences of an increasingly synthetic and virtual world. New technologies like cyberspace, the internet, and Chaos theory are often discussed in the context of technology and its potential to liberate or in terms of technophobia. This collection examines both these ideas while also charting a new and controversial route through contemporary discourses on technology; a path that discusses the material evolution and the erotic relation between humans and machines. Including essays by Sadie Plant, Stelarc and Manuel de Landa, the collection heralds the death of humanism and the rise of posthuman pragmatism. This collection provides analyses by both established theorists and the most innovative new voices working in conjunction between the arts and contemporary technology.

This exciting book breaks new ground by introducing the amateur to the ideas and concepts, both theoretical and practical, of robotics - a nascent discipline which will radically change the way we work. Although today we use the term 'robots', in the future other terms will have to be coined in order to describe their utility & capabilities. The book is divided into two sections: 1: How and why robots work and how they are controlled. 2: How to make a simple two-legged humanoid robot that can be programmed to walk. There are no complicated formulae or equations to grapple with or complicated circuit diagrams to decipher, and you don't have to be either a machinist or a programmer - everything is presented in clear, concise, everyday English. The robot can be built quickly on a workbench, or even a kitchen table, with a minimum number of handtools, and all the parts are easily available in the UK and the USA. This is a fascinating and unique book which explains the basics of a subject which is the next generation of model engineering, combining construction skills with computer programming and teaches you to build and run a working robot which can be controlled from any personal computer.

The 21st century is on the verge of a possible total economic and political revolution. Technological advances in robotics, computing and digital communications have the potential to completely transform how people live and work. Even more radically, humans will soon be interacting with artificial intelligence (A.I.) as a normal and essential part of their daily existence. What is needed now more than ever is to rethink social relations to meet the challenges of this soon-to-arrive "smart" world. This book proposes an original theory of trans-human relations for this coming future. Drawing on insights from organisational studies, critical theory, psychology and futurism - it will chart for readers the coming changes to identity, institutions and governance in a world populated by intelligent human and non-human actors alike. It will be characterised by a fresh emphasis on infusing programming with values of social justice, protecting the rights and views of all forms of "consciousness" and creating the structures and practices necessary for encouraging a culture of "mutual intelligent design". To do so means moving beyond our anthropocentric worldview of today and expanding our assumptions about the state of tomorrow's politics, institutions, laws and even everyday existence. Critically such a profound shift demands transcending humanist paradigms of a world created for and by humans and instead opening ourselves to a new reality where non-human intelligence and cyborgs are increasingly central.

Autonomous robots must carry out useful tasks all by themselves relying entirely on their own perceptions of their environment. The cognitive abilities required for autonomous action are largely independent of robot size, which makes mini robots attractive as artefacts for research, education and entertainment. Autonomous mini robots must be small enough for experimentation on a desktop or a small laboratory. They must be easy to carry and safe for interaction with humans. They must not be expensive. Mini robot designers have to work at the leading edge of technology so that their creations can carry out purposeful autonomic action under these constraints. Since 2001 researchers have met every two years for an international symposium to report on the advances achieved in Autonomous Mini Robots for Research and Edutainment (AMiRE). The AMiRE Symposium is a single track conference that offers ample opportunities for discussion and exchange of ideas. This volume contains the contributed papers of the 2011 AMiRE Symposium held from 23 to 25 May 2011 at Bielefeld University, Germany. The contributions in this volume represent the state-of-the-art of autonomous mini robots; they demonstrate what is currently technically feasible and show some of the applications for autonomous mini robots.

Virtual Futures explores the ideas that the future lies in its ability to articulate the consequences of an increasingly synthetic and virtual world. New technologies like cyberspace, the internet, and Chaos theory are often discussed in the context of technology and its potential to liberate or in terms of technophobia. This collection examines both these ideas while also charting a new and controversial route through contemporary discourses on technology; a path that discusses the material evolution and the erotic relation between humans and machines.
Virtual Futures brings together diverse fields such as cyberfeminism, materialist philosophy, postmodern fiction, computing culture and performance art, with essays by Sadie Plant, Stelarc and Manuel de Landa (to name a few). The collection heralds the death of humanism and the ride of posthuman pragmatism. The contested zone of debate throughout these essays is the notion of the posthuman, or the possibility of the cyborg as the free human. Viewed by some writers as a threat to human life and humanism itself, others in the collection describe the posthuman as a critical perspective that anticipates the next step in evolution: the integration or synthesis of humans and machines, organic life and technology.
This view of technology and information is heavily influenced by Anglo American literature, especially cyberpunk, Pynchon and Ballard, as well as the materialist philosophies of Freud, Deleuze, and Haraway, Virtual Futures provides analyses by both established theorists and the most innovative new voices working in conjunction between the arts and contemporary technology.

By the dawn of the new millennium, robotics has undergone a major transf- mation in scope and dimensions. This expansion has been brought about by the maturity of the ?eld and the advances in its related technologies. From a largely dominant industrial focus, robotics has been rapidly expanding into the challenges of the human world. The new generation of robots is expected to safely and dependably co-habitat with humans in homes, workplaces, and c- munities, providing support in services, entertainment, education, healthcare, manufacturing, and assistance. Beyond its impact on physical robots, the body of knowledge robotics has produced is revealing a much wider rangeof applications reaching across diverse research areas and scienti?c disciplines, such as: biomechanics, haptics, n- rosciences, virtual simulation, animation, surgery, and sensor networks among others. In return, the challenges of the new emerging areas are proving an ab- dant source of stimulation and insights for the ?eld of robotics. It is indeed at the intersection of disciplines that the most striking advances happen. The goal of the series of Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR) is to bring, in a timely fashion, the latest advances and developments in robotics on thebasisoftheirsigni?canceandquality.Itisourhopethatthewiderdissemi- tion of research developments will stimulate more exchanges and collaborations among the research community and contribute to further advancement of this rapidly growing ?eld.

This book presents a systematic study of an emerging field in the development of multi-agent systems. In a wide spectrum of applications, it is now common to see that multiple agents work cooperatively to accomplish a complex task. The book assists the implementation of such applications by promoting the ability of multi-agent systems to track - using local communication only - the mean value of signals of interest, even when these change rapidly with time and when no individual agent has direct access to the average signal across the whole team; for example, when a better estimation/control performance of multi-robot systems has to be guaranteed, it is desirable for each robot to compute or track the averaged changing measurements of all the robots at any time by communicating with only local neighboring robots. The book covers three factors in successful distributed average tracking: algorithm design via nonsmooth and extended PI control; distributed average tracking for double-integrator, general-linear, Euler-Lagrange, and input-saturated dynamics; and applications in dynamic region-following formation control and distributed convex optimization. The book presents both the theory and applications in a general but self-contained manner, making it easy to follow for newcomers to the topic. The content presented fosters research advances in distributed average tracking and inspires future research directions in the field in academia and industry.

Robot calibration is the process of enhancing the accuracy of a robot by modifying its control software. This book provides a comprehensive treatment of the theory and implementation of robot calibration using computer vision technology. It is the only book to cover the entire process of vision-based robot calibration, including kinematic modeling, camera calibration, pose measurement, error parameter identification, and compensation. The book starts with an overview of available techniques for robot calibration, with an emphasis on vision-based techniques. It then describes various robot-camera systems. Since cameras are used as major measuring devices, camera calibration techniques are reviewed. Camera-Aided Robot Calibration studies the properties of kinematic modeling techniques that are suitable for robot calibration. It summarizes the well-known Denavit-Hartenberg (D-H) modeling convention and indicates the drawbacks of the D-H model for robot calibration. The book develops the Complete and Parametrically Continuous (CPC) model and the modified CPC model, that overcome the D-H model singularities. The error models based on these robot kinematic modeling conventions are presented. No other book available addresses the important, practical issue of hand/eye calibration. This book summarizes current research developments and demonstrates the pros and cons of various approaches in this area. The book discusses in detail the final stage of robot calibration - accuracy compensation - using the identified kinematic error parameters. It offers accuracy compensation algorithms, including the intuitive task-point redefinition and inverse-Jacobian algorithms and more advanced algorithms based on optimal control theory, which are particularly attractive for highly redundant manipulators. Camera-Aided Robot Calibration defines performance indices that are designed for off-line, optimal selection of measurement configurations. It then describes three approaches: closed-form, gradient-based, and statistical optimization. The included case study presents experimental results that were obtained by calibrating common industrial robots. Different stages of operation are detailed, illustrating the applicability of the suggested techniques for robot calibration. Appendices provide readers with preliminary materials for easier comprehension of the subject matter. Camera-Aided Robot Calibration is a must-have reference for researchers and practicing engineers-the only one with all the information!

This book presents best selected papers presented at the First Global Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Applications (GCAIA 2020), organized by the University of Engineering & Management, Jaipur, India, during 8-10 September 2020. The proceeding will be targeting the current research works in the domain of intelligent systems and artificial intelligence.

Mobile robotics is a cutting-edge research topic, which until recently has primarily focused on issues such as the design of controllers and robot hardware. The field is now ready to embrace theoretical methods from dynamical systems theory, statistics and system identification to produce quantitative analyses and computer models of robot-environment interaction.

Scientific Methods in Mobile Robotics: Quantitative Analysis of Agent Behaviour is a decisive step towards a theoretical understanding of the operation of autonomous mobile robotics. This book presents cutting-edge research results on the application of chaos theory, parametric and non-parametric statistics and dynamical systems theory in mobile robotics. It presents foundations of a theory of mobile robotics by providing a quantitative analysis of the interaction between robot, task and environment. Practical examples and case studies show how robot behaviour can be logged, modelled, analysed and interpreted. This new approach will aid the design of controllers, analysis of agent behaviour and the verification of experimental results.

As the first book to apply advanced scientific methods to the growing field of mobile robots, Scientific Methods in Mobile Robotics: Quantitative Analysis of Agent Behaviour will interest researchers, lecturers and post-graduate students in robotics, artificial intelligence and cognitive science.

Dynamic modelling is the fundamental building block for mechanism analysis, design, control and performance evaluation. One class of mechanism, legged machines, have multiple closed-chains established through intermittent ground contacts. Further, walking on natural terrain introduces nonlinear system compliance in the forms of foot sinkage and slippage. Closed-chains constrain the possible motions of a mechanism while compliances affect the redistrubution of forces throughout the system. "A General Model of Legged Locomotion on Natural Terain" develops a dynamic mechanism model that characterizes indeterminate interactions of a closed-chain robot with its environment. The approach is applicable to any closed-chain mechanism with sufficient contact compliance, although legged locomotion on natural terrain is chosen to illustrate the methodology. The modelling and solution procedures are general to all walking machine configurations, including bipeds, quadrupeds, beam-walkers and hopping machines. The book develops a functional model of legged locomotion that incorporates non-conservative foot-soil interactions in a nonlinear dynamic formulation. The model was applied to a prototype walking machine and simulations generated significant insights into walking machine performance on natural terrain. The simulations are original and essential contributions to the design, evaluation and control of these complex robot systems. While posed in the context of walking machines, the approach has wider applicability to rolling locomotors, co-operating manipulators, multi-fingered hands and prehensile agents.

Practical Field Robotics: A Systems Approach is an introductory book in the area of field robotics. It approaches the subject with a systems design methodology, showing the reader every important decision made in the process of planning, designing, making and testing a field robot. Key features: Takes a practical approach to field robotics, presenting the design and implementation of a robot from start to end Provides multiple robot examples including those used in in nuclear service, underground coal mining and mowing Bridges the gap between existing mathematically based texts and the real work that goes on in research labs all over the world Establishes a structured approach to thinking about hardware and software design Includes problems and is accompanied by a website providing supporting videos and additional problems

This book describes an effective decision-making and planning architecture for enhancing the navigation capabilities of automated vehicles in the presence of non-detailed, open-source maps. The system involves dynamically obtaining road corridors from map information and utilizing a camera-based lane detection system to update and enhance the navigable space in order to address the issues of intrinsic uncertainty and low-fidelity. An efficient and human-like local planner then determines, within a probabilistic framework, a safe motion trajectory, ensuring the continuity of the path curvature and limiting longitudinal and lateral accelerations. LiDAR-based perception is then used to identify the driving scenario, and subsequently re-plan the trajectory, leading in some cases to adjustment of the high-level route to reach the given destination. The method has been validated through extensive theoretical and experimental analyses, which are reported here in detail.

This book, a compilation of articles from Karl Lunt's long-running column for Nuts & Volts magazine, is a must-read for all beginner and intermediate-level robotics enthusiasts. Written in a friendly, straightforward manner, it contains entertaining anecdotes as well as practical advice and instruction. The author's stories about his various robotics projects will inspire you to try them yourself; and he shares his tips and code to help you. Possible projects range from transforming a TV remote control into a robot controller to building a robot from a drink cooler. You'll want to build them all; the author's enthusiasm for robotics is contagious!

The author compiles everything a student or experienced developmental engineer needs to know about the supporting technologies associated with the rapidly evolving field of robotics. From the table of contents: Design Considerations * Dead Reckoning * Odometry Sensors * Doppler and Inertial Navigation * Typical Mobility Configurations * Tactile and Proximity Sensing * Triangulation Ranging * Stereo Disparity * Active Triangulation * Active Stereoscopic * Hermies * Structured Light * Known Target Size * Time of Flight * Phase-Shift Measurement * Frequency Modulation * Interferometry * Range from Focus * Return Signal Intensity * Acoustical Energy * Electromagnetic Energy * Optical Energy * Microwave Radar * Collision Avoidance * Guidepath Following * Position-Location Systems * Ultrasonic and Optical Position-Location Systems * Wall, Doorway, andCeiling Referencing * Application-Specific Mission Sensors

This book contains the papers of the 7th International Workshop on Medical and Service Robots (MESROB) that was planned to be held in Basel, Switzerland, in July 2020. Since the conference could not be held due to the worldwide Corona pandemic, the proceedings are published in this book and presentation of the accepted papers will be postponed to next year's conference (MESROB 2021). The main topics of the workshop include: design of medical devices, kinematics and dynamics for medical robotics, exoskeletons and prostheses, anthropomorphic hands, therapeutic robots and rehabilitation, cognitive robots, humanoid and service robots, assistive robots and elderly assistance, surgical robots, human-robot interfaces, haptic devices, medical treatments, medical lasers, and surgical planning and navigation. The contributions, which were selected by means of a rigorous international peer-review process, highlight numerous exciting ideas that will spur novel research directions and foster multidisciplinary collaboration among different specialists, demonstrating that medical and service robotics will drive the technological and societal change in the coming decades.

These proceedings showcase the best papers selected from more than 500 submissions, and introduce readers to the latest research topics and developmental trends in the theory and application of MMESE. The integrated research topic Man-Machine-Environment System Engineering (MMESE) was first established in China by Professor Shengzhao Long in 1981, with direct support from one of the greatest modern Chinese scientists, Xuesen Qian. In a letter to Long from October 22nd, 1993, Qian wrote: "You have created a very important modern science and technology in China!" MMESE studies the optimum combination of man-machine-environment systems. In this system, "man" refers to the people in the workplace (e.g. operators, decision-makers); "machine" is the general name for any object controlled by man (including tools, machinery, computers, systems and technologies), and "environment" describes the specific working conditions under which man and machine interact (e.g. temperature, noise, vibration, hazardous gases, etc.). The three main goals of optimizing man-machine-environment systems are to ensure safety, efficiency and economy. These proceedings present interdisciplinary studies on concepts and methods from physiology, psychology, system engineering, computer science, environmental science, management, education, and other related disciplines. They offer a valuable resource for all researchers and professionals whose work involves interdisciplinary areas touching on MMESE subjects.

The primary aim of this volume is to provide researchers and engineers from both academic and industry with up-to-date coverage of new results in the field of robotic welding, intelligent systems and automation. The book is mainly based on papers selected from the 2020 International Conference on Robotic Welding, Intelligence and Automation (RWIA'2020) in Shanghai and Lanzhou, China. The articles show that the intelligentized welding manufacturing (IWM) is becoming an inevitable trend with the intelligentized robotic welding as the key technology. The volume is divided into four logical parts: Intelligent Techniques for Robotic Welding, Sensing of Arc Welding Processing, Modeling and Intelligent Control of Welding Processing, as well as Intelligent Control and its Applications in Engineering.

At the dawn of the new millennium, robotics is undergoing a major transformation in scope and dimension. From a largely dominant industrial focus, robotics is rapidly expanding into the challenges of unstructured environments. Interacting with, assi- ing, serving, and exploring with humans, the emerging robots will increasingly touch people and their lives. The goal of the Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR) series is to bring, in a timely fashion, the latest advances and developments in robotics on the basis of their significance and quality. It is our hope that the wider dissemination of research - velopments will stimulate more exchanges and collaborations among the research community and contribute to further advancement of this rapidly growing field. The European Robotics Symposium (EUROS) was launched in 2006 as an inter- tional scientific single-track event promoted by EURON, the European Robotics Network linking most of the European research teams since its inception in 2000. Since then, EUROS has found its parental home under STAR, together with the other thematic symposia devoted to excellence in robotics research: FSR, ISER, ISRR, WAFR.

Morality seems to be irrational. Moral agents spread co-operation - this is good for all, but even better for the amoral. If "the virtuous" finish last, one cannot defend morality as rational. "Artificial Morality" addresses and answers this objection, by showing how to build moral agents that succeed in competition with amoral agents. Professor Danielson's agents deviate from the received theory of rational choice. They are bound by moral principles and communicate their principles to others. The central thesis of the book is that these moral agents are more successful in crucial tests, and therefore rational. Why design agents? Human agents and the situations they create are too complex for an investigation of the most elementary aspects of rationality and morality. Danielson uses instead robots paired in abstract games that model social problems, such as environmental pollution, which reward co-operators but even more those that benefit from others' constraint. It is shown that virtuous, not vicious, robots do better in these virtual games. This book should be of interest to those working in the fields of philosophy, artificial intelligence and computer studies.

Morality seems to be irrational. Moral agents spread co-operation - this is good for all, but even better for the amoral. If "the virtuous" finish last, one cannot defend morality as rational. "Artificial Morality" addresses and answers this objection, by showing how to build moral agents that succeed in competition with amoral agents. Professor Danielson's agents deviate from the received theory of rational choice. They are bound by moral principles and communicate their principles to others. The central thesis of the book is that these moral agents are more successful in crucial tests, and therefore rational. Why design agents? Human agents and the situations they create are too complex for an investigation of the most elementary aspects of rationality and morality. Danielson uses instead robots paired in abstract games that model social problems, such as environmental pollution, which reward co-operators but even more those that benefit from others' constraint. It is shown that virtuous, not vicious, robots do better in these virtual games. "Artificial Morality" is inspired by artificial intelligence. The solution presented to the problem of rationality and morality is construct

A multiplicity of techniques and angles of attack are incorporated in 18 contributions describing recent developments in the structure, architecture, programming, control, and implementation of industrial robots capable of performing intelligent action and decision making. Annotation copyright Book

The book contains high quality papers presented in conference Recent Advances in Mechanical Infrastructure (ICRAM-2019) held at IITRAM, Ahmedabad, India from 20-21 April, 2019.The topics covered in this book are recent advances in thermal infrastructure, manufacturing infrastructure and infrastructure planning and design.

Introduces designers to hardware and software tools necessary for planning, laying out, and building advanced robot-based manufacturing cells surveying the available technology for creating innovative machines suitable to individual needs. Considers assembly system simulation, task-oriented programm