A famous French writer, Anatole France, liked to say, "The future is a convenient place to position our dreams" (1927). Indeed, this remark gains full meaning when one considers the history of what we call today "Robotics." For more than 3000 years, mankind has dreamt ofthe possibility of arti ficial machines that would have all the advantages of human slaves without any of their drawbacks. With the developments in technology since the end of World War II, mainly with the explosive progress of computers, it was thought we might at last succeed in transforming this everlasting dream into reality. In the mind of scientists of the 1950's, to make such intelligent and autonomous machines before the year 2000 seemed a small challenge: it was obvious, thanks to computers and Artificial Intelligence. But, in spite of progress in some directions, we must admit that the dream remains a dream and that the basic problems denying us a successful issue are not solved. In fact, if we except industrial robots, only calling for classical automata theory, the main advanced result concerning autonomous and intelligent machines is related to some understanding of reasons why we have failed during the past years."

Distributed robotics is an interdisciplinary and rapidly growing area, combining research in computer science, communication and control systems, and electrical and mechanical engineering. Distributed robotic systems can autonomously solve complex problems while operating in highly unstructured real-world environments. They are expected to play a major role in addressing future societal needs, for example, by improving environmental impact assessment, food supply, transportation, manufacturing, security, and emergency and rescue services. The goal of the International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS) is to provide a forum for scientific advances in the theory and practice of distributed autonomous robotic systems. This volume of proceedings include 47 original contributions presented at the 13th International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS 2016), which was held at the Natural History Museum in London, UK, from November 7th to 9th, 2016. The selected papers in this volume are authored by leading researchers from around the world, thereby providing a broad coverage and perspective of the state-of-the-art technologies, algorithms, system architectures, and applications in distributed robotic systems. The book is organized into seven parts, representative of critical long-term and emerging research thrusts in the multi-robot community: Distributed Coverage and Exploration; Multi-Robot Control; Multi-Robot Estimation; Multi-Robot Planning; Modular Robots and Smart Materials; Swarm Robotics; and Multi-Robot Systems in Applications.

The International Symposium on Experimental Robotics (ISER) is a series of bi-annual meetings which are organized in a rotating fashion around North America, Europe and Asia/Oceania. The goal of ISER is to provide a forum for research in robotics that focuses on novelty of theoretical contributions validated by experimental results. The meetings are conceived to bring together, in a small group setting, researchers from around the world who are in the forefront of experimental robotics research.

This unique reference presents the latest advances across the various fields of robotics, with ideas that are not only conceived conceptually but also verified experimentally. It collects contributions on the current developments and new directions in the field of experimental robotics, which are based on the papers presented at the Ninth ISER held in Singapore.

This open access book is a compilation of selected papers from 2020 DigitalFUTURES-The 2nd International Conference on Computational Design and Robotic Fabrication (CDRF 2020). The book focuses on novel techniques for computational design and robotic fabrication. The contents make valuable contributions to academic researchers, designers, and engineers in the industry. As well, readers will encounter new ideas about understanding intelligence in architecture.

This volume contains the papers of the 1st Workshop IFToMM for Sustainable Development Goals (I4SDG), held online on November 25-26, 2021. The main topics of the workshop include the aspects of theory, design and practice of mechanism and machine science which are instrumental in reaching a sustainable development, such as: biomechanical engineering, sustainable energy systems, robotics and mechatronics, green tribology, computational kinematics, dynamics of machinery, industrial applications of mechanism design, gearing and transmissions, multibody dynamics rotor dynamics, vibrations, humanitarian engineering, and socio-technical systems for sustainable and inclusive development. 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.

This book presents the proceedings of the 31st International Conference on Robotics in Alpe-Adria-Danube Region (RAAD), held in Klagenfurt, Austria, June 8-10, 2022. It gathers contributions by researchers from several countries on all major areas of robotic research, development and innovation, as well as new applications and current trends. The topics covered include: novel designs and applications of robotic systems, intelligent cooperating and service robots, advanced robot control, human-robot interfaces, robot vision systems, mobile robots, humanoid and walking robots, bio-inspired and swarm robotic systems, aerial, underwater and spatial robots, robots for ambient assisted living, medical robots and bionic prostheses, cognitive robots, cloud robotics, ethical and social issues in robotics, etc. Given its scope, the book offers a source of information and inspiration for researchers seeking to improve their work and gather new ideas for future developments. Chapter "The Use of Robots in Aquatic Biomonitoring with Special Focus on Biohybrid Entities" is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Artificial intelligence and related technologies are changing both the law and the legal profession. In particular, technological advances in fields ranging from machine learning to more advanced robots, including sensors, virtual realities, algorithms, bots, drones, self-driving cars, and more sophisticated "human-like" robots are creating new and previously unimagined challenges for regulators. These advances also give rise to new opportunities for legal professionals to make efficiency gains in the delivery of legal services. With the exponential growth of such technologies, radical disruption seems likely to accelerate in the near future. This collection brings together a series of contributions by leading scholars in the newly emerging field of artificial intelligence, robotics, and the law. The aim of the book is to enrich legal debates on the social meaning and impact of this type of technology. The distinctive feature of the contributions presented in this edition is that they address the impact of these technological developments in a number of different fields of law and from the perspective of diverse jurisdictions. Moreover, the authors utilize insights from multiple related disciplines, in particular social theory and philosophy, in order to better understand and address the legal challenges created by AI. Therefore, the book will contribute to interdisciplinary debates on disruptive new AI technologies and the law.

Rigid Body Dynamics Algorithms presents the subject of computational rigid-body dynamics through the medium of spatial 6D vector notation. It explains how to model a rigid-body system and how to analyze it, and it presents the most comprehensive collection of the best rigid-body dynamics algorithms to be found in a single source. The use of spatial vector notation greatly reduces the volume of algebra which allows systems to be described using fewer equations and fewer quantities. It also allows problems to be solved in fewer steps, and solutions to be expressed more succinctly. In addition algorithms are explained simply and clearly, and are expressed in a compact form. The use of spatial vector notation facilitates the implementation of dynamics algorithms on a computer: shorter, simpler code that is easier to write, understand and debug, with no loss of efficiency.

Unique features include:

Rigid Body Dynamics Algorithms is aimed at readers who already have some elementary knowledge of rigid-body dynamics, and are interested in calculating the dynamics of a rigid-body system. This book serves as an algorithms recipe book as well as a guide to the analysis and deeper understanding ofrigid-body systems.

"Compensating for Quasi-periodic Motion in Robotic Radiosurgery" outlines the techniques needed to accurately track and compensate for respiratory and pulsatory motion during robotic radiosurgery. The algorithms presented within the book aid in the treatment of tumors that move during respiration.
In Chapters 1 and 2, the book introduces the concept of stereotactic body radiation therapy, motion compensation strategies and the clinical state-of-the-art. In Chapters 3 through 5, the author describes and evaluates new methods for motion prediction, for correlating external motion to internal organ motion, and for the evaluation of these algorithms' output based on an unprecedented amount of real clinical data. Finally, Chapter 6 provides a brief introduction into currently investigated, open questions and further fields of research.
"Compensating for Quasi-periodic Motion in Robotic Radiosurgery" targets researchers working in the related fields of surgical oncology, artificial intelligence, robotics and more. Advanced-level students will also find this book valuable."

- the author is in the BIMA Hall of Fame and is Chief Technology & Innovation Officer at Ernst & Young - the book explains the current state of AI and how it is governed, as well as detailing five potential futures involving AI and providing a clear Roadmap to manage the future of AI - easy and fun to read

Tactile Sensing, Skill Learning and Robotic Dexterous Manipulation focuses on cross-disciplinary lines of research and groundbreaking research ideas in three research lines: tactile sensing, skill learning and dexterous control. The book introduces recent work about human dexterous skill representation and learning, along with discussions of tactile sensing and its applications on unknown objects' property recognition and reconstruction. Sections also introduce the adaptive control schema and its learning by imitation and exploration. Other chapters describe the fundamental part of relevant research, paying attention to the connection among different fields and showing the state-of-the-art in related branches. The book summarizes the different approaches and discusses the pros and cons of each. Chapters not only describe the research but also include basic knowledge that can help readers understand the proposed work, making it an excellent resource for researchers and professionals who work in the robotics industry, haptics and in machine learning.

5G IoT and Edge Computing for Smart Healthcare addresses the importance of a 5G IoT and Edge-Cognitive-Computing-based system for the successful implementation and realization of a smart-healthcare system. The book provides insights on 5G technologies, along with intelligent processing algorithms/processors that have been adopted for processing the medical data that would assist in addressing the challenges in computer-aided diagnosis and clinical risk analysis on a real-time basis. Each chapter is self-sufficient, solving real-time problems through novel approaches that help the audience acquire the right knowledge. With the progressive development of medical and communication - computer technologies, the healthcare system has seen a tremendous opportunity to support the demand of today's new requirements.

Classical optimization methodologies fall short in very large and complex domains. In this book is suggested a different approach to optimization, an approach which is based on the 'blind' and heuristic mechanisms of evolution and population genetics. The genetic approach to optimization introduces a new philosophy to optimization in general, but particularly to engineering. By introducing the 'genetic' approach to robot trajectory generation, much can be learned about the adaptive mechanisms of evolution and how these mechanisms can solve real world problems. It is suggested further that optimization at large may benefit greatly from the adaptive optimization exhibited by natural systems when attempting to solve complex optimization problems, and that the determinism of classical optimization models may sometimes be an obstacle in nonlinear systems.This book is unique in that it reports in detail on an application of genetic algorithms to a real world problem, and explains the considerations taken during the development work. Futhermore, it addresses robotics in two new aspects: the optimization of the trajectory specification which has so far been done by human operators and has not received much attention for both automation and optimization, and the introduction of a heuristic strategy to a field predominated by deterministic strategies.

This journal-like book series includes edited volumes to rapidly report and spread the latest technological results, new scientific discovery and valuable applied researches in the fields concerning offshore robotics as well as promote international academic exchange. We aim to make it one of the premier comprehensive academic publications of world offshore vehicle and robotics community. The audience of the series will include the scholars, researchers, engineers and students who are interested in fields of autonomous marine vehicles and robotics, including autonomous surface vehicles, autonomous underwater vehicles, remote operation vehicles, marine bionics, marine vehicle modeling, guidance, navigation, control and cooperation and so on.

This book reports on the state of the art in the field of aerial-aquatic locomotion, focusing on the main challenges concerning the translation of this important ability from nature to synthetic systems, and describing innovative engineering solutions that have been applied in practice by the authors at the Aerial Robotics Lab of Imperial College London. After a general introduction to aerial-aquatic locomotion in nature, and a summary of the most important engineering achievements, the book introduces readers to important physical and mathematical aspects of the multimodal locomotion problem. Besides the basic physics involved in aerial-aquatic locomotion, the role of different phenomena happening in fluids, or those due to structural mechanics effects or to power provision, are presented in depth, across a large dimension range, from millimeters to hundreds of meters. In turn, a practice-oriented discussion on the obstacles and opportunities of miniaturization, for both robots and animals is carried out. This is followed by applied engineering considerations, which describe relevant hardware considerations involved in propulsion, control, communication and fabrication. Different case studies are analyzed in detail, reporting on the latest research carried out by the authors, and covering topics such as propulsive aquatic escape, the challenging mechanics of water impact, and a hybrid sailing and flying aircraft. Offering extensive and timely information on the design, construction and operation of small-scale robots, and on multimodal locomotion, this book provides researchers, students and professionals with a comprehensive and timely reference guide to the topic of aerial-aquatic locomotion, and the relevant bioinspired approaches. It is also expected to inspire future research and foster a stronger multidisciplinary discussion in the field.

This book is a collection of scienti c papers presented at the German Workshop on Robotics-a convention of researchers from academia and industry working on mathematical and algorithmic foundations of robotics, on the design and ana- sis of robotic systems as well as on robotic applications. As a new event of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur .. Robotik (DGR, German Robotics Society), the workshop took place at the Technische Universitat .. Carolo-Wilhelmina zu Braunschweig on June 9-10, 2009. Covering some of the most important ongoing robotics research topics, this v- ume contains 31 carefully selected and discussed contributions. All of them were presented at the workshop that was attended by 80 researchers representing a wide range of research areas within robotics. The papers are organized in ten scienti c tracks: Kinematic and Dynamic Modeling, Motion Generation, Sensor Integration, Robot Vision, Robot Programming, Humanoid Robots, Grasping, Medical Rob- ics, AutonomousHelicopters,andRobotApplications.Two invitedtalksbyAntonio Bicchi and Atsuo Takanishi presented surveys of research activities in the elds of human-robotinteraction and humanoid robotics. The Program Committee was comprised of Karsten Berns, Oliver Brock, W- fram Burgard, Martin Buss, Thomas Christaller, Ru ..diger Dillmann, Bernd Fin- meyer, Martin Hagel .. e, Bodo Heimann, Dominik Henrich, Gerd Hirzinger, Alois Knoll, Helge-Bjorn .. Kuntze, Gisbert Lawitzky, Jur .. gen Rossmann, Roland Siegwart, Markus Vincze, and Heinz Worn...After an extensive review and discussion process, the committee met at February 17, 2009, and composed the scienti c program from a pool of 49 submissions.

The past decade has seen tremendous interest in the production and refinement of unmanned aerial vehicles, both fixed-wing, such as airplanes and rotary-wing, such as helicopters and vertical takeoff and landing vehicles. This book provides a diversified survey of research and development on small and miniature unmanned aerial vehicles of both fixed and rotary wing designs. From historical background to proposed new applications, this is the most comprehensive reference yet.

The book comprises three parts. The first part provides the state-of-the-art of robots for endoscopy (endorobots), including devices already available in the market and those that are still at the R&D stage. The second part focusses on the engineering design; it includes the use of polymers for soft robotics, comparing their advantages and limitations with those of their more rigid counterparts. The third part includes the project management of a multidisciplinary team, the health cost of current technology, and how a cost-effective device can have a substantial impact on the market. It also includes information on data governance, ethical and legal frameworks, and all steps needed to make this new technology available.

Technology has created innovative new prospects for manufacturing industries with Industry 4.0 and has helped further the growth of the manufacturing sector. This book focuses on the next stage, which is Industry 5.0, and the steps in taking automation to that next level by increasing processes and operational efficiency, as well as reducing workforce size. Industry 5.0: The Future of the Industrial Economy discusses the integration of product, process, machine, software, and industrial robots in realizing Industry 5.0. It covers the dual integration of human intelligence with machine intelligence and reviews the results of making use of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The creation of a new category of robots named Collaborative Robots (Cobots) specifically designed to speed up the manufacturing process and profitability is explored. This book also explores how to reduce waste in product design through the manufacturing process and offers more personalized and customized products for customers. Manufacturing, design, industrial, and mechanical engineers, as well as practicing professionals, will find this book of interest. Management executives, CIOs, CEOs, IT professionals, and academics will also find something of value in this book that takes Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0 and beyond.

By the dawn of the new millennium,robotics has undergonea major transformation in scope and dimensions. This expansion has been broughtabout by the maturity of the ?eld and the advances in its related technologies. From a largely dominant - dustrial focus, roboticshas been rapidly expandinginto the challengesof the human world.The new generationofrobotsis expectedto safely anddependablyco-habitat withhumansinhomes,workplaces,andcommunities,providingsupportinservices, entertainment, education, healthcare, manufacturing, and assistance. Beyond its impact on physical robots, the body of knowledge robotics has p- duced is revealing a much wider range of applications reaching across diverse research areas and scienti?c disciplines, such as: biomechanics, haptics, neu- sciences, virtual simulation, animation, surgery, and sensor networks among others. In return, the challenges of the new emerging areas are proving an abundant 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 the basis of their signi?cance and quality. It is our hope that the wider dissemination of research developmentswill stimulate more exchangesand collaborationsamongthe research community and contribute to further advancement of this rapidly growing ?eld. This volume is the outcome of the eight edition of the biennial Workshop Al- rithmic Foundations of Robotics (WAFR). Edited by G. Chirikjian, H. Choset, M.

This monograph presents the development of novel model-based methodologies for engineering self-organized and self-assembled systems. The work bridges the gap between statistical mechanics and control theory by tackling a number of challenges for a class of distributed systems involving a specific type of constitutive components, namely referred to as Smart Minimal Particles. The results described in the volume are expected to lead to more robust, dependable, and inexpensive distributed systems such as those endowed with complex and advanced sensing, actuation, computation, and communication capabilities.

21st Century Kinematics focuses on algebraic problems in the analysis and synthesis of mechanisms and robots, compliant mechanisms, cable-driven systems and protein kinematics. The specialist contributors provide the background for a series of presentations at the 2012 NSF Workshop. The text shows how the analysis and design of innovative mechanical systems yield increasingly complex systems of polynomials, characteristic of those systems. In doing so, it takes advantage of increasingly sophisticated computational tools developed for numerical algebraic geometry and demonstrates the now routine derivation of polynomial systems dwarfing the landmark problems of even the recent past. The 21st Century Kinematics workshop echoes the NSF-supported 1963 Yale Mechanisms Teachers Conference that taught a generation of university educators the fundamental principles of kinematic theory. As such these proceedings will provide admirable supporting theory for a graduate course in modern kinematics and should be of considerable interest to researchers in mechanical design, robotics or protein kinematics or who have a broader interest in algebraic geometry and its applications.

This book introduces intelligent manufacturing system planning, design, and implementation, through the deep integration of the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence, and manufacturing process, to promote the transformation and upgrading of enterprises. This book shows the implementation of intelligent manufacturing process with 12 benchmarking enterprises, discusses the planning, implementation, and control of intelligent manufacturing system technology and method of theory, and analyzes the five hierarchies of intelligent manufacturing system, the five stages of life cycle, and five kinds of intelligent depth. The content can cultivate the reader's vocational ability to develop intelligent solutions and implementation based on complex, uncertain environment needs. This book will be interesting and useful to a wide readership in the various fields of management, information science, and engineering science.

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 2019 International Workshop on Intelligentized Welding Manufacturing (IWIWM'2019) in USA. 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.