This book provides a thorough overview of cutting-edge research on electronics applications relevant to industry, the environment, and society at large. It covers a broad spectrum of application domains, from automotive to space and from health to security, while devoting special attention to the use of embedded devices and sensors for imaging, communication and control. The book is based on the 2016 ApplePies Conference, held in Rome, Italy in September 2016, which brought together researchers and stakeholders to consider the most significant current trends in the field of applied electronics and to debate visions for the future. Areas addressed by the conference included information communication technology; biotechnology and biomedical imaging; space; secure, clean and efficient energy; the environment; and smart, green and integrated transport. As electronics technology continues to develop apace, constantly meeting previously unthinkable targets, further attention needs to be directed toward the electronics applications and the development of systems that facilitate human activities. This book, written by industrial and academic professionals, represents a valuable contribution in this endeavor.

Indoor Navigation Strategies for Aerial Autonomous Systems presents the necessary and sufficient theoretical basis for those interested in working in unmanned aerial vehicles, providing three different approaches to mathematically represent the dynamics of an aerial vehicle. The book contains detailed information on fusion inertial measurements for orientation stabilization and its validation in flight tests, also proposing substantial theoretical and practical validation for improving the dropped or noised signals. In addition, the book contains different strategies to control and navigate aerial systems. The comprehensive information will be of interest to both researchers and practitioners working in automatic control, mechatronics, robotics, and UAVs, helping them improve research and motivating them to build a test-bed for future projects.

This book is a collection of papers on the state of the art in experimental robotics. Experimental Robotics is at the core of validating robotics research for both its systems science and theoretical foundations. Because robotics experiments are carried out on physical, complex machines, of which its controllers are subject to uncertainty, devising meaningful experiments and collecting statistically significant results, pose important and unique challenges in robotics. Robotics experiments serve as a unifying theme for robotics system science and algorithmic foundations. These observations have led to the creation of the International Symposia on Experimental Robotics. The papers in this book were presented at the 2002 International Symposium on Experimental Robotics.

Humanoid robotics have made remarkable progress since the dawn of robotics. So why don't we have humanoid robot assistants in day-to-day life yet? This book analyzes the keys to building a successful humanoid robot for field robotics, where collisions become an unavoidable part of the game. The

author argues that the design goal should be real anthropomorphism, as opposed to mere human-like appearance. He deduces three major characteristics to aim for when designing a humanoid robot, particularly robot hands:

_ Robustness against impacts

_ Fast dynamics

_ Human-like grasping and manipulation performance

Instead of blindly copying human anatomy, this book opts for a holistic design me-tho-do-lo-gy. It analyzes human hands and existing robot hands to elucidate the important functionalities that are the building blocks toward these necessary characteristics.They are the keys to designing an anthropomorphic robot hand, as illustrated in the high performance anthropomorphic Awiwi Hand presented in this book.

This is not only a handbook for robot hand designers. It gives a comprehensive survey and analysis of the state of the art in robot hands as well as the human anatomy. It is also aimed at researchers and roboticists interested in the underlying functionalities of hands, grasping and manipulation.

The methodology of functional abstraction is not limited to robot hands, it can also help realize a new generation of humanoid robots to accommodate a broader spectrum of the needs of human society."

Human Modelling for Bio-inspired Robotics: Mechanical Engineering in Assistive Technologies presents the most cutting-edge research outcomes in the area of mechanical and control aspects of human functions for macro-scale (human size) applications. Intended to provide researchers both in academia and industry with key content on which to base their developments, this book is organized and written by senior experts in their fields. Human Modeling for Bio-Inspired Robotics: Mechanical Engineering in Assistive Technologies offers a system-level investigation into human mechanisms that inspire the development of assistive technologies and humanoid robotics, including topics in modelling of anatomical, musculoskeletal, neural and cognitive systems, as well as motor skills, adaptation and integration. Each chapter is written by a subject expert and discusses its background, research challenges, key outcomes, application, and future trends. This book will be especially useful for academic and industry researchers in this exciting field, as well as graduate-level students to bring them up to speed with the latest technology in mechanical design and control aspects of the area. Previous knowledge of the fundamentals of kinematics, dynamics, control, and signal processing is assumed.

This book presents the proceedings of the 4th International Manufacturing Engineering Conference and 5th Asia Pacific Conference on Manufacturing Systems (iMEC-APCOMS 2019), held in Putrajaya, Malaysia, on 21-22 August 2019. Covering scientific research in the field of manufacturing engineering, with focuses on industrial engineering, materials, processes, the book appeals to researchers, academics, scientists, students, engineers and practitioners who are interested in the latest developments and applications related to manufacturing engineering.

This book features influential scholarly research and technical contributions, professional trajectories, disciplinary shifts, personal insights, and a combination of these from a group of remarkable women scholars within precision agriculture. The authors provide a holistic and critical overview of the field of precision agriculture (both crop and livestock), highlighting breakthroughs and impactful research led by women investigators including relevant technologies, decision making strategies, practices, applications, economics, opportunities and challenges. They discuss the urgent need for reduced cost, increased productivity, more optimal use of resources, and reduced impact on our environment. The leading female researchers contributing to this book are creating new technological advances that are revolutionizing agriculture. Focuses on advances in precision agriculture led by leading women researchers, scholars, and professionals; Provides insight into women's technical contributions in precision agriculture; Takes a holistic approach to precision agriculture, addressing both land and livestock applications.

If you have ever hiked up a steep hill to reach a viewpoint, you will know that sensing can involve the expenditure of effort. More generally, the choice of which movement an intelligent system chooses to make is usually based on information gleaned from sensors. But the information required to make the motion decision may not be immediately to hand, so the system . first has to plan a motion whose purpose is to acquire the needed sensor information. Again, this conforms to our everyday experience: I am in the woods and don't know which direction to go, so I climb up to the ridge to get my bearings; I am lost in a new town, so I plan to drive to the next junction where there is sure to be a roadsign, failing that I will ask someone who seems to be from the locality. Why, if experiences such as these are so familiar, has the problem only recently been recognised and studied in Robotics? One reason is that until quite recently Robotics research was dominated by work on robot arms with limited reach and fixed in a workcell.

It has been stated in psychology that human brain arranges information in a way that improves efficiency in performing common tasks, for example, information about our spatial environment is conveniently structured for efficient route finding. On the other hand, in computational sciences, the use of hierarchical information is well known for reducing the complexity of solving problems. This book studies hierarchical representations of large-scale space and presents a new model, called Multi-AH-graph, that uses multiple hierarchies of abstraction. It allows an agent to represent structural information acquired from the environment (elements such as objects, free space, etc., relations existing between them, such as proximity, similarity, etc. and other types of information, such as colors, shapes, etc). The Multi-AH-graph model extends a single hierarchy representation to a mUltiple hierarchy arrangement, which adapts better to a wider range of tasks, agents, and environments. We also present a system called CLAUDIA, which is an implementation of the task-driven paradigm for automatic construction of multiple abstractions: a set of hierarchies of abstraction will be "good" for an agent if it can reduce the cost of planning and performing certain tasks of the agent in the agent's world. CLAUDIA constructs multiple hierarchies (Multi-AH-graphs) for a given triple , trying to optimize their "goodness".

Novel perspectives on machine behaviour as it relates to behavioural science. A framework of terminology to empower discussion of AI within behavioural science. A compelling definition of hypernudging developed from AI and behavioural science principles.

Underwater robots play a significant role in ocean exploration. This book provides full coverage of the theoretical and practical aspects of bionic gliding underwater robots, including system design, modeling control, and motion planning. To overcome the inherent shortcomings of traditional underwater robots that can simultaneously lack maneuverability and endurance, a new type of robot, the bionic gliding underwater robot, has attracted much attention from scientists and engineers. On the one hand, by imitating the appearance and swimming mechanisms of natural creatures, bionic gliding underwater robots achieve high maneuverability, swimming efficiency, and strong concealment. On the other hand, borrowing from the buoyancy adjustment systems of underwater gliders, bionic gliding underwater robots can obtain strong endurance, which is significant in practical applications. Taking gliding robotic dolphin and fish as examples, the designed prototypes and proposed methods are discussed, offering valuable insights into the development of next-generation underwater robots that are well suited for various oceanic applications. This book will be of great interest to students and professionals alike in the field of robotics or intelligent control. It will also be a great reference for engineers or technicians who deal with the development of underwater robots.

This book provides basic knowledge of advanced microcontrollers associated with large systems and devices. The book determines the feasibility of the advanced controllers from an Industry 4.0 perspective, which is associated with Integrated Internet of Things (IIoT) when developing larger smart cities. Also, it describes potential applications, key areas of Industry 4.0, and controlling applications with microcontrollers. Chapters include IoT with integrated control applications in smart city paradigm; agriculture, public safety, women and child care & welfare; healthcare, water management, government and administration; environmental impact, energy with management of information systems; and safety, education, transportation systems with advanced controllers.

The proceedings present selected research papers from the CIAC2019, held in Jiangsu, China on September 20-22, 2019. It covers a wide range of topics including intelligent control, robotics, artificial intelligence, pattern recognition, unmanned systems, IoT and machine learning. It includes original research and the latest advances in the field of intelligent automation. Engineers and researchers from academia, industry, and government can gain valuable insights into solutions combining ideas from multiple disciplines in this field.

Computers are already approving financial transactions, controlling electrical supplies, and driving trains. Soon, service robots will be taking care of the elderly in their homes, and military robots will have their own targeting and firing protocols. Colin Allen and Wendell Wallach argue that as robots take on more and more responsibility, they must be programmed with moral decision-making abilities, for our own safety. Taking a fast paced tour through the latest thinking about philosophical ethics and artificial intelligence, the authors argue that even if full moral agency for machines is a long way off, it is already necessary to start building a kind of functional morality, in which artificial moral agents have some basic ethical sensitivity. But the standard ethical theories don't seem adequate, and more socially engaged and engaging robots will be needed. As the authors show, the quest to build machines that are capable of telling right from wrong has begun.
Moral Machines is the first book to examine the challenge of building artificial moral agents, probing deeply into the nature of human decision making and ethics.

This book provides a review of the state-of-the-art of agricultural robotics in different aspects of PA, the goals, and the gaps. The book introduces the area of Agricultural Robotics for Precision Agriculture (PA) specifically the conditions and limitations for implementing robots in this field and presents the concepts, principles, required abilities, components, characteristics and performance measures, conditions, and rules for robots in PA.

This book covers a variety of problems, and offers solutions to some, in: Statistical state and parameter estimation in nonlinear stochastic dynamical system in both the classical and quantum scenarios Propagation of electromagnetic waves in a plasma as described by the Boltzmann Kinetic Transport Equation Classical and Quantum General Relativity It will be of use to Engineering undergraduate students interested in analysing the motion of robots subject to random perturbation, and also to research scientists working in Quantum Filtering.

The biennial CONTROLO conferences are the main events promoted by The CONTROLO 2016 - 12th Portuguese Conference on Automatic Control, Guimaraes, Portugal, September 14th to 16th, was organized by Algoritmi, School of Engineering, University of Minho, in partnership with INESC TEC, and promoted by the Portuguese Association for Automatic Control - APCA, national member organization of the International Federation of Automatic Control - IFAC. The seventy-five papers published in this volume cover a wide range of topics. Thirty-one of them, of a more theoretical nature, are distributed among the first five parts: Control Theory; Optimal and Predictive Control; Fuzzy, Neural and Genetic Control; Modeling and Identification; Sensing and Estimation. The papers go from cutting-edge theoretical research to innovative control applications and show expressively how Automatic Control can be used to increase the well being of people.

This book contains the proceedings of the 10th FSR, (Field and Service Robotics) which is the leading single-track conference on applications of robotics in challenging environments. The 10th FSR was held in Toronto, Canada from 23-26 June 2015. The book contains 42 full-length, peer-reviewed papers organized into a variety of topics: Aquatic, Vision, Planetary, Aerial, Underground, and Systems. The goal of the book and the conference is to report and encourage the development and experimental evaluation of field and service robots, and to generate a vibrant exchange and discussion in the community. Field robots are non-factory robots, typically mobile, that operate in complex and dynamic environments: on the ground (Earth or other planets), under the ground, underwater, in the air or in space. Service robots are those that work closely with humans to help them with their lives. The first FSR was held in Canberra, Australia, in 1997. Since that first meeting, FSR has been held roughly every two years, cycling through Asia, Americas, Europe.

Human Centered Robotic Systems must be able to interact with humans such that the burden of adaptation lies with the machine and not with the human. This book collates a set of prominent papers presented during a two-day conference on "Human Centered Robotic Systems" held on November 19-20, 2009, in Bielefeld University, Germany. The aim of the conference was to bring together researchers from the areas of robotics, computer science, psychology, linguistics, and biology who are all focusing on a shared goal of cognitive interaction. A survey of recent approaches, the current state-of-the-art, and possible future directions in this interdisciplinary field is presented. It provides practitioners and scientists with an up-to-date introduction to this dynamic field, with methods and solutions that are likely to significantly impact on our future lives.

This volume presents a collection of papers presented at the 16th International Symposium of Robotic Research (ISRR). ISRR is the biennial meeting of the International Foundation of Robotic Research (IFRR) and its 16th edition took place in Singapore over the period 16th to 19th December 2013. The ISRR is the longest running series of robotics research meetings and dates back to the very earliest days of robotics as a research discipline. This 16th ISRR meeting was held in the 30th anniversary year of the very first meeting which took place in Bretton Woods (New Hampshire, USA) in August 1983., and represents thirty years at the forefront of ideas in robotics research. As for the previous symposia, ISRR 2013 followed up on the successful concept of a mixture of invited contributions and open submissions. 16 of the contributions were invited contributions from outstanding researchers selected by the IFRR officers and the program committee, and the other contributions were chosen among the open submissions after peer review. This selection process resulted in a truly excellent technical program which featured some of the very best of robotic research. These papers were presented in a single-track interactive format which enables real conversations between speakers and the audience. The symposium contributions contained in this volume report on a variety of new robotics research results covering a broad spectrum organized into traditional ISRR categories: control; design; intelligence and learning; manipulation; perception; and planning.

This volume explores the intersection of robust intelligence (RI) and trust in autonomous systems across multiple contexts among autonomous hybrid systems, where hybrids are arbitrary combinations of humans, machines and robots. To better understand the relationships between artificial intelligence (AI) and RI in a way that promotes trust between autonomous systems and human users, this book explores the underlying theory, mathematics, computational models, and field applications. It uniquely unifies the fields of RI and trust and frames it in a broader context, namely the effective integration of human-autonomous systems. A description of the current state of the art in RI and trust introduces the research work in this area. With this foundation, the chapters further elaborate on key research areas and gaps that are at the heart of effective human-systems integration, including workload management, human computer interfaces, team integration and performance, advanced analytics, behavior modeling, training, and, lastly, test and evaluation. Written by international leading researchers from across the field of autonomous systems research, Robust Intelligence and Trust in Autonomous Systems dedicates itself to thoroughly examining the challenges and trends of systems that exhibit RI, the fundamental implications of RI in developing trusted relationships with present and future autonomous systems, and the effective human systems integration that must result for trust to be sustained. Contributing authors: David W. Aha, Jenny Burke, Joseph Coyne, M.L. Cummings, Munjal Desai, Michael Drinkwater, Jill L. Drury, Michael W. Floyd, Fei Gao, Vladimir Gontar, Ayanna M. Howard, Mo Jamshidi, W.F. Lawless, Kapil Madathil, Ranjeev Mittu, Arezou Moussavi, Gari Palmer, Paul Robinette, Behzad Sadrfaridpour, Hamed Saeidi, Kristin E. Schaefer, Anne Selwyn, Ciara Sibley, Donald A. Sofge, Erin Solovey, Aaron Steinfeld, Barney Tannahill, Gavin Taylor, Alan R. Wagner, Yue Wang, Holly A. Yanco, Dan Zwillinger.

Mobile Robotics presents the different tools and methods that enable the design of mobile robots; a discipline booming with the emergence of flying drones, underwater robots mine detectors, sailboats robots and robot vacuum cleaners. Illustrated with simulations, exercises and examples, this book describes the fundamentals of modeling robots, developing the actuator concepts, sensor, control and guidance. Three-dimensional simulation tools are also explored, as well as the theoretical basis for reliable localization of robots within their environment.

Visual Perception and Control of Underwater Robots covers theories and applications from aquatic visual perception and underwater robotics. Within the framework of visual perception for underwater operations, image restoration, binocular measurement, and object detection are addressed. More specifically, the book includes adversarial critic learning for visual restoration, NSGA-II-based calibration for binocular measurement, prior knowledge refinement for object detection, analysis of temporal detection performance, as well as the effect of the aquatic data domain on object detection. With the aid of visual perception technologies, two up-to-date underwater robot systems are demonstrated. The first system focuses on underwater robotic operation for the task of object collection in the sea. The second is an untethered biomimetic robotic fish with a camera stabilizer, its control methods based on visual tracking. The authors provide a self-contained and comprehensive guide to understand underwater visual perception and control. Bridging the gap between theory and practice in underwater vision, the book features implementable algorithms, numerical examples, and tests, where codes are publicly available. Additionally, the mainstream technologies covered in the book include deep learning, adversarial learning, evolutionary computation, robust control, and underwater bionics. Researchers, senior undergraduate and graduate students, and engineers dealing with underwater visual perception and control will benefit from this work.

With the intriguing development of technologies in several industries, along with the advent of ubiquitous computational resources, there are now ample opportunities to develop innovative computational technologies in order to solve a wide range of issues concerning uncertainty, imprecision, and vagueness in various real-life problems. The challenge of blending modern computational techniques with traditional computing methods has inspired researchers and academics alike to focus on developing innovative computational techniques. In the near future, computational techniques may provide vital solutions by effectively using evolving technologies such as computer vision, natural language processing, deep learning, machine learning, scientific computing, and computational vision. A vast number of intelligent computational algorithms are emerging, along with increasing computational power, which has significantly expanded the potential for developing intelligent applications. These proceedings of the International Conference on Inventive Computation Technologies [ICICT 2019] cover innovative computing applications in the areas of data mining, big data processing, information management, and security.