It has long been the goal of engineers to develop tools that enhance our ability to do work, increase our quality of life, or perform tasks that are either beyond our ability, too hazardous, or too tedious to be left to human efforts. Autonomous mobile robots are the culmination of decades of research and development, and their potential is seemingly unlimited. Roadmap to the Future Serving as the first comprehensive reference on this interdisciplinary technology, Autonomous Mobile Robots: Sensing, Control, Decision Making, and Applications authoritatively addresses the theoretical, technical, and practical aspects of the field. The book examines in detail the key components that form an autonomous mobile robot, from sensors and sensor fusion to modeling and control, map building and path planning, and decision making and autonomy, and to the final integration of these components for diversified applications. Trusted Guidance A duo of accomplished experts leads a team of renowned international researchers and professionals who provide detailed technical reviews and the latest solutions to a variety of important problems. They share hard-won insight into the practical implementation and integration issues involved in developing autonomous and open robotic systems, along with in-depth examples, current and future applications, and extensive illustrations. For anyone involved in researching, designing, or deploying autonomous robotic systems, Autonomous Mobile Robots is the perfect resource.

Apply Sliding Mode Theory to Solve Control Problems Interest in SMC has grown rapidly since the first edition of this book was published. This second edition includes new results that have been achieved in SMC throughout the past decade relating to both control design methodology and applications. In that time, Sliding Mode Control (SMC) has continued to gain increasing importance as a universal design tool for the robust control of linear and nonlinear electro-mechanical systems. Its strengths result from its simple, flexible, and highly cost-effective approach to design and implementation. Most importantly, SMC promotes inherent order reduction and allows for the direct incorporation of robustness against system uncertainties and disturbances. These qualities lead to dramatic improvements in stability and help enable the design of high-performance control systems at low cost. Written by three of the most respected experts in the field, including one of its originators, this updated edition of Sliding Mode Control in Electro-Mechanical Systems reflects developments in the field over the past decade. It builds on the solid fundamentals presented in the first edition to promote a deeper understanding of the conventional SMC methodology, and it examines new design principles in order to broaden the application potential of SMC. SMC is particularly useful for the design of electromechanical systems because of its discontinuous structure. In fact, where the hardware of many electromechanical systems (such as electric motors) prescribes discontinuous inputs, SMC becomes the natural choice for direct implementation. This book provides a unique combination of theory, implementation issues, and examples of real-life applications reflective of the authors' own industry-leading work in the development of robotics, automobiles, and other technological breakthroughs.

Bipedal locomotion is among the most difficult challenges in control engineering. Most books treat the subject from a quasi-static perspective, overlooking the hybrid nature of bipedal mechanics. Feedback Control of Dynamic Bipedal Robot Locomotion is the first book to present a comprehensive and mathematically sound treatment of feedback design for achieving stable, agile, and efficient locomotion in bipedal robots. In this unique and groundbreaking treatise, expert authors lead you systematically through every step of the process, including: -Mathematical modeling of walking and running gaits in planar robots -Analysis of periodic orbits in hybrid systems -Design and analysis of feedback systems for achieving stable periodic motions -Algorithms for synthesizing feedback controllers -Detailed simulation examples -Experimental implementations on two bipedal test beds The elegance of the authors' approach is evident in the marriage of control theory and mechanics, uniting control-based presentation and mathematical custom with a mechanics-based approach to the problem and computational rendering. Concrete examples and numerous illustrations complement and clarify the mathematical discussion. A supporting Web site offers links to videos of several experiments along with MATLAB(R) code for several of the models. This one-of-a-kind book builds a solid understanding of the theoretical and practical aspects of truly dynamic locomotion in planar bipedal robots.

It has long been the goal of engineers to develop tools that enhance our ability to do work, increase our quality of life, or perform tasks that are either beyond our ability, too hazardous, or too tedious to be left to human efforts. Autonomous mobile robots are the culmination of decades of research and development, and their potential is seemingly unlimited. Roadmap to the Future Serving as the first comprehensive reference on this interdisciplinary technology, Autonomous Mobile Robots: Sensing, Control, Decision Making, and Applications authoritatively addresses the theoretical, technical, and practical aspects of the field. The book examines in detail the key components that form an autonomous mobile robot, from sensors and sensor fusion to modeling and control, map building and path planning, and decision making and autonomy, and to the final integration of these components for diversified applications. Trusted Guidance A duo of accomplished experts leads a team of renowned international researchers and professionals who provide detailed technical reviews and the latest solutions to a variety of important problems. They share hard-won insight into the practical implementation and integration issues involved in developing autonomous and open robotic systems, along with in-depth examples, current and future applications, and extensive illustrations. For anyone involved in researching, designing, or deploying autonomous robotic systems, Autonomous Mobile Robots is the perfect resource.

Mobile manipulators combine the advantages of mobile platforms and robotic arms, extending their operational range and functionality to large spaces and remote, demanding, and/or dangerous environments. They also bring complexity and difficulty in dynamic modeling and control system design. However, advances in nonlinear system analysis and control system design offer powerful tools and concepts for the control of mobile manipulator systems. Fundamentals in Modeling and Control of Mobile Manipulators presents a thorough theoretical treatment of several fundamental problems for mobile robotic manipulators. The book integrates fresh concepts and state-of-the-art results to systematically examine kinematics and dynamics, motion generation, feedback control, coordination, and cooperation. From this treatment, the authors form a basic theoretical framework for a mobile robotic manipulator that extends the theory of nonlinear control and applies to more realistic problems. Drawing on their research over the past ten years, the authors propose novel control theory concepts and techniques to tackle key problems. Topics covered include kinematic and dynamic modeling, control of nonholonomic systems, path planning that considers motion and manipulation, hybrid motion/force control and hybrid position/force control where the mobile manipulator is required to interact with environments, and coordination and cooperation strategies for multiple mobile manipulators. The book also includes practical examples of applications in engineering systems. This timely book investigates important scientific and engineering issues for researchers and engineers working with either single or multiple mobile manipulators for larger operational space, better cooperation, and improved productivity.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2018, held in Qingdao, China, in November 2018.The 60 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 79 submissions. The theme of the 2018 conference is: Social Robotics and AI. In addition to the technical sessions, ICSR 2018 included 2 workshops:Smart Sensing Systems: Towards Safe Navigation and Social Human-Robot Interaction of Service Robots.

There are plenty of challenging and interesting problems open for investigation in the field of switched systems. Stability issues help to generate many complex nonlinear dynamic behaviours within switched systems. Professors Sun and Ge present a thorough investigation of stability effects on three broad classes of switching mechanism:

arbitrary switching where stability represents robustness to unpredictable and undesirable perturbation;

constrained switching, including random (within a known stochastic distribution), dwell-time (with a known minimum duration for each subsystem) and autonomously-generated (with a pre-assigned mechanism) switching; and

designed switching in which a measurable and freely-assigned switching mechanism contributes to stability by acting as a control input.

For each of these classes Stability Theory for Switched Dynamical Systems propounds:

detailed stability analysis and/or design;

related robustness and performance issues;

connections to other well-known control problems; and

many motivating and illustrative examples.

Academic researchers and engineers interested in systems and control will find this book of great value in dealing with all forms of switching and it will be a useful source of complementary reading for graduate students of nonlinear systems theory."

"Modeling, Control and Coordination of Helicopter Systems" provides a comprehensive treatment of helicopter systems, ranging from related nonlinear flight dynamic modeling and stability analysis to advanced control design for single helicopter systems, and also covers issues related to the coordination and formation control of multiple helicopter systems to achieve high performance tasks. Ensuring stability in helicopter flight is a challenging problem for nonlinear control design and development. This book is a valuable reference on modeling, control and coordination of helicopter systems, providing readers with practical solutions for the problems that still plague helicopter system design and implementation. Readers will gain a complete picture of helicopters at the systems level, as well as a better understanding of the technical intricacies involved.

th This volume is an edition of the papers selected from the 12 FIRA RoboWorld C- gress, held in Incheon, Korea, August 16-18, 2009. The Federation of International Robosoccer Association (FIRA - www. fira. net) is a non-profit organization, which organizes robotic competitions and meetings around the globe annually. The RoboSoccer competitions started in 1996 and FIRA was - tablished on June 5, 1997. The Robot Soccer competitions are aimed at promoting the spirit of science and technology to the younger generation. The congress is a forum in which to share ideas and future directions of technologies, and to enlarge the human networks in robotics area. The objectives of the FIRA Cup and Congress are to explore the technical dev- opment and achievement in the field of robotics, and provide participants with a robot festival including technical presentations, robot soccer competitions and exhibits - der the theme "Where Theory and Practice Meet. " th Under the umbrella of the 12 FIRA RoboWorld Congress Incheon 2009, six int- national conferences were held for greater impact and scientific exchange: th * 6 International Conference on Computational Intelligence, Robotics and Autonomous Systems (CIRAS) th * 5 International Symposium on Autonomous Minirobots for Research and Edutainment (AMiRE) * International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR) * International Conference on Advanced Humanoid Robotics Research (ICAHRR) * International Conference on Entertainment Robotics (ICER) * International Robotics Education Forum (IREF) This volume consists of selected quality papers from the six conferences.

Mobile manipulators combine the advantages of mobile platforms and robotic arms, extending their operational range and functionality to large spaces and remote, demanding, and/or dangerous environments. They also bring complexity and difficulty in dynamic modeling and control system design. However, advances in nonlinear system analysis and control system design offer powerful tools and concepts for the control of mobile manipulator systems. Fundamentals in Modeling and Control of Mobile Manipulators presents a thorough theoretical treatment of several fundamental problems for mobile robotic manipulators. The book integrates fresh concepts and state-of-the-art results to systematically examine kinematics and dynamics, motion generation, feedback control, coordination, and cooperation. From this treatment, the authors form a basic theoretical framework for a mobile robotic manipulator that extends the theory of nonlinear control and applies to more realistic problems. Drawing on their research over the past ten years, the authors propose novel control theory concepts and techniques to tackle key problems. Topics covered include kinematic and dynamic modeling, control of nonholonomic systems, path planning that considers motion and manipulation, hybrid motion/force control and hybrid position/force control where the mobile manipulator is required to interact with environments, and coordination and cooperation strategies for multiple mobile manipulators. The book also includes practical examples of applications in engineering systems. This timely book investigates important scientific and engineering issues for researchers and engineers working with either single or multiple mobile manipulators for larger operational space, better cooperation, and improved productivity.

Dynamics and Control of Mechanical Systems in Offshore Engineering is a comprehensive treatment of marine mechanical systems (MMS) involved in processes of great importance such as oil drilling and mineral recovery. Ranging from nonlinear dynamic modeling and stability analysis of flexible riser systems, through advanced control design for an installation system with a single rigid payload attached by thrusters, to robust adaptive control for mooring systems, it is an authoritative reference on the dynamics and control of MMS. Readers will gain not only a complete picture of MMS at the system level, but also a better understanding of the technical considerations involved and solutions to problems that commonly arise from dealing with them. The text provides: * a complete framework of dynamical analysis and control design for marine mechanical systems; * new results on the dynamical analysis of riser, mooring and installation systems together with a general modeling method for a class of MMS; * a general method and strategy for realizing the control objectives of marine systems with guaranteed stability the effectiveness of which is illustrated by extensive numerical simulation; and * approximation-based control schemes using neural networks for installation of subsea structures with attached thrusters in the presence of time-varying environmental disturbances and parametric uncertainties. Most of the results presented are analytical with repeatable design algorithms with proven closed-loop stability and performance analysis of the proposed controllers is rigorous and detailed. Dynamics and Control of Mechanical Systems in Offshore Engineering is primarily intended for researchers and engineers in the system and control community, but graduate students studying control and marine engineering will also find it a useful resource as will practitioners working on the design, running or maintenance of offshore platforms.

The two-volume set LNAI 13817 and 13818 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2022, which took place in Florence, Italy, in December 2022. The 111 papers presented in the proceedings set were carefully reviewed and selected from 143 submissions. The contributions were organized in topical sections as follows: Social robot navigation and interaction capabilities (voice, tactile); Social robot perception and control capabilities; Investigating non verbal interaction with Social robots; Foster attention and engagement strategies in social robots; Special Session 1: Social Robotics Driven by Intelligent Perception and Endogenous Emotion-Motivation Core; Special Session 2: Adaptive behavioral models of robotic systems based on brain-inspired AI cognitive architectures; Advanced HRI capabilities for interacting with children; Social robots as advanced educational tool; Social robot applications in clinical and assistive scenarios; Collaborative social robots through dynamic game; Design and evaluate user's robot perception and acceptance; Ethics, gender & trust in social robotics.

The two-volume set LNAI 13817 and 13818 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2022, which took place in Florence, Italy, in December 2022. The 111 papers presented in the proceedings set were carefully reviewed and selected from 143 submissions. The contributions were organized in topical sections as follows: Social robot navigation and interaction capabilities (voice, tactile); Social robot perception and control capabilities; Investigating non verbal interaction with Social robots; Foster attention and engagement strategies in social robots; Special Session 1: Social Robotics Driven by Intelligent Perception and Endogenous Emotion-Motivation Core; Special Session 2: Adaptive behavioral models of robotic systems based on brain-inspired AI cognitive architectures; Advanced HRI capabilities for interacting with children; Social robots as advanced educational tool; Social robot applications in clinical and assistive scenarios; Collaborative social robots through dynamic game; Design and evaluate user's robot perception and acceptance; Ethics, gender & trust in social robotics.

Previous research on fixed/finite-time sliding-mode control focuses on forcing a system state (vector) to converge within a certain time moment, regardless of how each state element converges. This book introduces a control problem with unique finite/fixed-time stability considerations, namely time-synchronized stability, where at the same time, all the system state elements converge to the origin, and fixed-time-synchronized stability, where the upper bound of the synchronized settling time is invariant with any initial state. Accordingly, sufficient conditions for (fixed-) time-synchronized stability are presented. These stability formulations grant essentially advantageous performance when a control system (with diversified subsystems) is expected to accomplish multiple actions synchronously, e.g., grasping with a robotic hand, multi-agent simultaneous cooperation, etc. Further, the analytical solution of a (fixed) time-synchronized stable system is obtained and discussed. Applications to linear systems, disturbed nonlinear systems, and network systems are provided. In addition, comparisons with traditional fixed/finite-time sliding mode control are suitably detailed to showcase the full power of (fixed-) time-synchronized control.

"Dynamics and Control of Mechanical Systems in Offshore Engineering" is a comprehensive treatment of marine mechanical systems (MMS) involved in processes of great importance such as oil drilling and mineral recovery. Ranging from nonlinear dynamic modeling and stability analysis of flexible riser systems, through advanced control design for an installation system with a single rigid payload attached by thrusters, to robust adaptive control for mooring systems, it is an authoritative reference on the dynamics and control of MMS. Readers will gain not only a complete picture of MMS at the system level, but also a better understanding of the technical considerations involved and solutions to problems that commonly arise from dealing with them.

The text provides:

. a complete framework of dynamical analysis and control design for marine mechanical systems;

. new results on the dynamical analysis of riser, mooring and installation systems together with a general modeling method for a class of MMS;

. a general method and strategy for realizing the control objectives of marine systems with guaranteed stability the effectiveness of which is illustrated by extensive numerical simulation; and

. approximation-based control schemes using neural networks for installation of subsea structures with attached thrusters in the presence of time-varying environmental disturbances and parametric uncertainties.

Most of the results presented are analytical with repeatable design algorithms with proven closed-loop stability and performance analysis of the proposed controllers is rigorous and detailed.

"Dynamics and Control of Mechanical Systems in Offshore Engineering" is primarily intended for researchers and engineers in the system and control community, but graduate students studying control and marine engineering will also find it a useful resource as will practitioners working on the design, running or maintenance of offshore platforms."

Previous research on fixed/finite-time sliding-mode control focuses on forcing a system state (vector) to converge within a certain time moment, regardless of how each state element converges. This book introduces a control problem with unique finite/fixed-time stability considerations, namely time-synchronized stability, where at the same time, all the system state elements converge to the origin, and fixed-time-synchronized stability, where the upper bound of the synchronized settling time is invariant with any initial state. Accordingly, sufficient conditions for (fixed-) time-synchronized stability are presented. These stability formulations grant essentially advantageous performance when a control system (with diversified subsystems) is expected to accomplish multiple actions synchronously, e.g., grasping with a robotic hand, multi-agent simultaneous cooperation, etc. Further, the analytical solution of a (fixed) time-synchronized stable system is obtained and discussed. Applications to linear systems, disturbed nonlinear systems, and network systems are provided. In addition, comparisons with traditional fixed/finite-time sliding mode control are suitably detailed to showcase the full power of (fixed-) time-synchronized control.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2021, held in Singapore, Singapore, in November 2021. The conference was held as a hybrid event.The 64 full papers and 15 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 114 submissions. The conference presents topics on humans and intelligent robots and on the integration of robots into the fabric of our society. The theme of the 2021 edition was "Robotics in our everyday lives", emphasizing on the increasing importance of robotics in human daily living.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2020, held in Golden, CO, USA, in November 2020. The conference was held virtually.The 57 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 101 submissions. The theme of the 2020 conference is Entertaining Robots. The papers focus on the following topics: human-robot trust and human-robot teaming, robot understanding and following of social and moral norms, physical and interaction design of social robots, verbal and nonverbal robot communication, interactive robot learning, robot motion and proxemics, and robots in domains such as education and healthcare.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2019, held in Madrid, Spain, in November 2019.The 69 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 92 submissions. The theme of the 2018 conference is: Friendly Robotics.The papers focus on the following topics: perceptions and expectations of social robots; cognition and social values for social robots; verbal interaction with social robots; social cues and design of social robots; emotional and expressive interaction with social robots; collaborative SR and SR at the workplace; game approaches and applications to HRI; applications in health domain; robots at home and at public spaces; robots in education; technical innovations in social robotics; and privacy and safety of the social robots.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2016, held in Tsukuba, Japan, in November 2017.The 74 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 110 submissions. The theme of the 2017 conference is: Embodied Interactive Robots. In addition to the technical sessions, ICSR 2017 included four workshops: 1) Social Robot Intelligence for Social Human-Robot Interaction of Service Robots; 2) Human Safety and Comfort in Human-Robot Interactive Social Environments; 3) Modes of Interaction for Social Robots (MISR 2017): Postures, Gestures and Microinteractions; and 4) Religion in Robotics.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2012, held in Chengdu, China, in October 2012.
The 66 revised full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on affective and cognitive sciences for socially interactive robots, situated interaction and embodiment, robots to assist the elderly and persons with disabilities, social acceptance of robots and their impact to the society, artificial empathy, HRI through non-verbal communication and control, social telepresence robots, embodiments and networks, interaction and collaboration among robots, humans and environment, human augmentation, rehabilitation, and medical robots I and II.

There are plenty of challenging and interesting problems open for investigation in the field of switched systems. Stability issues help to generate many complex nonlinear dynamic behaviours within switched systems. Professors Sun and Ge present a thorough investigation of stability effects on three broad classes of switching mechanism:

arbitrary switching where stability represents robustness to unpredictable and undesirable perturbation;

constrained switching, including random (within a known stochastic distribution), dwell-time (with a known minimum duration for each subsystem) and autonomously-generated (with a pre-assigned mechanism) switching; and

designed switching in which a measurable and freely-assigned switching mechanism contributes to stability by acting as a control input.

For each of these classes Stability Theory for Switched Dynamical Systems propounds:

detailed stability analysis and/or design;

related robustness and performance issues;

connections to other well-known control problems; and

many motivating and illustrative examples.

Academic researchers and engineers interested in systems and control will find this book of great value in dealing with all forms of switching and it will be a useful source of complementary reading for graduate students of nonlinear systems theory."

th This volume is an edition of the papers selected from the 12 FIRA RoboWorld C- gress, held in Incheon, Korea, August 16-18, 2009. The Federation of International Robosoccer Association (FIRA - www. fira. net) is a non-profit organization, which organizes robotic competitions and meetings around the globe annually. The RoboSoccer competitions started in 1996 and FIRA was - tablished on June 5, 1997. The Robot Soccer competitions are aimed at promoting the spirit of science and technology to the younger generation. The congress is a forum in which to share ideas and future directions of technologies, and to enlarge the human networks in robotics area. The objectives of the FIRA Cup and Congress are to explore the technical dev- opment and achievement in the field of robotics, and provide participants with a robot festival including technical presentations, robot soccer competitions and exhibits - der the theme "Where Theory and Practice Meet. " th Under the umbrella of the 12 FIRA RoboWorld Incheon Congress 2009, six int- national conferences were held for greater impact and scientific exchange: th * 6 International Conference on Computational Intelligence, Robotics and Autonomous Systems (CIRAS) th * 5 International Symposium on Autonomous Minirobots for Research and Edutainment (AMiRE) * International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR) * International Conference on Advanced Humanoid Robotics Research (ICAHRR) * International Conference on Entertainment Robotics (ICER) * International Robotics Education Forum (IREF) This volume consists of selected quality papers from the six conferences.