This book contains an edited collection of eighteen contributions on soft and hard computing techniques and their applications to autonomous robotic systems. Each contribution has been exclusively written for this volume by a leading researcher. The volume demonstrates the various ways that the soft computing and hard computing techniques can be used in different integrated manners to better develop autonomous robotic systems that can perform various tasks of vision, perception, cognition, thinking, pattern recognition, decision-making, and reasoning and control, amongst others. Each chapter of the book is self-contained and points out the future direction of research.

"It is a must reading for students and researchers interested in exploring the potentials of the fascinating field that will form the basis for the design of the intelligent machines of the future"
(Madan M. Gupta)

This book contains an edited collection of eighteen contributions on soft and hard computing techniques and their applications to autonomous robotic systems. Each contribution has been exclusively written for this volume by a leading researcher. The volume demonstrates the various ways that the soft computing and hard computing techniques can be used in different integrated manners to better develop autonomous robotic systems that can perform various tasks of vision, perception, cognition, thinking, pattern recognition, decision-making, and reasoning and control, amongst others. Each chapter of the book is self-contained and points out the future direction of research.

"It is a must reading for students and researchers interested in exploring the potentials of the fascinating field that will form the basis for the design of the intelligent machines of the future"
(Madan M. Gupta)

The 12th annual RoboCup International Symposium was held during July 15-18, 2008 in conjunction with RoboCup 2008 Competitions and Demonstrations. The symposium represents the core meeting for the presentation and discussion of sci- tific contributions in diverse areas related to the main threads within RoboCupSoccer, RoboCupRescue, RoboCup@Home and RoboCupJunior. Its scope encompassed, but was not restricted to, research and education activities within the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics. A fundamental aspect of RoboCup is promoting science and technology among young students and researchers, in addition to providing a forum for discussion and excitement about Robotics with practitioners from all over the world. Since its first edition in 1997 in Nagoya, the RoboCup Competitions and Symposium have attracted an increasing number of researchers and students from all the world and today it is a major event in robotics worldwide. Due to its interdisciplinary nature and the exploration of various and intimate c- nections of theory and practice across a wide spectrum of different fields, the sym- sium offered an excellent opportunity to introduce new techniques to various scientific disciplines. The experimental, interactive and benchmark character of the RoboCup initiative created the opportunity to present, learn and evaluate novel ideas and - proaches with significant potential. If promising, they are then rapidly adopted and field-tested by a large (and still strongly growing) community.

This research report brings together present trends in advanced welding robots, robotic welding, artificial intelligent and automatic welding. It includes important technical subjects on welding robots such as intelligent technologies and systems, and design and analysis. Modeling, identification and control of the welding process are presented, as well as knowledge-based systems for welding and tele-robotic welding. Other topics covered are sensing and data fusion, computer vision and virtual-reality applications of the welding process. An overview of intelligent and flexible manufacturing systems is given in addition to artificial intelligent technologies for industrial processes.

Robotic welding systems have been used in different types of manufacturing. They can provide several benefits in welding applications. The most prominent advantages of robotic welding are precision and productivity. Another benefit is that labor costs can be reduced. Robotic welding also reduces risk by moving the human welder/operator away from hazardous fumes and molten metal close to the welding arc. The robotic welding system usually involves measuring and identifying the component to be welded, we- ing it in position, controlling the welding parameters and documenting the produced welds. However, traditional robotic welding systems rely heavily upon human interv- tion. It does not seem that the traditional robotic welding techniques by themselves can cope well with uncertainties in the welding surroundings and conditions, e. g. variation of weld pool dynamics, fluxion, solid, weld torch, and etc. On the other hand, the advent of intelligent techniques provides us with a powerful tool for solving demanding re- world problems with uncertain and unpredictable environments. Therefore, it is intere- ing to gather current trends and to provide a high quality forum for engineers and researchers working in the filed of intelligent techniques for robotic welding systems. This volume brings together a broad range of invited and contributed papers that describe recent progress in this field.