Great interest is now focused on distributed autonomous robotic systems (DARS) as a new strategy for the realization of flexible, robust, and intelligent robots. Inspired by autonomous, decentralized, and self-organizing biological systems, the field of DARS encompasses broad interdisciplinary technologies related not only to robotics and computer engineering but also to biology and psychology. The rapidly growing interest in this new area of research was manifest in the first volume of Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems, published in 1994. This second volume in the series presents the most recent work by eminent researchers and includes such topics as multirobot control, distributed robotic systems design, self-organizing systems, and sensing and navigation for cooperative robots. Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems 2 is a valuable source for those whose work involves robotics and will be of great interest to those in the fields of artificial intelligence, self-organizing systems, artificial life, and computer science.

As a new strategy to realize the goal of flexible, robust, fault-tolerant robotic systems, the distributed autonomous approach has quickly established itself as one of the fastest growing fields in robotics. This book is one of the first to devote itself solely to this exciting area of research, covering such topics as self-organization, communication and coordination, multi-robot manipulation and control, distributed system design, distributed sensing, intelligent manufacturing systems, and group behavior. The fundamental technologies and system architectures of distributed autonomous robotic systems are expounded in detail, along with the latest research findings. This book should prove indispensable not only to those involved with robotic engineering but also to those in the fields of artificial intelligence, self-organizing systems, and coordinated control.