Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation technologies have rapidly grown associated with the growth of Micro and Nanotechnologies. This book presents a summary of fundamentals in micro-nano scale engineering and the current state of the art of these technologies. "Micro-Nanorobotic Manipulation Systems and their Applications" introduces these advanced technologies from the basics and applications aspects of Micro/Nano-Robotics and Automation from the prospective micro/nano-scale manipulation. The book is organized in 9 chapters including an overview chapter of Micro/Nanorobotics and Automation technology from the historical view and important related research works. Further chapters are devoted to the physics of micro-nano fields as well as to material and science, microscopes, fabrication technology, importance of biological cell, and control techniques. Furthermore important examples, applications and a concise summary of Micro-Nanorobotics and Automation technologies are given.

Nowadays, multiple attention have been paid on a robot working in the human living environment, such as in the field of medical, welfare, entertainment and so on. Various types of researches are being conducted actively in a variety of fields such as artificial intelligence, cognitive engineering, sensor- technology, interfaces and motion control. In the future, it is expected to realize super high functional human-like robot by integrating technologies in various fields including these types of researches. The book represents new developments and advances in the field of bio-inspired robotics research introducing the state of the art, the idea of multi-locomotion robotic system to implement the diversity of animal motion. It covers theoretical and computational aspects of Passive Dynamic Autonomous Control (PDAC), robot motion control, multi legged walking and climbing as well as brachiation focusing concrete robot systems, components and applications. In addition, gorilla type robot systems are described as hardware of Multi-Locomotion Robotic system. It is useful for students and researchers in the field of robotics in general, bio-inspired robots, multi-modal locomotion, legged walking, motion control, and humanoid robots. Furthermore, it is also of interest for lecturers and engineers in practice building systems cooperating with humans.

Research into and development of high-precision systems, microelectromechanical systems, distributed sensors/actuators, smart structural systems, high-precision controls, etc. have drawn much attention in recent years. These new devices and systems will bring about a new technical revolution in modern industries and impact future human life. This book presents a unique overview of these technologies such as silicon based sensors/actuators and control piezoelectric micro sensors/actuators, micro actuation and control, micro sensor applications in robot control, optical fiber sensors/systems, etc. These are four essential subjects emphasized in the book: 1. Survey of the (current) research and development; 2. Fundamental theories and tools; 3. Practical applications. 4. Outlining future research and development.

Micro/Nano Robotics and Automation technologies have rapidly grown associated with the growth of Micro and Nanotechnologies. This book presents a summary of fundamentals in micro-nano scale engineering and the current state of the art of these technologies. "Micro-Nanorobotic Manipulation Systems and their Applications" introduces these advanced technologies from the basics and applications aspects of Micro/Nano-Robotics and Automation from the prospective micro/nano-scale manipulation. The book is organized in 9 chapters including an overview chapter of Micro/Nanorobotics and Automation technology from the historical view and important related research works. Further chapters are devoted to the physics of micro-nano fields as well as to material and science, microscopes, fabrication technology, importance of biological cell, and control techniques. Furthermore important examples, applications and a concise summary of Micro-Nanorobotics and Automation technologies are given.

Nowadays, multiple attention have been paid on a robot working in the human living environment, such as in the field of medical, welfare, entertainment and so on. Various types of researches are being conducted actively in a variety of fields such as artificial intelligence, cognitive engineering, sensor- technology, interfaces and motion control. In the future, it is expected to realize super high functional human-like robot by integrating technologies in various fields including these types of researches. The book represents new developments and advances in the field of bio-inspired robotics research introducing the state of the art, the idea of multi-locomotion robotic system to implement the diversity of animal motion. It covers theoretical and computational aspects of Passive Dynamic Autonomous Control (PDAC), robot motion control, multi legged walking and climbing as well as brachiation focusing concrete robot systems, components and applications. In addition, gorilla type robot systems are described as hardware of Multi-Locomotion Robotic system. It is useful for students and researchers in the field of robotics in general, bio-inspired robots, multi-modal locomotion, legged walking, motion control, and humanoid robots. Furthermore, it is also of interest for lecturers and engineers in practice building systems cooperating with humans.

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.

Research results using some of the most advanced soft computing techniques in intelligent robotic systems are presented. The main purpose of this book is to show how the power of soft computing techniques can be exploited in intelligent robotic systems. The main emphasis is on control system for a mobile robot, behavior arbitration for a mobile robot, reinforcement learning of a robot, manipulation of a robot, collision avoidance and automatic design of robots.
This book will be useful for application engineers, scientists and researchers who wish to use some of the most advanced soft computing techniques in robotics.

Research into and development of high-precision systems, microelectromechanical systems, distributed sensors/actuators, smart structural systems, high-precision controls, etc. have drawn much attention in recent years. These new devices and systems will bring about a new technical revolution in modern industries and impact future human life. This book presents a unique overview of these technologies such as silicon based sensors/actuators and control piezoelectric micro sensors/actuators, micro actuation and control, micro sensor applications in robot control, optical fiber sensors/systems, etc. These are four essential subjects emphasized in the book: 1. Survey of the (current) research and development; 2. Fundamental theories and tools; 3. Practical applications. 4. Outlining future research and development.

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.

This book explains, using the example of endovascular intervention, the development of in vitro simulators for biomedical applications based on the scientific context in the robotics area and the explanation of the medical procedure to be simulated. It presents modeling methods for in vitro representation of human tissue and for representing tissue integrity during endovascular surgery simulation. Additionally, applications of this in vitro vasculature modeling technology are presented: flow control for human blood pressure simulation, computer fluid dynamics simulations using vasculature morphology, catheter insertion robot control and vasculature imaging based on magnetic trackers, and tailor-made scaffolds for blood vessel regeneration.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Workshop on Collective Robotics, CRW'98, held as part of the Agents' World 1998 conference in Paris, France, in July 1998.
The 13 revised full papers presented in the book were selected during a vigorous reviewing process. The book brings together research in distributed artificial intelligence and intelligent robotics. Among the topics addressed are multi-agent collaboration, collective learning, self-organization, artificial life, simulation, mobile robots, robot soccer, human-robot cooperation, etc.