This book provides readers with a solid set of diversified and essential tools for the theoretical modeling and control of complex robotic systems, as well as for digital human modeling and realistic motion generation. Following a comprehensive introduction to the fundamentals of robotic kinematics, dynamics and control systems design, the author extends robotic modeling procedures and motion algorithms to a much higher-dimensional, larger scale and more sophisticated research area, namely digital human modeling. Most of the methods are illustrated by MATLABTM codes and sample graphical visualizations, offering a unique closed loop between conceptual understanding and visualization. Readers are guided through practicing and creating 3D graphics for robot arms as well as digital human models in MATLABTM, and through driving them for real-time animation. This work is intended to serve as a robotics textbook with an extension to digital human modeling for senior undergraduate and graduate engineering students. At the same time, it represents a comprehensive reference guide for all researchers, scientists and professionals eager to learn the fundamentals of robotic systems as well as the basic methods of digital human modeling and motion generation.

We are currently witnessing a significant transformation in the development of education on all levels and especially in post-secondary education. To face these challenges, higher education must find innovative ways to quickly respond to these new needs. These were the aims connected with the 25th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL2022), which was held in Vienna, Austria, from September 27 to 30, 2022. Since its beginning in 1998, this conference is devoted to new approaches in learning with a focus on collaborative learning in higher education. This book contains papers in the fields of: • New Learning Models and Applications• Project-Based Learning• Engineering Pedagogy Education• Research in Engineering Pedagogy• Teaching Best Practices• Real World Experiences• Academia-Industry Partnerships• Trends in Master and Doctoral Research. Interested readership includes policymakers, academics, educators, researchers in pedagogy and learning theory, school teachers, the learning industry, further and continuing education lecturers, etc.

This book constitutes late breaking papers from the 22nd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2020, which was held in July 2020. The conference was planned to take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, but had to change to a virtual conference mode due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From a total of 6326 submissions, a total of 1439 papers and 238 posters have been accepted for publication in the HCII 2020 proceedings before the conference took place. In addition, a total of 333 papers and 144 posters are included in the volumes of the proceedings published after the conference as “Late Breaking Work” (papers and posters). These contributions address the latest research and development efforts in the field and highlight the human aspects of design and use of computing systems. The 42 late breaking papers presented in this volume were organized in topical sections as follows: HCI in Automotive; Interaction in Intelligent Environments; and Digital Human Modeling and Ergonomics.

This book provides detailed fundamental theoretical reviews and preparations necessary for developing advanced dynamics modeling and control strategies for various types of robotic systems. This research book specifically addresses and discusses the uniqueness issue of representing orientation or rotation, and further proposes an innovative isometric embedding approach. The novel approach can not only reduce the dynamic formulation for robotic systems into a compact form, but it also offers a new way to realize the orientational trajectory-tracking control procedures. In addition, the book gives a comprehensive introduction to fundamentals of mathematics and physics that are required for modeling robot dynamics and developing effective control algorithms. Many computer simulations and realistic 3D animations to verify the new theories and algorithms are included in the book as well. It also presents and discusses the principle of duality involved in robot kinematics, statics, and dynamics. The duality principle can guide the dynamics modeling and analysis into a right direction for a variety of robotic systems in different types from open serial-chain to closed parallel-chain mechanisms. It intends to serve as a diversified research reference to a wide range of audience, including undergraduate juniors and seniors, graduate students, researchers, and engineers interested in the areas of robotics, control and applications.

This book features selected papers presented at the 14th International Conference on Electromechanics and Robotics ‘Zavalishin’s Readings’ – ER(ZR) 2019, held in Kursk, Russia, on April 17–20, 2019. The contributions, written by professionals, researchers and students, cover topics in the field of automatic control systems, electromechanics, electric power engineering and electrical engineering, mechatronics, robotics, automation and vibration technologies. The Zavalishin's Readings conference was established as a tribute to the memory of Dmitry Aleksandrovich Zavalishin (1900–1968) – a Russian scientist, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and founder of the school of valve energy converters based on electric machines and valve converters energy. The first conference was organized by the Institute of Innovative Technologies in Electromechanics and Robotics at the Saint Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation in 2006. The 2019 conference was held with the XIII International Scientific and Technical Conference “Vibration 2019”, and was organized by Saint Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation (SUAI), Saint Petersburg Institute for Informatics and Automation of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPIIRAS) and the Southwest State University (SWSU) in with cooperation Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project No. 19-08-20021).

Robots, androids, and bionic people pervade popular culture, from classics like Frankenstein and R.U.R. to modern tales such as The Six Million Dollar Man, The Terminator, and A.I. Our fascination is obvious – and the technology is quickly moving from books and films to real life. In a lab at MIT, scientists and technicians have created an artificial being named COG. To watch COG interact with the environment – to recognize that this machine has actual body language – is to experience a hair-raising, gut-level reaction. Because just as we connect to artificial people in fiction, the merest hint of human-like action or appearance invariably engages us. Digital People examines the ways in which technology is inexorably driving us to a new and different level of humanity. As scientists draw on nanotechnology, molecular biology, artificial intelligence, and materials science, they are learning how to create beings that move, think, and look like people. Others are routinely using sophisticated surgical techniques to implant computer chips and drug-dispensing devices into our bodies, designing fully functional man-made body parts, and linking human brains with computers to make people healthier, smarter, and stronger. In short, we are going beyond what was once only science fiction to create bionic people with fully integrated artificial components – and it will not be long before we reach the ultimate goal of constructing a completely synthetic human-like being. It seems quintessentially human to look beyond our natural limitations. Science has long been the lens through which we squint to discern our future. Although we are rightfully fearful about manipulating the boundaries between animate and inanimate, the benefits are too great to ignore. This thoughtful and provocative book shows us just where technology is taking us, in directions both wonderful and terrible, to ponder what it means to be human.

Machines that are smarter than people? A utopian dream of science-fiction novelists and Hollywood screenwriters perhaps, but one which technological progress is turning into reality. Two trends are coming together: exponential growth in the processing power of supercomputers, and new software which can copy the way neurons in the human brain work and give machines the ability to learn. Smart systems will soon be commonplace in homes, businesses, factories, administrations, hospitals and the armed forces. How autonomous will they be? How free to make decisions? What place will human beings still have in a world controlled by robots? After the atom bomb, is artificial intelligence the second lethal weapon capable of destroying mankind, its inventor? The Fall of the Human Empire traces the little-known history of artificial intelligence from the standpoint of a robot called Lucy. She – or it? – recounts her adventures and reveals the mysteries of her long journey with humans, and provides a thought-provoking storyline of what developments in A.I. may mean for both humans and robots.