As robots designed for physical interaction with humans---humanoids, exoskeletons and beyond---make their entrance into society, understanding the limitations of their interaction behavior will be key to their effective use. The state of the art method for allowing such systems to be both compliant and force sensitive is to introduce mechanical springs into the joints of these robots, making them "series elastic". But this complicates the control of these robots, making it hard to separate truth from optimism in what they will be able to accomplish using feedback control. Robots are programmed in hierarchical layers, and each layer makes assumptions about the layer below it. The planning layer assumes the plan will be followed. The whole body controller layer assumes the actuators will supply whatever torque it specifies. And the actuator control layer assumes the actuator behaves like a linear system. This dissertation studies the interfaces between these layers as they are influenced by the choice to include series elastic actuation, hoping to resolve the mismatch between assumptions and guarantees that arise from this choice. These questions lead it naturally to the lowest of the layers, where a new system identification system allows the actuator to assume a bounded uncertainty model. The dissertation then refines the insights from studying uncertain SEA models into a simpler model that explains the most important factors. It uses this to design SEA controllers that go beyond the traditional limits of passivity. These insights also apply to the problem of strength augmentation exoskeleton control. Factor of 3 amplification results are reported on a tethered, 12 degree of freedom, powered, lower body exoskeleton with four passive joints using a simplified version of the controller and a far more advanced whole body control framework. These ideas are introduced in the context of the authors's work with various testbeds and state of the art robots including a point foot biped, the DARPA virtual robotics challenge simulator, the NASA R5 Valkyrie Humanoid, and the Apptronik Sagittarius Lower Body Exoskeleton

One of the fundamental requirements for the success of a robot task is the capability to handle interaction between manipulator and environment. The quantity that describes the state of interaction more effectively is the contact force at the manipulator's end effector. High values of contact force are generally undesirable since they may stress both the manipulator and the manipulated object; hence the need to seek for effective force control strategies. The book provides a theoretical and experimental treatment of robot interaction control. In the framework of model-based operational space control, stiffness control and impedance control are presented as the basic strategies for indirect force control; a key feature is the coverage of six-degree-of-freedom interaction tasks and manipulator kinematic redundancy. Then, direct force control strategies are presented which are obtained from motion control schemes suitably modified by the closure of an outer force regulation feedback loop. Finally, advanced force and position control strategies are presented which include passivity-based, adaptive and output feedback control schemes. Remarkably, all control schemes are experimentally tested on a setup consisting of a seven-joint industrial robot with open control architecture and force/torque sensor. The topic of robot force control is not treated in depth in robotics textbooks, in spite of its crucial importance for practical manipulation tasks. In the few books addressing this topic, the material is often limited to single-degree-of-freedom tasks. On the other hand, several results are available in the robotics literature but no dedicated monograph exists. The book is thus aimed at filling this gap by providing a theoretical and experimental treatment of robot force control.

This book brings together some recent advances and development in robotics. In 12 chapters, written by experts and researchers in respective fields, the book presents some up-to-date research ideas and findings in a wide range of robotics, including the design, modeling, control, learning, interaction, and navigation of robots. From an application perspective, the book covers UAVs, USVs, mobile robots, humanoid robots, graspers, and underwater robots. The unique text offers practical guidance to graduate students and researchers in research and applications in the field of robotics.

Digital agriculture is an emerging concept of modern farming that refers to managing farms using modern Engineering, Information and Communication Technologies (EICT) aiming at increasing the overall efficiency of agricultural production, improving the quantity and quality of products, and optimizing the human labor required and natural resource consumption in operations. This encyclopedia is designed to collect the summaries of knowledge on as many as subjects or aspects relevant to ECIT for digital agriculture, present such knowledge in entries, and arrange them alphabetically by articles titles. Springer Major Reference Works platform offers Live Update capability. Our reference work takes full advantage of this feature, which allows for continuous improvement or revision of published content electronically. The Editorial Board Dr. Irwin R. Donis-Gonzalez, University of California Davis, Dept. Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Davis, USA (Section: Postharvest Technologies) Prof. Paul Heinemann, Pennsylvania State University, Department Head of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, PA, USA (Section: Technologies for Crop Production) Prof. Manoj Karkee, Washington State University, Center for Precision and Automated Agricultural Systems, Washington, USA (Section: Robotics and Automation Technologies) Prof. Minzan Li, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China (Section: Precision Agricultural Technologies) Prof. Dikai Liu, University of Technology Sydney (UTS),Faculty of Engineering & Information Technologies, Broadway NSW, Australia (Section: AI, Information and Communication Technologies) Prof. Tomas Norton, University of Leuven, Dept. of Biosystems, Heverlee Leuven, Belgium (Section: Technologies for Animal and Aquatic Production) Dr. Manuela Zude-Sasse, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB), Precision Horticulture, Potsdam, Germany (Section: Engineering and Mechanization Technologies)

With the science of robotics undergoing a major transformation just now, Springer’s new, authoritative handbook on the subject couldn’t have come at a better time. Having broken free from its origins in industry, robotics has been rapidly expanding into the challenging terrain of unstructured environments. Unlike other handbooks that focus on industrial applications, the Springer Handbook of Robotics incorporates these new developments. Just like all Springer Handbooks, it is utterly comprehensive, edited by internationally renowned experts, and replete with contributions from leading researchers from around the world. The handbook is an ideal resource for robotics experts but also for people new to this expanding field.