This book presents recent trends in the field as perceived by a global selection of researchers and experts. Subjects covered include motion planning of mobile robots in unknown environments, coordination between mobility and manipulability, computation environments for mobile robots, nonlinear control of mobile robots and environmental modeling using advanced sensing technologies. Issues ranging from progress in applications to fundamental problems are discussed.

Through expanded intelligence, the use of robotics has fundamentally transformed a variety of fields, including manufacturing, aerospace, medical, social services, and agriculture. Providing successful techniques in robotic design allows for increased autonomous mobility, which leads to a greater productivity level. Novel Design and Applications of Robotics Technologies provides innovative insights into the state-of-the-art technologies in the design and development of robotic technologies and their real-world applications. The content within this publication represents the work of interactive learning, microrobot swarms, and service robots. It is a vital reference source for computer engineers, robotic developers, IT professionals, academicians, and researchers seeking coverage on topics centered on the application of robotics to perform tasks in various disciplines.

This book provides state-of-the-art scientific and engineering research findings and developments in the area of mobile robotics and associated support technologies. The book contains peer reviewed articles presented at the CLAWAR 2012 conference. Robots are no longer confined to industrial and manufacturing environments. A great deal of interest is invested in the use of robots outside the factory environment. The CLAWAR conference series, established as a high profile international event, acts as a platform for dissemination of research and development findings and supports such a trend to address the current interest in mobile robotics to meet the needs of mankind in various sectors of the society. These include personal care, public health, services in the domestic, public and industrial environments. The editors of the book have extensive research experience and publications in the area of robotics in general and in mobile robotics specifically, and their experience is reflected in editing the contents of the book.

The author compiles everything a student or experienced developmental engineer needs to know about the supporting technologies associated with the rapidly evolving field of robotics.From the table of contents: Design Considerations * Dead Reckoning * Odometry Sensors * Doppler and Inertial Navigation * Typical Mobility Configurations * Tactile and

The second edition of a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of mobile robotics, from algorithms to mechanisms. Mobile robots range from the Mars Pathfinder mission's teleoperated Sojourner to the cleaning robots in the Paris Metro. This text offers students and other interested readers an introduction to the fundamentals of mobile robotics, spanning the mechanical, motor, sensory, perceptual, and cognitive layers the field comprises. The text focuses on mobility itself, offering an overview of the mechanisms that allow a mobile robot to move through a real world environment to perform its tasks, including locomotion, sensing, localization, and motion planning. It synthesizes material from such fields as kinematics, control theory, signal analysis, computer vision, information theory, artificial intelligence, and probability theory. The book presents the techniques and technology that enable mobility in a series of interacting modules. Each chapter treats a different aspect of mobility, as the book moves from low-level to high-level details. It covers all aspects of mobile robotics, including software and hardware design considerations, related technologies, and algorithmic techniques. This second edition has been revised and updated throughout, with 130 pages of new material on such topics as locomotion, perception, localization, and planning and navigation. Problem sets have been added at the end of each chapter. Bringing together all aspects of mobile robotics into one volume, Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots can serve as a textbook or a working tool for beginning practitioners. Curriculum developed by Dr. Robert King, Colorado School of Mines, and Dr. James Conrad, University of North Carolina-Charlotte, to accompany the National Instruments LabVIEW Robotics Starter Kit, are available. Included are 13 (6 by Dr. King and 7 by Dr. Conrad) laboratory exercises for using the LabVIEW Robotics Starter Kit to teach mobile robotics concepts.

The emergence of wireless robotic systems has provided new perspectives on technology. With the combination of disciplines such as robotic systems, ad hoc networking, telecommunications and more, mobile ad hoc robots have proven essential in aiding future possibilities of technology. Mobile Ad Hoc Robots and Wireless Robotic Systems: Design and Implementation aims to introduce robotic theories, wireless technologies, and routing applications involved in the development of mobile ad hoc robots. This reference source brings together topics on the communication and control of network ad hoc robots, describing how they work together to carry out coordinated functions.

Robotics applications, initially developed for industrial and manufacturing contexts, are now strongly present in several elds. Besides well-known space and high-technology applications, robotics for every day life and medical s- vices is becoming more and more popular. As an example, robotic manipu- tors are particularly useful in surgery and radiation treatments, they could be employed for civil demining, for helping disabled people, and ultimately for domestic tasks, entertainment and education. Such a kind of robotic app- cations require the integration of many di erent skills. Autonomous vehicles and mobile robots in general must be integrated with articulated manipu- tors. Many robotic technologies (sensors, actuators and computing systems) must be properly used with speci c technologies (localisation, planning and control technologies). The task of designing robots for these applications is a hard challenge: a speci c competence in each area is demanded, in the e ort of a truly integrated multidisciplinary design.