Robotics research, especially mobile robotics is a young field. Its roots include many engineering and scientific disciplines from mechanical, electrical and electronics engineering to computer, cognitive and social sciences. Each of this parent fields is exciting in its own way and has its share in different books. This book is a result of inspirations and contributions from many researchers worldwide. It presents a collection of a wide range of research results in robotics scientific community. We hope you will enjoy reading the book as much as we have enjoyed bringing it together for you.

Making Simple Robots is based on one idea: Anybody can build a robot! That includes kids, school teachers, parents, and non-engineers. If you can knit, sew, or fold a flat piece of paper into a box, you can build a no-tech robotic part. If you can use a hot glue gun, you can learn to solder basic electronics into a low-tech robot that reacts to its environment. And if you can figure out how to use the apps on your smart phone, you can learn enough programming to communicate with a simple robot. Written in language that non-engineers can understand, Making Simple Robots helps beginners move beyond basic craft skills and materials to the latest products and tools being used by artists and inventors. Find out how to animate folded paper origami, design a versatile robot wheel-leg for 3D printing, or program a rag doll to blink its cyborg eye. Each project includes step-by-step directions as well as clear diagrams and photographs. And every chapter offers suggestions for modifying and expanding the projects, so that you can return to the projects again and again as your skill set grows.

While human-like robots are not on our radars just yet, modern technology has reached the stage where making robots at home is quite feasible. While your home-made robot will not be the most highly technical design in comparison to the current market, building simple robots for kids with your kids is a fun experience and will create great designs and memories. How do you go about it? Let's discuss!

This book provides the reader with a clear and precise description of robotics and other systems for home automation currently on the market, and discusses their interoperability and perspectives for the near future. It shows the different standards and the development platforms used by the main service robots in an international environment. This volume provides a scientific basis for the user who is looking for the best option to suit his or her needs from the available alternatives to integrate modern technology in the digital home.

The objective of the present book, which tries to summarize in an edited format and in a fairly comprehensive manner, many of the recent technical research accomplishments in the area of Smart Actuators and Smart Sensors, is to combine researchers and scientists from different fields into a single virtual room. The book hence reflects the multicultural nature of the field and will allow the reader to taste and appreciate different points of view, different engineering methods and different tools that must be jointly considered when designing and realizing smart actuation and sensing systems.