“Whether making my heart melt, or my head burst into flames, Annabeth Albert draws the reader in and keeps them captivated.” —Gay Book Reviews The camping trip from hell may be the first stop on the road to happily-ever-after. Navy SEAL Renzo Bianchi has a soft spot for Canaan Finley, and not only because the man makes a mean smoothie. He’s the first guy to get Renzo’s motor revving in a long time. But when he agrees to Canaan’s insane charade—one all-access fake boyfriend, coming right up—he never expects more than a fling. Creating a hot Italian SEAL boyfriend to save face seemed like a good idea…until his friends called Canaan’s bluff. Now he’s setting off into the woods with the very man who inspired his deception, and Canaan is not the outdoorsy type. The sparks are already flying when a flash flood separates them from their group, leaving Renzo and Canaan very much trapped…very much alone in the wilderness. Working together to come up with a plan for survival is sexier than either of them expects. But back in the real world, being a couple is bringing its own set of hazards… Out of Uniform Book 1: Off Base Book 2: At Attention Book 3: On Point Book 4: Wheels Up Book 5: Squared Away Book 6: Tight Quarters Book 7: Rough Terrain Also by Annabeth Albert: Shore Leave Book 1: Sailor Proof Book 2: Sink or Swim Hotshots Book 1: Burn Zone Book 2: High Heat Book 3: Feel the Fire Book 4: Up in Smoke

This monograph discusses issues related to estimation, control, and motion planning for mobile robots operating in rough terrain, with particular attention to planetary exploration rovers. Rough terrain robotics is becoming increasingly important in space exploration, and industrial applications. However, most current motion planning and control algorithms are not well suited to rough terrain mobility, since they do not consider the physical characteristics of the rover and its environment. Specific addressed topics are: wheel terrain interaction modeling, including terrain parameter estimation and wheel terrain contact angle estimation; rough terrain motion planning; articulated suspension control; and traction control. Simulation and experimental results are presented that show that the desribed algorithms lead to improved mobility for robotic systems in rough terrain.

This book presents the development of SLAM-based mobile robot control systems as an integrated approach that combines the localization, mapping and motion control fields, and reviews several techniques that represent the basics of the mathematical description of wheeled robots, their navigation and path planning approaches, localization and map creating techniques. It examines SLAM paradigms and Bayesian recursive state and map estimation techniques, which include Kalman and particle filtering, and enable the development of a SLAM-based integrated system for the inspection task performed. The system’s development is divided into two phases: a single-robot approach and multirobot inspection system. The book describes an original approach to 2D SLAM in multi-floor buildings that covers each 2D level map, as well as continuous 3D pose tracking, and views the multirobot inspection system as a group of homogeneous mobile robots. The last part of the book is dedicated to multirobot map creation and the development of path planning solutions, which allow the robots’ homogeneous behavior and configuration to be used to develop a multirobot system without theoretical limitations on the number of robots used.

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.

This book presents the proceedings of 24th International Conference Series on Climbing and Walking Robots. CLAWAR 2021 is the twenty-fourth edition of International Conference series on Climbing and Walking Robots and the Support Technologies for Mobile Machines. The conference is organized by CLAWAR Association in collaboration with Kwansei Gakuin University on a virtual platform in Takarazuka, Japan, during 30 August–01 September 2021. CLAWAR 2021 brings new developments and new research findings in robotics technologies within the framework of “Robotics for Sustainable Future”. The topics covered include biped locomotion, human–machine/human–robot interaction, innovative actuators, power supplies and design of CLAWAR, inspection, legged locomotion, modelling and simulation of CLAWAR, outdoor and field robotics, planning and control, and wearable devices and assistive robotics. The intended readership includes participants of CLAWAR 2021 conference, international robotic researchers, scientists, professors of related topics worldwide, and professors and students of postgraduate courses in Robotics and Automation, Control Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Mechatronics.