This book presents the most recent research advances in the theory, design, control and application of robotic systems, which are intended for a variety of purposes such as manipulation, manufacturing, automation, surgery, locomotion and biomechanics.

The topics addressed in this book cover the whole range of kinematic analysis, synthesis and design and consider robotic systems possessing serial, parallel and cable driven mechanisms. The robotic systems range from being less than fully mobile to kinematically redundant to over constrained. The fifty-six contributions report the latest results in robot kinematics with emphasis on emerging areas such as design and control of humanoids or humanoid subsystems. The book is of interest to researchers wanting to bring their knowledge up to date regarding modern topics in one of the basic disciplines in robotics, which relates to the essential property of robots, the motion of mechanisms.

This book brings together 46 peer-reviewed papers that are of interest to researchers wanting to know more about the latest topics and methods in the fields of the kinematics, control and design of robotic systems. These papers cover the full range of robotic systems, including serial, parallel and cable-driven manipulators, both planar and spatial. The systems range from being less than fully mobile, to kinematically redundant, to over-constrained. In addition to these more familiar areas, the book also highlights recent advances in some emerging areas: such as the design and control of humanoids and humanoid subsystems; the analysis, modeling and simulation of human-body motions; mobility analyses of protein molecules; and the development of machines that incorporate man.

The ?rst International Meeting of Advances in Robot Kinematics, ARK, occurred in September 1988, by invitation to Ljubljana, Slovenia, of a group of 20 int- nationally recognized researchers, representing six different countries from three continents. There were 22 lectures and approximately 150 attendees. This success of bringing together excellent research and the international community, led to the formation of a Scienti?c Committee and the decision to repeat the event biannually. The meeting was made open to all individuals with a critical peer review process of submitted papers. The meetings have since been continuously supported by the Jozef ? Stefan Institute and since 1992 have come under patronage of the Inter- tionalFederationforthePromotionofMechanismandMachineScience(IFToMM). Springer published the ?rst book of the series in 1991 and since 1994 Kluwer and Springer have published a book of the presented papers every two years. The papers in this book present the latest topics and methods in the kinem- ics, control and design of robotic manipulators. They consider the full range of - botic systems, including serial, parallel and cable driven manipulators, both planar and spatial. The systems range from being less than fully mobile to kinematically redundant to overconstrained. The meeting included recent advances in emerging areas such as the design and control of humanoids and humanoid subsystems, the analysis, modeling and simulation of human body motion, the mobility analysis of protein molecules and the development of systems which integrate man and - chine.

This book presents the most recent research advances in the theory, design, control and application of robotic systems, which are intended for a variety of purposes such as manipulation, manufacturing, automation, surgery, locomotion and biomechanics.

Advanced Theory of Constraint and Motion Analysis for Robot Mechanisms provides a complete analytical approach to the invention of new robot mechanisms and the analysis of existing designs based on a unified mathematical description of the kinematic and geometric constraints of mechanisms. Beginning with a high level introduction to mechanisms and components, the book moves on to present a new analytical theory of terminal constraints for use in the development of new spatial mechanisms and structures. It clearly describes the application of screw theory to kinematic problems and provides tools that students, engineers and researchers can use for investigation of critical factors such as workspace, dexterity and singularity.

The contributions in this book were presented at the sixth international symposium on Advances in Robot Kinematics organised in June/July 1998 in Strobl/Salzburg in Austria. The preceding symposia of the series took place in Ljubljana (1988), Linz (1990), Ferrara (1992), Ljubljana (1994), and Piran (1996). Ever since its first event, ARK has attracted the most outstanding authors in the area and managed to create a perfect combination of professionalism and friendly athmosphere. We are glad to observe that, in spite of a strong competition of many international conferences and meetings, ARK is continuing to grow in terms of the number of participants and in terms of its scientific impact. In its ten years, ARK has contributed to develop a remarkable scientific community in the area of robot kinematics. The last four symposia were organised under the patronage of the International Federation for the Theory of Machines and Mechanisms -IFToMM. interest to researchers, doctoral students and teachers, The book is of engineers and mathematicians specialising in kinematics of robots and mechanisms, mathematical modelling, simulation, design, and control of robots. It is divided into sections that were found as the prevalent areas of the contemporary kinematics research. As it can easily be noticed, an important part of the book is dedicated to various aspects of the kinematics of parallel mechanisms that persist to be one of the most attractive areas of research in robot kinematics.

Parallel structures are more effective than serial ones for industrial automation applications that require high precision and stiffness, or a high load capacity relative to robot weight. Although many industrial applications have adopted parallel structures for their design, few textbooks introduce the analysis of such robots in terms of dynamics

Complete, state-of-the-art coverage of robot analysis This unique book provides the fundamental knowledge needed for understanding the mechanics of both serial and parallel manipulators. Presenting fresh and authoritative material on parallel manipulators that is not available in any other resource, it offers an in-depth treatment of position analysis, Jacobian analysis, statics and stiffness analysis, and dynamical analysis of both types of manipulators, including a discussion of industrial and research applications. It also features: * The homotopy continuation method and dialytic elimination method for solving polynomial systems that apply to robot kinematics * Numerous worked examples and problems to reinforce learning * An extensive bibliography offering many resources for more advanced study Drawing on Dr. Lung-Wen Tsai's vast experience in the field as well as recent research publications, Robot Analysis is a first-rate text for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer studies, as well as an excellent desktop reference for robotics researchers working in industry or in government.