Advances in Robot Kinematics And Computational Geometry

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 issues addressed are fundamentally kinematic in nature, including synthesis, calibration, redundancy, force control, dexterity, inverse and forward kinematics, kinematic singularities, as well as over-constrained systems.

Machine learning and computational intelligence are currently among the hottest research directions and have been applied to various areas with many successes, such as fields of image processing, point cloud processing, and natural language processing. Researchers explore many intelligent algorithms which are characterized by computational adaptability, robustness, and high-level performance. These algorithms facilitate intelligent behavior in complex and dynamic environments and the development of technology that enables machines to think, behave, or act more humanely. This book, consisting of 10 articles written by research experts on topics of interest, reports on the latest research in machine learning and computational intelligence. Many novel and interesting methods are introduced, which we hope will provide guiding significance for the further development of machine learning and computational intelligence.

This is the fifth book of the Kluwer's series Advances in Robot Kine­ matics. The 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, manufactur­ ing, automation, surgery, locomotion and biomechanics. The issues addressed are fundamentally kinematic in nature, including synthesis, calibration, redundancy, force control, dexterity, inverse and forward kinematics, kinematic singularities, as well as over-constrained systems. Methods used include line geometry, quaternion algebra, screw alge­ bra, and linear algebra. These methods are applied to both parallel and serial multi-degree-of-freedom systems. The results should interest researchers, teachers and students, in fields of engineering and mathe­ matics related to robot theory, design, control and application. Each contribution in this book had been rigorously reviewed by two or three independent reviewers and 53 articles had been recommended for publication. We are happy to observe that Advances in Robot Kine­ matics has always attracted the most outstanding authors and has de­ veloped a remarkable scientific community in the area. Many important and original scientific results were for the first time reported and dis­ cussed in these books. All articles in this book were also reported at the eight international symposium on Advances in Robot Kinematics that was organised in June 2002 in Caldes de Malavella in Spain.