Robots don't always need expensive, dedicated fixtures for workpart positioning; table-top manipulation is possible and the sliding that occurs can be used to advantage if it is well understood. The author offers methods of automating the design of robot manipulation strategies reliant on sliding and friction. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The science and engineering of robotic manipulation. "Manipulation" refers to a variety of physical changes made to the world around us. Mechanics of Robotic Manipulation addresses one form of robotic manipulation, moving objects, and the various processes involved—grasping, carrying, pushing, dropping, throwing, and so on. Unlike most books on the subject, it focuses on manipulation rather than manipulators. This attention to processes rather than devices allows a more fundamental approach, leading to results that apply to a broad range of devices, not just robotic arms. The book draws both on classical mechanics and on classical planning, which introduces the element of imperfect information. The book does not propose a specific solution to the problem of manipulation, but rather outlines a path of inquiry.

A Mathematical Introduction to Robotic Manipulation presents a mathematical formulation of the kinematics, dynamics, and control of robot manipulators. It uses an elegant set of mathematical tools that emphasizes the geometry of robot motion and allows a large class of robotic manipulation problems to be analyzed within a unified framework. The foundation of the book is a derivation of robot kinematics using the product of the exponentials formula. The authors explore the kinematics of open-chain manipulators and multifingered robot hands, present an analysis of the dynamics and control of robot systems, discuss the specification and control of internal forces and internal motions, and address the implications of the nonholonomic nature of rolling contact are addressed, as well. The wealth of information, numerous examples, and exercises make A Mathematical Introduction to Robotic Manipulation valuable as both a reference for robotics researchers and a text for students in advanced robotics courses.

Human Inspired Dexterity in Robotic Manipulation provides up-to-date research and information on how to imitate humans and realize robotic manipulation. Approaches from both software and hardware viewpoints are shown, with sections discussing, and highlighting, case studies that demonstrate how human manipulation techniques or skills can be transferred to robotic manipulation. From the hardware viewpoint, the book discusses important human hand structures that are key for robotic hand design and how they should be embedded for dexterous manipulation. This book is ideal for the research communities in robotics, mechatronics and automation. Investigates current research direction in robotic manipulation Shows how human manipulation techniques and skills can be transferred to robotic manipulation Identifies key human hand structures for robotic hand design and how they should be embedded in the robotic hand for dexterous manipulation

This volume deals with core problems in robotics, like motion planning, sensor-based planning, manipulation, and assembly planning. It also discusses the application of robotics algorithms in other domains, such as molecular modeling, computer graphics, and image analysis. Topics Include: - Planning - Sensor Based Motion Planning - Control and Moti

This book has evolved from a course on Mechanics of Robots that the author has thought for over a dozen years at the University of Cassino at Cassino, Italy. It is addressed mainly to graduate students in mechanical engineering although the course has also attracted students in electrical engineering. The purpose of the book consists of presenting robots and robotized systems in such a way that they can be used and designed for industrial and innovative non-industrial applications with no great efforts. The content of the book has been kept at a fairly practical level with the aim to teach how to model, simulate, and operate robotic mechanical systems. The chapters have been written and organized in a way that they can be red even separately, so that they can be used separately for different courses and readers. However, many advanced concepts are briefly explained and their use is empathized with illustrative examples. Therefore, the book is directed not only to students but also to robot users both from practical and theoretical viewpoints. In fact, topics that are treated in the book have been selected as of current interest in the field of Robotics. Some of the material presented is based upon the author’s own research in the field since the late 1980’s.

Over the next few decades, millions of people, with varying backgrounds and levels of technical expertise, will have to effectively interact with robotic technologies on a daily basis. This means it will have to be possible to modify robot behavior without explicitly writing code, but instead via a small number of wearable devices or visual demonstrations. At the same time, robots will need to infer and predict humans’ intentions and internal objectives on the basis of past interactions in order to provide assistance before it is explicitly requested; this is the basis of imitation learning for robotics. This book introduces readers to robotic imitation learning based on human demonstration with wearable devices. It presents an advanced calibration method for wearable sensors and fusion approaches under the Kalman filter framework, as well as a novel wearable device for capturing gestures and other motions. Furthermore it describes the wearable-device-based and vision-based imitation learning method for robotic manipulation, making it a valuable reference guide for graduate students with a basic knowledge of machine learning, and for researchers interested in wearable computing and robotic learning.

With the science of robotics undergoing a major transformation just now, Springer’s new, authoritative handbook on the subject couldn’t have come at a better time. Having broken free from its origins in industry, robotics has been rapidly expanding into the challenging terrain of unstructured environments. Unlike other handbooks that focus on industrial applications, the Springer Handbook of Robotics incorporates these new developments. Just like all Springer Handbooks, it is utterly comprehensive, edited by internationally renowned experts, and replete with contributions from leading researchers from around the world. The handbook is an ideal resource for robotics experts but also for people new to this expanding field.

Microrobotics is an emerging and booming area with many and various applications, including in fields such as industrial/manufacturing robotics, medical robotics, and laboratory instrumentation. Microrobotics for Micromanipulation presents for the first time, in detail, a treatment of the field of robotics dedicated to handling objects of micrometer dimensions. At these dimensions, the behavior of objects is significantly different from the better known, larger scales, which leads to implementation techniques that can be radically different from the more commonly used solutions. This book details the behaviors of objects at the micrometer scale and provides robotics solutions that are suitable, in terms of actuators, grippers, manipulators, environmental perception, and microtechnology. Worked examples are included in the book - enabling engineers, students and researchers to familiarize themselves with this emerging area and to contribute to its development.

A comprehensive guide to the friction, contact and impact on robot control and force feedback mechanism Dynamics and Control of Robotic Manipulators with Contact and Friction offers an authoritative guide to the basic principles of robot dynamics and control with a focus on contact and friction. The authors discuss problems in interaction between human and real or virtual robot where dynamics with friction and contact are relevant. The book fills a void in the literature with a need for a text that considers the contact and friction generated in robot joints during their movements. Designed as a practical resource, the text provides the information needed for task planning in view of contact, impact and friction for the designer of a robot control system for high accuracy and long durability. The authors include a review of the most up-to-date advancements in robot dynamics and control. It contains a comprehensive resource to the effective design and fabrication of robot systems and components for engineering and scientific purposes. This important guide: Offers a comprehensive reference with systematic treatment and a unified framework Includes simulation and experiments used in dynamics and control of robot considering contact, impact and friction Discusses the most current tribology methodology used to treat the multiple–scale effects Contains valuable descriptions of experiments and software used Presents illustrative accounts on the methods employed to handle friction in the closed loop, including the principles, implementation, application scope, merits and demerits Offers a cohesive treatment that covers tribology and multi-scales, multi-physics and nonlinear stochastic dynamics control Written for graduate students of robotics, mechatronics, mechanical engineering, tracking control and practicing professionals and industrial researchers, Dynamics and Control of Robotic Manipulators with Contact and Friction offers a review to effective design and fabrication of stable and durable robot system and components.