This monograph presents an updated source of information on the state of the art in advanced control of articulated and mobile robots. It includes relevant selected problems dealing with enhanced actuation, motion planning and control functions for articulated robots, as well as of sensory and autonomous decision capabilities for mobile robots. The basic idea behind the book is to provide a larger community of robotic researchers and developers with a reliable source of information and innovative applications in the field of control of cooperating and mobile robots. This book is the outcome of the research project MISTRAL (Methodologies and Integration of Subsystems and Technologies for Anthropic Robotics and Locomotion) funded in 2001-2002 by the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research. The thorough discussion, rigorous treatment, and wide span of the presented work reveal the significant advances in the theoretical foundation and technology basis of the robotics field worldwide. Bruno Siciliano is Professor of Control and Robotics at the University of Naples Federico II in Italy, President of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, and a Fellow of both IEEE and ASME. He is Co-Editor of the Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics series, and the Springer Handbook of Robotics. His research interests include identification and adaptive control, impedance and force control, visual tracking and servoing, redundant and cooperative manipulators, lightweight flexible arms, space robots, human-centered and service robotics. He has co-authored 6 books, 6 edited volumes, and over 240 technical papers. Lorenzo Sciavicco is Professor of Control and Robotics at the Third University of Rome in Italy. He has been one of the pioneers of robot control research. His research interests include automatic control theory and applications, manipulator inverse kinematics techniques, redundant manipulator control, force/motion control of manipulators, and cooperative robot manipulation. He has co-authored 3 books, 1 edited volume, and over 100 technical papers. Luigi Villani is Associate Professor of Control and Robotics at the University of Naples Federico II in Italy. His research interests include identification and adaptive control, impedance and force control, visual tracking and servoing, redundant and cooperative manipulators,and service robotics. He has co-authored 2 books, 1 edited volume, and over 120 technical papers. Giuseppe Oriolo is Associate Professor of Control and Robotics at the University of Rome "La Sapienza" in Italy. He is an Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics. His research interests include nonlinear control and robotics, visual servoing, redundant manipulators, mobile and nonholonomic robots, motion planning, sensor-based navigation and exploration, and service robotics. He has co-authored 2 books and over 120 technical papers.
