Advanced Guidance And Control Aspects In Robotics

To ensure the capability of defense, a demand for equipment and systems which can be embraced under the title of "Robotics" will emerge in the near future. In this context, "Robotics" represents a specific problem area involving all the guidance and control functions which are associated with achieving goal-oriented autonomous behavior in structured and unstructured environments for mobile and manipulator systems as applied to ground, sea, air, and space operations. Related robotic systems must combine constituent functions such as intelligent decision making, control, manipulation, motion, sensing, and communication. The scope of the special course will cover new developments in the areas of autonomous navigation for planetary and surface systems, and control and operations of remote manipulators.

This monograph covers theoretical and practical aspects of the problem of autonomous guiding of unmanned aerial manipulators using visual information. For the estimation of the vehicle state (position, orientation, velocity, and acceleration), the authors propose a method that relies exclusively on the use of low-cost and highrate sensors together with low-complexity algorithms. This is particularly interesting for applications in which on board computation with low computation power is needed. Another relevant topic covered in this monograph is visual servoing. The authors present an uncalibrated visual servo scheme, capable of estimating at run time, the camera focal length from the observation of a tracked target. The monograph also covers several control techniques, which achieve a number of tasks, such as robot and arm positioning, improve stability and enhance robot arm motions. All methods discussed in this monograph are demonstrated in simulation and through real robot experimentation. The text is appropriate for readers interested in state estimation and control of aerial manipulators, and is a reference book for people who work in mobile robotics research in general.

Advanced robotics describes the use of sensor-based robotic devices which exploit powerful computers to achieve the high levels of functionality that begin to mimic intelligent human behaviour. The object of this book is to summarise developments in the base technologies, survey recent applications and highlight new advanced concepts which will influence future progress.

This book describes the theoretical foundations of cognitive infocommunications (CogInfoCom), and provides a survey on state-of-the-art solutions and applications within the field. The book covers aspects of cognitive infocommunications in research fields such as affective computing, BCI, future internet, HCI, HRI, sensory substitution, and virtual/augmented interactions, and also introduces newly proposed paradigms and initiatives under the field, including CogInfoCom channels, speechability and socio-cognitive ICT. The book focuses on describing the merging between humans and information and communications technology (ICT) at the level of cognitive capabilities with an approach towards developing future cognitive ICT.

The International Conference on Intelligent Computing (ICIC) was formed to p- vide an annual forum dedicated to the emerging and challenging topics in artificial intelligence, machine learning, bioinformatics, and computational biology, etc. It aims to bring together researchers and practitioners from both academia and ind- try to share ideas, problems and solutions related to the multifaceted aspects of intelligent computing. ICIC 2008, held in Shanghai, China, September 15–18, 2008, constituted the 4th International Conference on Intelligent Computing. It built upon the success of ICIC 2007, ICIC 2006 and ICIC 2005 held in Qingdao, Kunming and Hefei, China, 2007, 2006 and 2005, respectively. This year, the conference concentrated mainly on the theories and methodologies as well as the emerging applications of intelligent computing. Its aim was to unify the picture of contemporary intelligent computing techniques as an integral concept that highlights the trends in advanced computational intelligence and bridges theoretical research with applications. Therefore, the theme for this conference was “Emerging Intelligent Computing Technology and Applications”. Papers focusing on this theme were solicited, addressing theories, methodologies, and applications in science and technology.