Special issue on the grand challenges of robotics [From the Guest Editors]

The six articles in this special issue were originally presented at workshops during the Robotics Science and Systems 2006 (RSS'06) conference. They provide an overview of the grand challenges facing the area of robotics.     

Cognitive robotics: new insights into robot and human intelligence by reverse engineering brain functions [From the Guest Editors]

Some articles in this special issue on cognitive robotics focus on replicating human and animal behaviors in robots, while others look into using robotic analogs of the brain to provide insight into the neuroscience.     

Field and Service Applications [From the Guest Editors]

The twelve articles in this special section are devoted to the commercialization of robotic systems and applications.     

The field of telerobotics [From the Guest Editors]

Telerobotics is perhaps one of the oldest fields in robotics. Since its humble beginning in the 1940s when the first teleoperator was designed, the focus had been primarily on the nuclear, space, and underwater applications until the 1980s. The recent advances in computing power and in communications have led to the emergence of new applications such as telesurgery, semiautonomous telerobotics, live power line maintenance, and others. On the other hand, progress in bilateral control has been the key point for the development of new master?slave architectures, which are important in precise telemanipulation tasks. This pervasive interest has spawned the continuous development of the new telerobotic systems.     

Walking and Running Biped Robots [From the Guest Editors]

The articles in this special issue focus on walking and running biped robots. This special issue covers the following topics: mechanical design for efficiency and robustness; the tradeoff between energetic efficiency and versatility; and the design of controllers for walking and running.     

Adaptable compliance or variable stiffness for robotic applications [From the Guest Editors]

Exciting new robots are being developed that will operate in a different environment from traditional industrial factories or research laboratories. Researchers are working worldwide to create robots that are integrated into our daily lives. For the advancement of these new robots, compliant, safe, and new actuators are one of the important issues turning energy into safe motion. The biological counterpart is the muscle tendon structure that has functional performance characteristics and a neuromechanical control systemthat has far more superior capabilities. The superior power to weight ratio, force to weight ratio, and sensing characteristics limit the development of machines that can match motion, safety, and energy efficiency of a human or other animal. One of the key differences of biological systems is their adaptable compliance or variable stiffness compared with the traditional stiff electrical drives used for the standard industrial robotic applications, which require accurate, reference-trajectory tracking.More and more applications such as robots in close human or robot proximity, legged autonomous robots, and rehabilitation devices and prostheses demand a different set of design specifications, for which the use of compliant actuators can be beneficial as compared with the traditional stiff actuation schemes.     

Design, Control, and Applications of Real-World Multirobot Systems [From the Guest Editors]

The six articles in this special present state-of-the-art work in mobile multirobot systems with an emphasis on techniques that have matured to the point of being evaluated through experimentation.