ROMANSY 12. Theory and practice of robots and manipulators. Proceedings of the 12th CISM-IFToMM symposium, Paris, France, July 6--9, 1998 (Q1290566)

These proceedings focus mainly on problems of mechanical engineering and control. First, \textit{S. Hirose} in his opening lecture presents recent results of activities at Tokyo Institute of Technology with regard to the design of new types of mobile robots. In his invited lecture \textit{R. Fournier} makes an overview of CEA (French Atomic Energy Commission) innovations during the last ten years in the field of nuclear teleoperations. The rest 48 papers illustrate significant contributions in mechanics (12 papers), motion control (8 papers), sensing and programming (3), synthesis and design (13), applications (2), legged locomotion (9) and biomechanical aspects (3) of robots and manipulators. In the field of mechanics the following subjects are investigated: an implementation of real-time schemes for control of kinematically-redundant robots, an identification method for industrial robots that does not require a priori identification of the friction model, normal form of redundant singular kinematics of robotic manipulators, elastic manipulators, parallel mechanisms and manipulators, geometric characterization of velocity distribution in manipulators, inverse kinematic problem and quasi-static force analysis of special type of mechanisms, computing the inertia wrench on the basis of Lie groups application to manipulation of rigid objects, dynamical models in micro-robotics, and application of noncommutative harmonic analysis in robotics. In the field of motion control the problems of control of redundant large-scale manipulators are considered, a novel approach to force control using neuro-fuzzy techniques is suggested, and a multicriteria navigation of mobile robots by using evolutionary algorithms is given. In the area of sensing and programming, the subspaces are discussed in which the motion of hip-attachment points of parallel manipulators is completely measured, a software architecture for advanced robotics is described, and force and vision feedback controls in teleoperated manipulations are integrated. The chapter on synthesis and design discusses: design process for articulated robot fingers that leads to a new generation of dextrous robot hands, design and control of mechanical hands, a manipulator design method for human-robot symbiosis, kinematic design of manipulators, determination of six-dimensional workspaces of a Gough-type six d.o.f. parallel manipulator, a method to determine the domain of external force which satisfies contact grasp stability when integrating the response of actively controlled fingers, the effects of actuation schemes on the dynamic performance of serial manipulators, the optimum quality index for a redundant 4-4 parallel manipulator, modular redundant manipulator design for dynamic performance, a long reach robotic manipulator under development which is aimed at highway work, design of direct drive manipulator without joint limits, and finally geometric design of wheeled vehicles with slip-free motion capability on uneven ground. Chapter V ``Applications'' presents a study on state-to-state control of an articulated robot, and describes a hybrid manipulator structure for laser machining. The works presented in the field of legged locomotion discuss: design of galloping machines, dynamic simulation tool for biped robots, spacial balancing of biped walking mashines, development of a bipedal humanoid robot ``WABIAN'', effects of foot size and head on the reference trajectory for a quadruped, application of human gait patterns to the computer simulation of biped gait control, geometry, kinematics and design of six-legged miliwalking machine (HERMES II) combined with manipulators, methodology for control of a legged robot with fast dynamics, design and control of a robot with one articulated leg for locomotion on irregular terrain. The last chapter treats the biomechanical aspects, the problems of dental robots, damping of prosthesis motions by soft parts, and robotic balances using artificial labyrinth. On summary, the book under review is a nice addition to the existing literature in this attractive area for students, scientists and experienced engineers.