Sensor-Based Robots: Algorithms and Architectures

This volume in a series on computer systems originates from the lectures presented at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Sensor-Based Robots: Algorithms and Architectures", held at Chateau de Bonas in France, in October 1988. The aim of the workshop was to study the fundamental research issues and problems associated with sensor-based robot manipulators and to propose approaches and solutions from various viewpoints in improving present-day manipulators in the areas of sensor fusion and integration, sensory information processing and parallel algorithms and architectures for robotic computations. The book takes the view that the increasing demand for high performance sensor-based robot manipulators in assembly tasks can only be met by the efficient acquisition and processing of internal/external sensory information, the utilization and integration of sensory information from various sensors to acquire knowledge in a changing environment, the exploitation of inherent robotic parallel algorithms and efficient VLSI architectures for robotic computations and system integration into a working and functioning robotic system.