By the dawn of the new millennium, robotics has undergone a major tra-
formation in scope and dimensions. This expansion has been brought about
bythematurityofthe?eldandtheadvancesinitsrelatedtechnologies.From a
largely dominant industrial focus, robotics has been rapidly expanding
into the challenges of the human world. The new generation of robots is
expected to safely and dependably co-habitat with humans in homes,
workplaces, and communities, providingsupportinservices, entertainment,
education, heal- care, manufacturing, and assistance. Beyond its impact
on physical robots, the body of knowledge robotics has produced is
revealing a much wider range of applications reaching across - verse
researchareas and scienti?c disciplines, such as: biomechanics, haptics,
neurosciences, virtual simulation, animation, surgery, and sensor
networks among others. In return, the challenges of the new emerging
areas are pr- ing an abundant source of stimulation and insights for the
?eld of robotics. It is indeed at the intersection of disciplines that
the most striking advances happen. The goal of the series of Springer
Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR) is to bring, in a timely fashion, the
latest advances and developments in robotics on the basis of their
signi?cance and quality. It is our hope that the wider dissemination of
research developments will stimulate more exchanges and collaborations
among the research community and contribute to further advancement of
this rapidly growing ?