Preface

Robotics can be a very challenging and very satisfying way to spend your time. A profound moment in the history of most roboticists is the first moment a robot performed a task under the influence of his or her software or electronics. Although a productive pursuit of the study of robotics involves aspects of engineering, mathematics, and physics, its elements do not convey the magic we all feel when interacting with a responsive semi-intelligent device of our own creation.

This book introduces the science and engineering of a particularly interesting class of robots – mobile robots. Although there are many analogs to the field of robot manipulators, mobile robots are sufficiently different to justify their treatment in an entirely separate text. Although the book concentrates on wheeled mobile robots, most of its content is independent of the specific locomotion subsystem used.

The field of mobile robots is changing rapidly. Many specialties are evolving in both the research and the commercial sectors. Any textbook offered in such an evolving field will represent only a snapshot of the field as it was understood at the time of publication. However, the rapid growth of the field, its several decades of history, and its pervasive popular appeal suggest that the time is now right to produce an early text that attempts to codify some of the fundamental ideas in a more accessible manner.