A beyond human knowledge and reach, robotics is strongly involved in tackling challenges of new emerging multidisciplinary fields. Together with humans, robots are busy exploring and working on the new generation of ideas and problems whose solution is otherwise impossible to find. The future is near when robots will sense, smell and touch people and their lives. Behind this practical aspect of human-robotics, there is a half a century spanned robotics research, which transformed robotics into a modern science. The Advances in Robotics and Virtual Reality is a compilation of emerging application areas of robotics. The book covers robotics role in medicine, space exploration and also explains the role of virtual reality as a non-destructive test bed which constitutes a premise of further advances towards new challenges in robotics. This book, edited by two famous scientists with the support of an outstanding team of fifteen authors, is a well suited reference for robotics researchers and scholars from related disciplines such as computer graphics, virtual simulation, surgery, biomechanics and neuroscience.

Due to the growing prevalence of artificial intelligence technologies, schools, museums, and art galleries will need to change traditional ways of working and conventional thought processes to fully embrace their potential. Integrating virtual and augmented reality technologies and wearable devices into these fields can promote higher engagement in an increasingly digital world. Virtual and Augmented Reality in Education, Art, and Museums is an essential research book that explores the strategic role and use of virtual and augmented reality in shaping visitor experiences at art galleries and museums and their ability to enhance education. Highlighting a range of topics such as online learning, digital heritage, and gaming, this book is ideal for museum directors, tour developers, educational software designers, 3D artists, designers, curators, preservationists, conservationists, education coordinators, academicians, researchers, and students.

"Advances in Human-Robot Interaction" provides a unique collection of recent research in human-robot interaction. It covers the basic important research areas ranging from multi-modal interfaces, interpretation, interaction, learning, or motion coordination to topics such as physical interaction, systems, and architectures. The book addresses key issues of human-robot interaction concerned with perception, modelling, control, planning and cognition, covering a wide spectrum of applications. This includes interaction and communication with robots in manufacturing environments and the collaboration and co-existence with assistive robots in domestic environments. Among the presented examples are a robotic bartender, a new programming paradigm for a cleaning robot, or an approach to interactive teaching of a robot assistant in manufacturing environment. This carefully edited book reports on contributions from leading German academic institutions and industrial companies brought together within MORPHA, a 4 year project on interaction and communication between humans and anthropomorphic robot assistants.

This book gathers the recent advances in Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). It includes topics on classification of computer assisted environments, field-of-views on visuospatial memory in complex virtual environment, free-roam VR for gaming, simulation of physical processes in an electric circuit, motion study of mated gears, ternary reversible gates with virtual reality, inclusiveness of AR and VR for agricultural disease detection, application of AR and VR in medical and pharmaceuticals, drones for medical assistance, machine learning based AR technologies for human face detection, recognition, and automated vehicles for medical assistance. The book is targeted towards advancing undergraduate, graduate, and post graduate students, researchers, academicians, policymakers, various government officials, NGOs, and industry research professionals who are currently working in the field of science and technology either directly or indirectly to benefit the common masses.

The problem of robotic and virtual interaction with physical objects has been the subject of research for many years in both the robotic manipulation and haptics communities. Both communities have focused much attention on human touch-based perception and manipulation, modelling contact between real or virtual hands and objects, or mechanism design. However, as a whole, these problems have not yet been addressed from a unified perspective. This edited book is the outcome of a well-attended workshop which brought together leading scholars from various branches of the robotics, virtual-reality, and human studies communities during the 2004 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. It covers some of the most challenging problems on the forefront of today’s research on physical interaction with real and virtual objects, with special emphasis on modelling contacts between objects, grasp planning algorithms, haptic perception, and advanced design of hands, devices and interfaces.

Robotic-assisted laparoscopic urologic surgery is a major evolution in the field and has now become a major subspecialty. This issue of Urologic Clinics of North America aims to provide comprehensive, state-of-the-art information about the recent developments in the areas of Uro-Oncology, Reconstructive Urology, and Female Urology. Topics such as issue of training, evidence-based practice, the economics of robotic surgery, and the impact on public and global health are also covered.The contributors are truly pioneers and the best experts in the field.