Page 14 - Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots

Preface

Mobile robotics is a young field. Its roots include many engineering and science disci-
plines, from mechanical, electrical and electronics engineering to computer, cognitive and
social sciences. Each of these parent fields has its share of introductory textbooks that
excite and inform prospective students, preparing them for future advanced coursework
and research. Our objective in writing this textbook is to provide mobile robotics with such
a preparatory guide.
This book presents an introduction to the fundamentals of mobile robotics, spanning the
mechanical, motor, sensory, perceptual and cognitive layers that comprise our field of
study. A collection of workshop proceedings and journal publications could present the
new student with a snapshot of the state of the art in all aspects of mobile robotics. But here
we aim to present a foundation — a formal introduction to the field. The formalism and
analysis herein will prove useful even as the frontier of the state of the art advances due to
the rapid progress in all of mobile robotics' sub-disciplines.
We hope that this book will empower both the undergraduate and graduate robotics stu-
dent with the background knowledge and analytical tools they will need to evaluate and
even critique mobile robot proposals and artifacts throughout their career. This textbook is
suitable as a whole for introductory mobile robotics coursework at both the undergraduate
and graduate level. Individual chapters such as those on Perception or Kinematics can be
useful as overviews in more focused courses on specific sub-fields of robotics.
The origins of the this book bridge the Atlantic Ocean. The authors have taught courses
on Mobile Robotics at the undergraduate and graduate level at Stanford University, ETH
Zurich, Carnegie Mellon University and EPFL (Lausanne). Their combined set of curricu-
lum details and lecture notes formed the earliest versions of this text. We have combined
our individual notes, provided overall structure and then test-taught using this textbook for
two additional years before settling on the current, published text.
For an overview of the organization of the book and summaries of individual chapters,
refer to Section 1.2.
Finally, for the teacher and the student: we hope that this textbook proves to be a fruitful
launching point for many careers in mobile robotics. That would be the ultimate reward.