Section B of the special issue contains four papers dealing with diverse topics, viz. rehabilitation robotics applications, a software package for an automatic symbolic modelling of robots, the use of symplectic geometry, and the treatment of the Distributed Manipulation Environment method. This completes the wide review of various techniques and theoretical approaches aiming at solving the difficult problems of conventional robotics in the real world.

There is a wide diversity in the functioning and programming of robots designed and programmed to assist individuals with disabilities. The planning and structure of four rehabilitation robot implementations is presented. The first is the CURL language developed for human interface and the most widely used in this field. The second, MUSIIC, explores methods for direct manipulation of objects. RoboGlyph uses symbolic constructs to assist with the direction and programming of rehabilitation robots and finally a multi-tasking operating executive is discussed that controls a bilateral head operated telerobot. These four implementations reflect a wide range of interface concepts for the intended users.

This paper presents the software package SYMORO+ for the automatic symbolic modelling of robots. This package permits to generate the direct geometric model, the inverse geometric model, the direct kinematic model, the inverse kinematic model, the dynamic model, and the inertial parameters identification models.

The structure of the robots can be serial, tree structure or containing closed loops. The package runs on Sun stations and PC computers, it has been developed under MATHEMATICA and C language. In this paper we give an overview of the algorithms used in the different models; the computational cost of the dynamic models of the PUMA robot are given.

In spite of its simpler structure than that of the Euler-Lagrange equations-based model, the Hamiltonian formulation of Classical Mechanics (CM) gained only limited application in the Computed Torque Control (CTC) of the rather conventional robots. A possible reason for this situation may be, that while the independent variables of the Lagrangian model are directly measurable by common industrial sensors and encoders, the Hamiltonian canonical coordinates are not measurable and can also not be computed in the lack of detailed information on the dynamics of the system under control. As a consequence, transparent and lucid mathematical methods bound to the Hamiltonian model utilizing the special properties of such concepts as Canonical Transformations, Symplectic Geometry, Symplectic Group, Symplectizing Algorithm, etc. remain out of the reach of Dynamic Control approaches based on the Lagrangian model. In this paper the preliminary results of certain recent investigations aiming at the introduction of these methods in dynamic control are summarized and illustrated by simulation results. The proposed application of the Hamiltonian model makes it possible to achieve a rigorous deductive analytical treatment up to a well defined point exactly valid for a quite wide range of many different mechanical systems. From this point on it reveals such an ample assortment of possible non-deductive, intuitive developments and approaches even within the investigations aiming at a particular paradigm that publication of these very preliminary and early results seems to have definite reason, too.

Conventional robotics has proved to be inflexible and non-generic. The concept of Distributed Manipulation Environment (DME) is introduced to overcome some of these shortcomings. This concept proposes a distributed approach to robotics and flexible automation. The work is concerned with modelling, simulation and event based control of DME. The modelling, conducted both at the atomic and the coupled level, is quite generic and provides a framework for static and dynamic behaviour analysis of DME systems. The simulation models serve as a mean of performance evaluation of the system on a computer before the actual implementation in real time. The event-based controller provides a simple and robust control scheme. The controller, itself, can be tested, validated and finely tuned through simulation before implementation. The feasibility of the modelling technique is demonstrated through a case study.

1. Joint Venture Prograamme at Cranfield (UK)

The Joint Venture Programme, newly launched by the Cranfield School of Management, offers help to companies that are looking to expand their business in developing countries. It is claimed that valuable European Community (EU) grants are being lost, and the Cranfield initiative offers a fast track through what they describe as the bureaucracy involved in making applications for aid to develop partnerships abroad. This is particularly true of companies involved with automation and robotics who because of their intense development and marketing activities fail to take advantage not only of EU programmes that offer financial assistance, but even the help that is at hand from their own government's initiatives.

A practical implementation of a genetic algorithm for routing a real autonomous robot through a changing environment is described. Moving around in a production plant the robot collects information about its environment and stores it in a temporal map, which is virtually a square grid, taking account of changing obstacles. The evolutional optimizer continuously searches for short paths in this map using string representations of paths as chromosomes. The main features of the implementation include physical realization, random walk exploration, temporal mapping, and dedicated genetic operators.

In some daily tasks, such as pick and place, the robot is requested to reach with its hand tip a desired target location while it is operating in its environment. Such tasks become more complex in environments cluttered with obstacles, since the constraint for collision-free movement must be also taken into account. This paper presents a new technique based on genetic algorithms (GAs) to solve the path planning problem of articulated redundant robot manipulators. The efficiency of the proposed GA is demonstrated through multiple experiments carried out on several robots with redundant degrees-of-freedom. Finally, the computational complexity of the proposed solution is estimated, in the worst case.

A laser range finder mounted on a site and azimuth turret is used as a 3D range camera. It forms, associated with a video camera, an original stereovision system. The internal structure of both images are the same but the resolution of 3D image stays low. By ignoring the acquiring speed of measures, spatial resolution is limited by the accuracy of deviation device and the laser footprint. The fact that the impact of the beam is not a point introduces spatial integration.

To correct the average at depth discontinuities due to the beam footprint, a neural-network-based solution is reported.

The use of such a multisensor system requires its calibration. As camera calibration is a well-known problem, the paper focuses on models and calibration methods of the range finder. Experimental results illustrate the quality of the calibration step in terms of accuracy and stability.

The footprint correction is evaluated for both 1D and 2D range finder scannings.

Two more IFR member associations have established home pages on the World Wide Web. BRA (formerly the British Robot Association) can be found at http://www.bra-automation.co.uk, and the Danish Industrial Robot Association (DIRA) has its home page at http://inet.uni-c.dk/~i29876.

On September 2 1996, Professor Edmond Nicolau, an eminent cybernetician and great intellect, died aged 74. This was, indeed, a great loss to the world of science. I have also lost a devoted friend and active collaborator in the fields of cybernetics and systems, as well as a valuable member of the Editorial Board of Robotica.