Applied Dynamics of Manipulation Robots

During the period 1982-1985, six books of the series: Scientific Fun- damentals of Robotics were published by Springer-Verlag. In chronolo- gical order these were: Dynamics of Manipulation Robots: Theory and Application, by M. Vukobra- tovic and V. Potkonjak, Control of Manipulation Robots: Theory and Ap- plication, by M. vukobratovic and D. Stokic, Kinematics and Trajectory Synthesis of Manipulation Robots, by M. Vukobratovic and H. Kircanski, Real-Time Dynamics of Hanipulation Robots by M. Vukobratovic and N. Kircanski, Non-Adaptive and Adaptive Control of Manipulation Robots, by M. Vukobratovic, D. Stokic and N. Kircanski and Computer-Aided De- sign and Applied Dynamics of Manipulation Robots, by M. Vukobratovic and V. Potkonjak. Within the series, during 1989, two monographs dealing with new sub- jects will be published. So far, amongst the published monographs, Vol. 1 has been translated into Japanese, Volumes 2 and 5 into Russian, and Volumes 1-6 will appear in Chinese and Hungarian. In the author's opinion, the afore mentioned monographs, in principle, cover with sufficient breadth, the topics devoted to the design of ro- bots and their control systems, at the level of post-graduate study in robotics. However, if this material was also to apply to the study of robotics at under-graduate level, it would have to be modified so as to obtain the character of a textbook. With this in mind, it must be noted that the subject matter contained in the text cannot be simpli- fied but can only be elaborated in more detail.