Introduction

Robots! Robots on Mars and in oceans, in hospitals and homes, in factories and schools; robots fighting fires, making goods and products, saving time and lives... Robots today are making a considerable impact on many aspects of modern life, from industrial manufacturing to healthcare, transportation, and exploration of the deep space and sea. Tomorrow, robots will be as pervasive and personal as todayʼs personal computers. The dream to create machines that are skilled and intelligent has been part of humanity from the beginning of time. This dream is now becoming part of our worldʼs striking reality.

Since the early civilizations, one of manʼs greatest ambitions has been to create artifacts in their image. The legend of the Titan Prometheus, who molded humankind from clay, or that of the giant Talus, the bronze slave forged by Hephaestus (3500 BC), testify to this quest in Greek mythology. The Egyptiansʼ oracle statues hiding priests inside (2500 BC) were perhaps the...