Robotics eBooks

In The Allure of Machinic Life, John Johnston examines new forms of nascent life that emerge through technical interactions within human-constructed environments--"machinic life"--in the sciences of cybernetics, artificial life, and artificial intelligence. With the development of such research initiatives as the evolution of digital organisms, computer immune systems, artificial protocells, evolutionary robotics, and swarm systems, Johnston argues, machinic life has achieved a complexity and autonomy worthy of study in its own right. Drawing on the publications of scientists as well as a range of work in contemporary philosophy and cultural theory, but always with the primary focus on the "objects at hand"--the machines, programs...

The interplay between optimization and machine learning is one of the most important developments in modern computational science. Optimization formulations and methods are proving to be vital in designing algorithms to extract essential knowledge from huge volumes of data. Machine learning, however, is not simply a consumer of optimization technology but a rapidly evolving field that is itself generating new optimization ideas. This book captures the state of the art of the interaction between optimization and machine learning in a way that is accessible to researchers in both fields.Optimization approaches have enjoyed prominence in machine learning because of their wide applicability and attractive theoretical properties. The increasing complexity...

Two important subproblems of computer vision are the detection and recognition of 2D objects in gray-level images. This book discusses the construction and training of models, computational approaches to efficient implementation, and parallel implementations in biologically plausible neural network architectures. The approach is based on statistical modeling and estimation, with an emphasis on simplicity, transparency, and computational efficiency.The book describes a range of deformable template models, from coarse sparse models involving discrete, fast computations to more finely detailed models based on continuum formulations, involving intensive optimization. Each model is defined in terms of a subset of points on a reference grid (the template),...

Based on the highly successful 3-volume reference Handbook of Computer Vision and Applications, this concise edition covers in a single volume the entire spectrum of computer vision ranging form the imaging process to high-end algorithms and applications. This book consists of three parts, including an application gallery, and is accompanied by a companion website * Bridges the gap between theory and practical applications* Covers modern concepts in computer vision as well as modern developments in imaging sensor technology* Presents a unique interdisciplinary approach covering different areas of modern science* An accompanying companion website provides 3-D models, image material in Tiff format and Movies in Apple Quicktime, Microsoft AVI, or MPEG f...