This book presents the most recent research advances in the theory, design, control and application of robotic systems, which are intended for a variety of purposes such as manipulation, manufacturing, automation, surgery, locomotion and biomechanics. The issues addressed are fundamentally kinematic in nature, including synthesis, calibration, redundancy, force control, dexterity, inverse and forward kinematics, kinematic singularities, as well as over-constrained systems. Methods used include line geometry, quaternion algebra, screw algebra, and linear algebra. These methods are applied to both parallel and serial multi-degree-of-freedom systems.

The book includes 53 independently reviewed papers of researchers specialising in robot kinematics. The contributors are the most recognised scientists in this area. The papers have been subdivided into the following sections: Methods in Kinematics, Properties of Mechanisms, Humanoids and Biomedicine, Analysis of Mechanisms, Workspace and Performance, Design of Mechanisms, Motion Synthesis and Mobility.