International Journal of Robotics and Automation
Published 4 times annually. ISSN 0826-8185

International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR)

Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems

Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan

Journal of Robotic Systems

Mechatronics (Mechanics, Electronics, Control)
Editors-in-Chief:

Military Robotics

The newsletter subscription cost is $350 (U.S.) and $375 (outside North America).

Robot (Japanese)

Robot Explorer

Robotica

International Journal of Information, Education and Research in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Quarterly publication, US $179 per year

Robotics and Autonomous Systems
In Europe:

The Robotics Practitioner

Robotics Today

Robotics World

Unmanned Systems

T-O-Cs of Japanese publications in the computer/electronics cateogry will be posted on the Usenet group (comp.research.japan). However, other T-O-Cs can be delivered via e-mail to you if you contact us with your address and category preferences at the e-mail address below. (Sorry, we are unable to deliver via post office or fax).

Below is a list of categories in which we are currently translating T-O-Cs and making them available at no cost. Should you have any other suggestions, please let us know. If there is sufficient interest in other categories, we will consider making arrangements with Japanese publishers.

Tables-of-contents from Japanese magazines will be available in the following categories:

1. General engineering (robotics, materials, inventions and patents)
2. Mechanical engineering
3. Transportation engineering
4. Metal engineering
5. Chemistry and chemical engineering
6. Energy engineering
7. Nuclear engineering
8. Electrical engineering
9. Electronics and communication technology
10. Information science (software and hardware)

To subscribe to our e-mail delivery service contact us by e-mail at: japanese@aol.com

The readership of this group ranges from the beginner to experienced robot designers and users. Accordingly, this list covers the gamut as well. I would like to include net resources as well such as papers or tech reports so send me your sites!

Microprocessor Based Robotics

Microcontroller Technology: The 68HC11

Minimalist Mobile Robotics

Mobile Robots: Inspiration to Implementation.

Navigating Mobile Robots: Systems and Techniques

Recent Trends in Mobile Robots

The Robot Book

The Robot Builder's Bonanza: 99 Inexpensive Robotics Projects

The general consensus is that this is a good attempt for hobbyists. Unfortunately this book has a number of errors - comp.robotics.misc has covered a number of these. I hope to collect a number of these; perhaps if it is reprinted or a new edition comes out these can be corrected.

One example: Walkerbot (pg 136)it calls for two pieces of 1x1x1/16 angle stock 23 7/8" and two 17 5/8" these pices should be 24" and 17 7/8 " respectively.

Robot Evolution: the Development of Anthropomorphics

Robot Hobby: The Complete Manual, for Individuals and Clubs

ISBN 0-9634272-4-5, Soft cover $29.95, Hard Cover $36.95

Robotic Technology: Principles and Practice.

Robotics

Robot Motion: Planning and Control

Robots

Safety, Reliability, and Human Factors in Robotic Systems.

Sensors for Mobile Robots

An excellent overview of many sensors useful for robotics (and other applications)

Teleoperation and Robotics in Space

This volume discusses many of the practical and theoretical aspects of on-orbit teleoperation and robotics. Included in the volume are detailed discussions, diagrams, and photos of international hardware designed to assist with the assembly and maintenance of the space station, as well as information about new remote teleoperation systems and training facilities and programs for their operators. The economics and politics of robotic vs manned space activities are discussed at length as are the special issues which affect long-distance operation, operation in near-zero g, operation using very-light-weight, nonrigid units, and operation with an unconstrained base.

Other relevant files are Robots, an overview of trends in robot manufacturing, use, and sales in Japan dated Feb 28, 1993. Also,robots.93 is a Dec 10, 1993 summary of the 24th International Symposium on Industrial Robots (ISIR), the 1993 International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR), and the 1993 International Industrial Robot Exhibition, all held in Tokyo 1-5 Nov 1993.

The 6.270 Robot Builder's Guide (See also the Miniboard section in this FAQ) by Fred Martin ftp://cherupakha.media.mit.edu/pub/6270/docs/ filenames: *.PS.Z This directory contains "The 6.270 Robot Builder's Guide", the course notes to the 1992 MIT LEGO Robot Design Competition. Hardcopy also available for $15 from:

Cambridge University Tech report on 3D object model acquisition and recognition: ftp://svr-ftp.eng.cam.ac.uk/reports/

Carnegie Mellon University SCS Technical Reports

1. The machine reports@cs.cmu.edu is the offical SCS machine for ftping SCS technical reports. Directories containing .ps files (compressed and uncompressed, dependent on size) are stored for ease of access. You can use the instructions below to browse the directories.
2. The reports appearing in our ftpable directories are also automatically transferred into MOSAIC. Authors retain the right to decide whether their report(s) should or should not appear in the public ftp directories/MOSAIC.
3. A third mechanism for storing and making reports available is MERCURY--the scanned image, full text, online database (part of the LIS system). Whether the report is scanned into the system is again left up to invidivual author choice. The CMU community is able to view text for the reports, as they appear, at their desks using Mercury. This system, supported by ARPA and CNRI, will open soon to MIT, Stanford, Cornell, and Berkeley...so we can all share online text of reports. Down the road, it is anticipated that more and more universities will become a part of this service. We scan original copies of reports into the system,

   URL: ftp://reports.adm.cs.cmu.edu/ The reports are in postscript format (.ps). The index file is called README.mss. The reports are listed in the directory by their NUMBER.ps...for example, CMU-CS-92-100.ps, CMU-CS-92-101.ps and so on. The majority of the files are not compressed, although any compressed files will be listed as NUMBER.ps.Z . A very few reports have been broken down into multiple postscript files. They will appear as NUMBERA.ps, NUMBERB.ps, etc. The README.mss will indicate the reports that have multiple .ps files.

NASA Jet Propulsion Labs (JPL)
ftp://robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/gat/ filenames: bc4pe.rtf, aaai92.rtf, nats.rtf

Note that all files are in Microsoft Word RTF format. Contact gat@robotics.jpl.nasa.gov if you don't have access to a Mac.

NRaD

http://www.nosc.mil/robots/pubs/PubsIdx.html

New York University
file://cs.nyu.edu/pub/tech-reports/tr669.ps.Z

Abstract: Recent experimental and analytical evidence indicates that direct drive robots become very practical and economical at miniature and microscopic scales, so it is interesting to understand quantitatively the properties of direct drive robots under scaling transformations. This leads to a study of how screws and their dual co-screws behave under the group of similarity transforms. This group is the group of isometries together with dilations. Several different representations are found on the space of screws and complementary representations are found on the dual space of co-screws. From the electromagnetic theory of the force and torque on a magnet in a magnetic field, we derive the scaling properties of the electromagnetic wrench. Hence, these results can be directly applied to the scaling of direct drive motors. We conclude by proposing a scale-invariant measure for direct drive actuator performance.

LIFIA/INRIA
Files are at: ftp://imag.fr/pub/LIFIA (129.88.32.1) Several compressed PS files.

University of Massachusetts:
ftp://rabbit.cs.umass.edu/pub/papers. The files are compressed postscript, topics include path planning, neuroscience, and control.

University of Kaiserslautern
FTP-Server is : ftp://ftp.uni-kl.de/reports_uni-kl/computer_science/mobile_robots/. Subdirectories: 1993/papers, 1994/papers, etc

SPIE abstracts
Abstracts from SPIE conferences can be found at ftp://mom.spie.org/abstracts/1800/ Filenames include 1831.txt [From Mobile Robots VII 1992]. SPIE bookorders can be made through bookorders@mom.spie.org

JTEC report on Japanese Space Robotics
A summary of the Japanese Technology Evaluation Center (JTEC) panel's report on the state of the art of Japanese robot technology. Lots of pictures of wierd and wonderful robots -- elephant trunk, caterpillar, space tentacle, wall builder, Komatsu's walking undersea rubble-leveler, humanoid two-armed assembly robot, 4-legged stair climber. Also tells where to write for videotapes of these machines in action. Here's the info (two years old, remember) ... Tape with narration by William "Red" Whittaker:

A comprehensive survey on Mobile Robot Positioning. This survey is over 200 pages long, has 130 illustrations and nearly 300 references, and took well over one man-year to complete. The survey is entitled A description and table of contents can be found here.

To download the report go here and read this file first.

Alternatively, you can look at a detailed Table of Contents from within Johann Borenstein's WWW Homepage at: Johann's Home Page

Before you download the actual survey, you should read the "readme.txt" file for compatibility tips, and you should read the "um_index.wp5" file to see if you want to download all or only selected chapters of the report.

The video proceedings are now available for $35 US for VHS (NTSC) format and $50 US for PAL format. The video is being made publicly available on a non-profit basis. Printed abstracts and points of contacts are included in a pamphlet with each video. The program is available eclectronically via anonymous ftp to file://taurus.cs.nps.navy.mil/pub/auv/uust93_video_proceedings.ps.Z

You may order this video (or printed conference proceedings) by sending a check or money order to:

Video Contents:
01:20 AUVs for Scientific Research in Hazardous Conditions
07:15 A Versatile Testbed: The "Twin-Burger"
13:55 ARPA/Navy Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV)
31:30 Summary of MBARI/Stanford ARL Joint Underwater Robotics Research Program
43:05 Development of an Aquatic Walking Robot for Underwater Inspection: "AQUAROBOT"
47:30 Naval Postgraduate School Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
50:15 The Rational Behavior Model (RBM) Software Architecture
57:25 Mobile Undersea Systems Test (MUST) Laboratory
1:02:10 The Advanced Unmanned Search System (AUSS)
1:11:20 credits