The Eighth International Symposium of Robotics Research was held in Shonan near Kamakura, Japan from October 4 to 7, 1997, organized by the International Foundation of Robotics Research (IFRR). The goal of the Symposium was to bring together active, leading robotics researchers from academia and industry to assess the state of art of Advanced Robotics and to discuss future research directions. The Symposium was held in an informal setting with fifty nine participants. Attendance was limited in order to maximize interaction. The selection of participants was made by the Program Committee using...