This book presents the proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Experimental Robotics held in Sydney in March 1999. The editors and contributors represent the leading robotics research efforts from around the world. Micro-machines, interplanetary exploration, minimally invasive surgery and emerging humanoid robots are among the most obvious attainments of leading robotics research teams reported in this volume. Less obvious but equally significant are the fundamental advances in robot map-building and methods of communication between humans and machines that are demonstrated through...