This unique monograph focuses on the systematic type synthesis of parallel mechanisms (PMs), a key issue in the creative design of a wide variety of innovative devices such as parallel manipulators, motion simulators, and haptic devices. Essential reading for researchers, developers, engineers and graduate students with interests in robotics, this book covers the classification of PMs as well as providing a large number of PMs ready to be used in practical applications.

Grasping and manipulation skills are at the core of the development of modern robotic systems. With the introduction of robotics in new applications involving unstructured environments (e.g. space, undersea, surgery), intelligent manipulation and grasping has become a crucial research area. The authors have developed an internationally recognized expertise in this area. Additionally, they designed and built several prototypes which attracted the attention of the scientific community. Their work was reported in several publications which appeared in the most renowned journals and...