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• Part 1 Introduction and Purpose.-
• Part 2 Fundamentals of Swarm Robotics - An Interdisciplinary Approach.-
• Part 3 State-of-the-Art in Modeling and Design of Swarms.-
• Part 4 A Framework of Models for Swarm Robotic Systems.-
• Part 5 Validation by Results of Experiments and Simulations.-
• Part 6 Conclusion and Outlook.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

In this book, a generic model in as far as possible mathematical closed-form is developed that predicts the behavior of large self-organizing robot groups (robot swarms) based on their control algorithm. In addition, an extensive subsumption of the relatively young and distinctive interdisciplinary research field of swarm robotics is emphasized. The connection to many related fields is highlighted and the concepts and methods borrowed from these fields are described shortly.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• CSB??Physics and Metaphysics.- CSB??Structure and Function.- CSB??Biomechanics: Structure and Function of Human Motion.- CSB??System.- CSB??Synergetics: Escape from Chaos.- CSB??Subsystems: Energy and Information Flows.- Neuro??CSB: Artificial Neural Networks.- CSB??Intelligence.- Smart CSB??Agents for Games Modelling.- Psycho??CSB: Mental Concentration in Sport.- Tennis Champion of the Future.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

What are motor abilities of Olympic champions? What are essential psyc- logical characteristics of Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis and Roger Federer? How to discover and maximally develop motor intelligence? How to develop - domitable will power of Olympic champions? What are the secrets of sel- tion for the future Olympic champions? Does for every sport exist a unique model of an Olympic champion? This book gives a modern scienti?c answers to the above questions. Its purpose is to give you the answer to everything you ever wanted to ask about sport champions, but didn't know who or how to ask. In particular, the purpose of this book is to give you the answer to eve- thing you ever wanted to ask about advanced tennis, but didn't know who or how to ask. Its aim is to dispel classical myths of a "biomechanically sound" serve, forehand, and backhand, as well as provide methods for developing superior tennis weapons, a lightning-fast game, and unrivaled mental speed and strength - essential qualities of a future tennis champion.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
What are motor abilities of Olympic champions? What are essential cognitive characteristics of Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis and Roger Federer? What are the secrets of selection for the future Olympic champions? Does for every sport exist a unique model of an Olympic champion?"Complex Sports Biodynamics" gives modern scientific answers to the above questions. Its purpose is to give you the answer to everything you ever wanted to ask about sport champions and advanced tennis in particular. It dispels classical myths of a "biomechanically sound" serve, forehand, and backhand, and describes and explains the physical and mental abilities of a champion in future tennis with full appreciation to the long-time world number one, Roger Federer. Regarding the future tennis champion model outlined in this book, the Federer-model will be taken as a basis. This book includes 12 chapters on various topics related to complex sports biodynamics, a strong list of references on sports science in general and tennis in particular, as well as a comprehensive index. To make the book more readable for the widest possible audience, the last chapter on tennis has been written in a popular (non-rigorous) question & answer format.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Systems.- Perception for Action in Insects.- Principles of Insect Locomotion.- Low Level Approaches to Cognitive Control.- Cognitive Models.- A Bottom-Up Approach for Cognitive Control.- Mathematical Approach to Sensory Motor Control and Memory.- From Low to High Level Approach to Cognitive Control.- Complex Systems and Perception.- Software/Hardware Cognitive Architecture and Experiments.- New Visual Sensors and Processors.- Visual Algorithms for Cognition.- SPARK Hardware.- Robotic Platforms and Experiments.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The basic principles guiding sensing, perception and action in bio systems seem to rely on highly organised spatial-temporal dynamics. In fact, all biological senses, (visual, hearing, tactile, etc.) process signals coming from different parts distributed in space and also show a complex time evolution. As an example, mammalian retina performs a parallel representation of the visual world embodied into layers, each of which r- resents a particular detail of the scene. These results clearly state that visual perception starts at the level of the retina, and is not related uniquely to the higher brain centres. Although vision remains the most useful sense guiding usual actions, the other senses, ?rst of all hearing but also touch, become essential particularly in cluttered conditions, where visual percepts are somehow obscured by environment conditions. Ef?cient use of hearing can be learnt from acoustic perception in animals/insects, like crickets, that use this ancient sense more than all the others, to perform a vital function, like mating.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction.- Mathematical Preliminaries.- Multi-Physical Structure of Human Fascia: Harmony of Biomechanics and Neurodynamics.- Biomechanics of Human Iliopsoas and Functionally Related Muscles.- Exercises, Nutrition and Mental Attitude.- Lymphodynamics and Diamond Sports Matrix System.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This handbook provides insights into becoming a better and more evolved athlete. It offers aspiring athletes, regardless of skill level, a better understanding of their bodies and how to unlock the unlimited potential of muscles without injury. It focuses on the "superhero" muscle: the iliopsoas, and also sheds light on Diamond-Corporation's new technology and elite athleticism, and how these can contribute to a healthier life. Lastly, the authors explore the mindset of success and provide exercises for remaining calm under pressure. This stand-alone book is the sequel to Paradigm Shift for Future Tennis and Enhancing Performance and Reducing Stress in Sport (2014, Springer).This book is written by scientists, whose expertise collectively spans the fields of biomechanics, clinical surgery, current and former elite athleticism, engineering and naturopath doctoral work. Together, they aim to inspire and educate athletes on how to improve their sports performance by using new technologies, world class biomechanics knowledge and ancient herbal medicines.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Computationalism in a Dynamic and Distributed Eco-Cognitive Perspective
• Eco-Cognitive Computationalism
• AlphaGo, Locked Strategies, and Eco-Cognitive Openness
• Computational Domestication of Ignorant Entities- Conclusion.

This book mainly focuses on the widely distributed nature of computational tools, models, and methods, ultimately related to the current importance of computational machines as mediators of cognition. An entirely new eco-cognitive approach to computation is offered, to underline the question of the overwhelming cognitive domestication of ignorant entities, which is persistently at work in our current societies. Eco-cognitive computationalism does not aim at furnishing an ultimate and static definition of the concepts of information, cognition, and computation, instead, it intends, by respecting their historical and dynamical character, to propose an intellectual framework that depicts how we can understand their forms of "emergence" and the modification of their meanings, also dealing with impressive unconventional non-digital cases. The new proposed perspective also leads to a clear description of the divergence between weak and strong levels of creative "abductive" hypothetical cognition: weak accomplishments are related to "locked abductive strategies", typical of computational machines, and deep creativity is instead related to "unlocked abductive strategies", which characterize human cognizers, who benefit from the so-called "eco-cognitive openness."

• The Mechanistic Theory of Scientific Explanation.- The Mechanistic Theory of Human Cognition.- Molecular and Cellular Theory of Human Cognition.- Dynamical Systems Theory of Human Cognition and Theory of Situated Human Cognition.- Computational Theory of Human Cognition and Belief-Desire Theory of Human Cognition.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This book presents a theoretical critical appraisal of the Mechanistic Theory of Human Cognition (MTHC), which is one of the most popular major theories in the contemporary field of cognitive science. It analyses and evaluates whether MTHC provides a unifying account of human cognition and its explanation. The book presents a systematic investigation of the internal and external consistency of the theory, as well as a systematic comparison with other contemporary major theories in the field. In this sense, it provides a fresh look at more recent major theoretical debates in this area of scientific research and a rigorous analysis of one of its most central major theories. Rigorous theoretical work is integrated with objective consideration of relevant empirical evidence, making the discussions robust and clear. As a result, the book shows that MTHC provides a significant theoretical contribution for the field of cognitive science. The content is useful for those interested in theoretical and empirical issues concerning major theories in the contemporary field of cognitive science.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Available in MS.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This book focuses on a critical issue in the study of physical agents, whether natural or artificial: the quantitative modelling of sensory-motor coordination. Adopting a novel approach, it defines a common scientific framework for both the intelligent systems designed by engineers and those that have evolved naturally. As such it contributes to the widespread adoption of a rigorous quantitative and refutable approach in the scientific study of 'embodied' intelligence and cognition. More than 70 years after Norbert Wiener's famous book Cybernetics: or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine (1948), robotics, AI and life sciences seem to be converging towards a common model of what we can call the 'science of embodied intelligent/cognitive agents'. This book is interesting for an interdisciplinary community of researchers, technologists and entrepreneurs working at the frontiers of robotics and AI, neuroscience and general life and brain sciences.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction
• Maps of Dynamics
• Modelling Motion Patterns with Conditional Transition Map
• Modelling Motion Patterns with Circular-Linear Flow Field Maps
• Motion Planning Using MoDs
• Closing remarks.

This book describes how robots can make sense of motion in their surroundings and use the patterns they observe to blend in better in dynamic environments shared with humans.The world around us is constantly changing. Nonetheless, we can find our way and aren't overwhelmed by all the buzz, since motion often follows discernible patterns. Just like humans, robots need to understand the patterns behind the dynamics in their surroundings to be able to efficiently operate e.g. in a busy airport. Yet robotic mapping has traditionally been based on the static world assumption, which disregards motion altogether. In this book, the authors describe how robots can instead explicitly learn patterns of dynamic change from observations, store those patterns in Maps of Dynamics (MoDs), and use MoDs to plan less intrusive, safer and more efficient paths. The authors discuss the pros and cons of recently introduced MoDs and approaches to MoD-informed motion planning, and provide an outlook on future work in this emerging, fascinating field. .
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Part I Theoretical and General Aspects of Anticipation.- Part II Anticipation in Biological and Physiological Systems.- Part III Anticipation in Neural Networks.- Part IV Anticipation in Engineering and Information Technology.- Part V Anticipation, Culture, and Society.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Never before was anticipation more relevant to the life and activity of humankind than it is today. "It is no overstatement to suggest that humanity's future will be shaped by its capacity to anticipate..." (Research Agenda for the 21st Century, National Science Foundation). The sciences and the humanities can no longer risk explaining away the complexity and interactivity that lie at the foundation of life and living. The perspective of the world that anticipation opens justifies the descriptor "the post-Cartesian Revolution." If anticipation is a valid research domain, what practical relevance can we await? Indeed, anticipation is more than just the latest catch-word in marketing the apps developed by the digital technology industry. Due to spectacular advances in the study of the living, anticipation can claim a legitimate place in current investigations and applications in the sciences and the humanities. Biology, genetics, medicine, as well as politics and cognitive, behavioral, and social sciences, provide rich evidence of anticipatory processes at work. Readers seeking a foundation for an ticipation will find in these pages recent outcomes pertinent to plant life, political anticipation, cognitive science, architecture, computation. The authors contributing to this volume frame experimental data in language that can be shared among experts from all fields of endeavor. The major characteristic is the inference from the richness of data to principles and practical consequences.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction
• Background
• Bottom-up Audio-Visual Attention for Scene Exploration
• Multimodal Attention with Top-Down Guidance
• Conclusion
• Applications
• Dataset Overview.

This book presents state-of-the-art computational attention models that have been successfully tested in diverse application areas and can build the foundation for artificial systems to efficiently explore, analyze, and understand natural scenes. It gives a comprehensive overview of the most recent computational attention models for processing visual and acoustic input. It covers the biological background of visual and auditory attention, as well as bottom-up and top-down attentional mechanisms and discusses various applications. In the first part new approaches for bottom-up visual and acoustic saliency models are presented and applied to the task of audio-visual scene exploration of a robot. In the second part the influence of top-down cues for attention modeling is investigated.

• Introduction.- Evolution and Brain.- Function of the Overall System.- Structures in Neural Systems.- Aspects of Description.- Social Aspects - Remarks.- Remarks on Open Terms.- Options for Technical Feasibility.- A Viewpoint.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

In this fundamental book the authors devise a framework that describes the working of the brain as a whole. It presents a comprehensive introduction to the principles of Neural Information Processing as well as recent and authoritative research. The books' guiding principles are the main purpose of neural activity, namely, to organize behavior to ensure survival, as well as the understanding of the evolutionary genesis of the brain. Among the developed principles and strategies belong self-organization of neural systems, flexibility, the active interpretation of the world by means of construction and prediction as well as their embedding into the world, all of which form the framework of the presented description. Since, in brains, their partial self-organization, the lifelong adaptation and their use of various methods of processing incoming information are all interconnected, the authors have chosen not only neurobiology and evolution theory as a basis for the elaboration of such a framework but also systems and signal theory. The most important message of the book and authors is: brains are evolved as a whole and a description of parts although necessary lets one miss the wood for the trees.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction.- The Neuroscience of Action and Perception.- Intelligent Robotic Grasping?.- Vision-Based Grasping, where Robotics Meets Neuroscience.- Extraction of Grasp-Related Visual Features.- Visuomotor Transformations for Grasp Planning and Execution.- An Ever-Developing Research Framework.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This book presents interdisciplinary research that pursues the mutual enrichment of neuroscience and robotics. Building on experimental work, and on the wealth of literature regarding the two cortical pathways of visual processing - the dorsal and ventral streams - we define and implement, computationally and on a real robot, a functional model of the brain areas involved in vision-based grasping actions. Grasping in robotics is largely an unsolved problem, and we show how the bio-inspired approach is successful in dealing with some fundamental issues of the task. Our robotic system can safely perform grasping actions on different unmodeled objects, denoting especially reliable visual and visuomotor skills. The computational model and the robotic experiments help in validating theories on the mechanisms employed by the brain areas more directly involved in grasping actions. This book offers new insights and research hypotheses regarding such mechanisms, especially for what concerns the interaction between the dorsal and ventral streams. Moreover, it helps in establishing a common research framework for neuroscientists and roboticists regarding research on brain functions.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Part I Alexei A. Ukhtomsky and Dominance Studies
• Part II Peter K. Anokhin and the Theory of Functional Systems
• Part III Nikolai A. Bernstein and the Physiology of Activity
• Part IV Dimitri N. Uznadze and the Theory of Set
• Part V Evolutionary, Behavioral, Theoretical Approaches
• Part VI Medical and Applied Perspectives.

This volume presents the work of leading scientists from Russia, Georgia, Estonia, Lithuania, Israel, and the USA, revealing major insights long unknown to the scientific community. Without any doubt their work will provide a springboard for further research in anticipation. Until recently, Robert Rosen (Anticipatory Systems) and Mihai Nadin (MIND - Anticipation and Chaos) were deemed forerunners in this still new knowledge domain. The distinguished neurobiologist, Steven Rose, pointed to the fact that Soviet neuropsychological theories have not on the whole been well received by Western science. These earlier insights as presented in this volume make an important contribution to the foundation of the science of anticipation. It is shown that the daring hypotheses and rich experimental evidence produced by Bernstein, Beritashvili, Ukhtomsky, Anokhin, and Uznadze, among others--extend foundational work to aspects of neuroscience, physiology, motorics, education.

• Cognitive Science: History, Techniques and Methodology.- Cognitive and neural aspects of face processing.- Prosopagnosia: The inability to recognize faces.- Can I recognize faces without knowing it? Evidence of covert face recognition in prosopagnosia.- Stories from people who share their lives with congenital prosopagnosia.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This book provides readers with a simplified and comprehensive account of the cognitive and neural bases of face perception in humans. Faces are ubiquitous in our environment and we rely on them during social interactions. The human face processing system allows us to extract information about the identity, gender, age, mood, race, attractiveness and approachability of other people in about a fraction of a second, just by glancing at their faces. By introducing readers to the most relevant research on face recognition, this book seeks to answer the questions: "Why are humans so fast at recognizing faces?", "Why are humans so efficient at recognizing faces?", "Do faces represent a particular category for the human visual system?", What makes face perception in humans so special?, "Can our face recognition system fail"?. This book presents the author's findings on face perception during his research studies on both normal subjects and subjects with prosopagnosia, a neurological disorder characterized by the inability to recognize faces. The book describes two known forms of prosopagnosia: acquired prosopagnosia, which is the result of a brain lesion, and congenital prosopagnosia, which refers to a lifelong, developmental impairment of face recognition. Written in a comprehensive and accessible style, this book addresses both experts (cognitive scientists, psychologists, neuroscientists and computer scientists) and the general public, and aims at raising awareness for a debilitating face recognition disorder, such as prosopagnosia, which is often ignored or misdiagnosed as autism, with serious consequences for the affected persons and their families.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Part I. Models of the insect brain: from Neurobiology to Computational Intelligence
• Part II. Complex dynamics for internal representation and Locomotion control
• Part III. Software/Hardware cognitive architectures
• Part IV. Scenarios and experiments.

This book presents the result of a joint effort from different European Institutions within the framework of the EU funded project called SPARK II, devoted to developing an insect brain computational model, useful to be embedded into autonomous robotic agents.

• Introduction
• Part I. Robot Grasping Simulation
• Robot Grasping Foundations
• Robot Grasping Simulation
• Applications of Robot Grasping Simulation
• Part II. Human Grasping Simulation
• The Model of the Human Hand
• Human Grasp Evaluation
• Human Grasping Simulation
• Conclusions.

The human hand and its dexterity in grasping and manipulating objects are some of the hallmarks of the human species. For years, anatomic and biomechanical studies have deepened the understanding of the human hand's functioning and, in parallel, the robotics community has been working on the design of robotic hands capable of manipulating objects with a performance similar to that of the human hand. However, although many researchers have partially studied various aspects, to date there has been no comprehensive characterization of the human hand's function for grasping and manipulation of everyday life objects. This monograph explores the hypothesis that the confluence of both scientific fields, the biomechanical study of the human hand and the analysis of robotic manipulation of objects, would greatly benefit and advance both disciplines through simulation. Therefore, in this book, the current knowledge of robotics and biomechanics guides the design and implementation of a simulation framework focused on manipulation interactions that allows the study of the grasp through simulation. As a result, a valuable framework for the study of the grasp, with relevant applications in several fields such as robotics, biomechanics, ergonomics, rehabilitation and medicine, has been made available to these communities.

• Beginnings of cognitive science
• Fundamentals of cognitive informatics
• Cognitive information systems
• Intelligent cognitive data analysis systems of the UBMSS type as an example of cognitive categorisation systems
• UBIAS
• intelligent cognitive systems for visual data analysis
• E-UBIAS
• cognitive systems for image and biometric data analysis
• Cognitive systems and artificial brains
• Summary.

This book presents the state of the art of cognitive information systems. It details the fundamentals of cognitive informatics, guiding readers on an interesting journey through the intricacies of information and cognitive science.

• Introduction
• Review of the Literature
• Robot Performance Indices
• Modeling the Robot Workspace
• Visualization and Setup Evaluation
• Application in Planning
• Conclusion and Outlook.

In this book, the capability map, a novel general representation of the kinematic capabilities of a robot arm, is introduced. The capability map allows to determine how well regions of the workspace are reachable for the end effector in different orientations. It is a representation that can be machine processed as well as intuitively visualized for the human. The capability map and the derived algorithms are a valuable source of information for high- and low-level planning processes. The versatile applicability of the capability map is shown by examples from several distinct application domains. In human-robot interaction, a bi-manual interface for tele-operation is objectively evaluated. In low-level geometric planning, more human-like motion is planned for a humanoid robot while also reducing the computation time. And in high-level task reasoning, the suitability of a robot for a task is evaluated.

• Self-organization in nature and machines
• The sensorimotor loop
• Principles of self-regulation: homeostasis
• A general approach to self-organization: homeokinesis
• From fixed-point flows to hysteresis oscillators
• Symmetries, resonances, and second order hysteresis
• Low dimensional robotic systems
• Model learning
• High-dimensional robotic systems
• Facing the unknown: homeokinesis in a new representation
• Guided self-organization: a first realization
• Channeling self-organization
• Reward-driven self-organization
• Algorithmic implementation
• The LpzRobots simulator
• Discussion and perspectives.

Autonomous robots may become our closest companions in the near future. While the technology for physically building such machines is already available today, a problem lies in the generation of the behavior for such complex machines. Nature proposes a solution: young children and higher animals learn to master their complex brain-body systems by playing. Can this be an option for robots? How can a machine be playful? The book provides answers by developing a general principle--homeokinesis, the dynamical symbiosis between brain, body, and environment--that is shown to drive robots to self- determined, individual development in a playful and obviously embodiment- related way: a dog-like robot starts playing with a barrier, eventually jumping or climbing over it; a snakebot develops coiling and jumping modes; humanoids develop climbing behaviors when fallen into a pit, or engage in wrestling-like scenarios when encountering an opponent. The book also develops guided self-organization, a new method that helps to make the playful machines fit for fulfilling tasks in the real world. The book provides two levels of presentation. Students and scientific researchers interested in the field of robotics, self-organization and dynamical systems theory may be satisfied by the in-depth mathematical analysis of the principle, the bootstrapping scenarios, and the emerging behaviors. But the book additionally comes with a robotics simulator inviting also the non- scientific reader to simply enjoy the fabulous world of playful machines by performing the numerous experiments.

• From the content: Introduction
• Biologically inspired computing and self-x properties
• Joint leg walking and hybrid robot demonstrators
• Biologically inspired robot control architecture
• Biologically inspired approaches for locomotion of a hexapod robot OSCAR.

The increasing presence of mobile robots in our everyday lives introduces the requirements for their intelligent and autonomous features. Therefore the next generation of mobile robots should be more self-capable, in respect to: increasing of their functionality in unforeseen situations, decreasing of the human involvement in their everyday operations and their maintenance; being robust; fault tolerant and reliable in their operation. Although mobile robotic systems have been a topic of research for decades and aside the technology improvements nowadays, the subject on how to program and making them more autonomous in their operations is still an open field for research. Applying bio-inspired, organic approaches in robotics domain is one of the methodologies that are considered that would help on making the robots more autonomous and self-capable, i.e. having properties such as: self-reconfiguration, self-adaptation, self-optimization, etc. In this book several novel biologically inspired approaches for walking robots (multi-legged and humanoid) domain are introduced and elaborated. They are related to self-organized and self-stabilized robot walking, anomaly detection within robot systems using self-adaptation, and mitigating the faulty robot conditions by self-reconfiguration of a multi-legged walking robot. The approaches presented have been practically evaluated in various test scenarios, the results from the experiments are discussed in details and their practical usefulness is validated.