Experimental Robotics Projects Volume Two: Interaction, Embodiment, and Large-Scale Simulation Systems (Robotics Engineering and Intelligence) - Softcover

Thomas, Gareth

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798279373680

Publisher: Independently published, 2025

Synopsis

“Manufacturing is more than just putting parts together. It's coming up with ideas, testing principles and perfecting the engineering, as well as final assembly.”
― James Dyson

Robots don’t fail alone.
They fail when they interact.

With humans.
With other robots.
With the physical world.
At scale.

Volume 2 exists because single-robot thinking collapses the moment systems leave controlled environments.

This book is not about clever algorithms.
It is about system behavior under compounded complexity.

Why interaction breaks robotics

The moment a robot touches the world, coordinates with others, or shares control with a human, the problem changes.

Control becomes regulation.
Planning becomes negotiation.
Learning becomes fragile.

Volume 2 focuses on what most robotics books avoid:

• Contact-rich interaction and embodiment

• Human–robot interaction under uncertainty

• Shared autonomy, trust, and predictability

• Multi-robot coordination and communication limits

• Large-scale simulation where emergent behavior appears

This is where robotics stops being clean.

What this book actually covers

Every chapter is built around interaction-driven failure:

• Contact dynamics, friction, compliance, and morphology trade-offs

• Energy-aware and degradation-aware behavior

• Human intent modeling and uncertainty-aware interaction

• Learning from demonstrations in simulation

• Trust, transparency, and shared control

• Multi-robot emergence, coordination, and collapse modes

• Communication-constrained systems at scale

Nothing is treated as intuitive.
Everything is measured.

Who this book is for

This book is for engineers and researchers building:

• Human-interactive systems

• Multi-robot and swarm systems

• Long-running, large-scale robotic deployments

It assumes you already understand robotics fundamentals.

If Volume 1 teaches discipline, Volume 2 teaches consequences.

Final word

Volume 2 is about what happens when robots interact.

Not demos.
Not hope.
Not theory divorced from reality.

It shows you how to surface failure before deployment, not after.

If your robots must interact, scale, or persist,
Experimental Robotics Projects — Volume 2 belongs on your desk.

Edition details

• Publisher: Independently published
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798279373680
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 495