Bruce Randall Donald Kevin Lynch Daniela Rus Foreword Robot algorithms are abstractions of computational processes that control or reason about motion and perception in the physical world. The computation may be implemented in software, hard-wired electronics, biomolecular mechanisms, or purely mechanical devices. Because actions in the physical world are subject to physical laws and geometric constraints, the design and analysis of robot algorithms raises a unique combination of questions in control theory, computational and differential geometry, and computer science.
Algorithms serve as a unifying theme in the multi-disciplinary field of robotics.
The workshop consisted of six invited talks and twenty-four contributed presentations in a single track. Each paper was rigorously refereed by the program chairs plus at least three members of the program committee. This book contains the proceedings of WAFR 2000. A number of these papers are clearly destined to be landmarks in the field. Must Read Papers Recommended by the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science Faculty'' for the year 2000.