Guest editorial: special issue on robotics: science and systems

Abstract

This volume is the second of two special journal issues compiled from the best papers presented at the fifth Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) conference, held at the University of Southern California in June 2011. The first of these special issues was published by the International Journal of Robotics Research, Since its inception in 2005, the conference has continued to attract scientists working on the algorithmic and mathematical foundations of robotics, robotics applications, and analysis of robotic systems. The papers presented in this special issue represent the best of robotics research in statistical inference, machine learning and planning, expanded and rigorously reviewed for journal publication. All papers share a common theme of providing new and fundamental algorithmic insights into the principles that govern how robots and intelligent machines operate in the real world.