By the dawn of the new millennium,robotics has undergonea major transformation in scope and dimensions. This expansion has been broughtabout by the maturity of the ?eld and the advances in its related technologies. From a largely dominant - dustrial focus, roboticshas been rapidly expandinginto the challengesof the human world. The new generationofrobotsis expectedto safely anddependablyco-habitat withhumansinhomes,workplaces,andcommunities,providingsupportinservices, entertainment, education, healthcare, manufacturing, and assistance. Beyond its impact on physical robots, the body of knowledge robotics has p- duced is revealing a much wider range of applications reaching across diverse research areas and scienti?c disciplines, such as: biomechanics, haptics, neu- sciences, virtual simulation, animation, surgery, and sensor networks among