The primary goal of Autonomous Robots is to report on the theory and applications of robotic systems capable of some degree of self-sufficiency. Thus, the journal is aimed at the growing trend in robotics toward mobility, intelligence and autonomy in an unstructured world. This trend has been made possible by small, inexpensive, high-performance computers. The term `robot' implies that the systems described here are capable of performing purposeful behaviors in the real world. They obtain inputs from the world through sensors and act upon the world through actuators. The connection between sensing and actuation may be simple signal processing or it may involve complex decision making, goal interpretation and other aspects of reasoning. Most autonomous systems display some form of mobility: on land, under water, in the air or in space. The mobility may make use of wheels, legs, fins, rotors or other actuators. The focus is on the ability to move and be self-sufficient, not on whether the system is an imitation of biology. Of course, biological models for robotic systems are of major interest to the journal since living systems are prototypes for autonomous behavior.

Autonomous robots must be able to perform in the world. Hence, publication preference will be given to papers which include performance data on actual robots in the real world. Papers which include only simulation results will be considered for publication, but with a lower priority. Such papers should also include a section entitled `The path to implementation', where the transition from simulation to real world is discussed.

Papers published in these pages will report on original research in such areas as:
Control of autonomous robots
Real-time vision
Autonomous wheeled and tracked vehicles
Legged vehicles
Computational architectures for autonomous systems
Distributed architectures for learning, control and adaptation
Studies of autonomous robot systems
Sensor fusion
Theory of autonomous systems
Terrain mapping and recognition
Self-calibration and self-repair for robots
Self-reproducing intelligent structures
Genetic algorithms as models for robot development.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Gaurav S. Sukhatme,University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA
FOUNDING EDITOR
George A. Bekey, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA

ASSOCIATE EDITORS 

Nora Ayanian, University of Southern California, USA
Geoff Hollinger, Oregon State University, USA
Amanda Prorok, University of Cambridge, UK
Shaojie Shen, HKUST, Hong Kong
EDITORIAL BOARD:
Cynthia Breazeal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Oliver Brock, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany
Wolfram Burgard, University of Freiburg, Germany
Robert Fitch, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Dario Floreano, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland
Brian Gerkey, Willow Garage, USA
Hiroshi Ishiguro, Osaka University, Japan
Vijay Kumar, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Yoky Matsuoka, University of Washington, USA
Larry Matthies, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA
Daniela Rus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Richard Vaughan, Simon Fraser University, Canada
ADVISORY BOARD:
James S. Albus, National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA
Michael A. Arbib, University of Southern California, USA
Ronald C. Arkin, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
Minoru Asada, Osaka University, Japan
Randall Beer, Indiana University, USA
Rodney Brooks, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Paolo Dario, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Italy
Hugh Durrant-Whyte, University of Sydney, Australia
Paolo Fiorini, University of Verona, Italy
Dario Floreano, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland
Masahiro Fujita, Sony Corporation, Japan
Toshio Fukuda, Nagoya University, Japan
Shigeo Hirose, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
Gerd Hirzinger, Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt, Germany
Jessica Hodgins, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Takeo Kanade, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Oussama Khatib, Stanford University, USA
Hiroaki Kitano, Kitano Symbiotic Systems Project, Japan
Alois Knoll, Technical University of Munich, Germany
Kurt Konolige, Stanford Research Institute, USA
Kazuhiro Kosuge, Tohoku University, Japan
Vijay Kumar, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Jean-Claude Latombe, Stanford University, USA
Sukhan Lee, Sungkyunkwan University, Korea
Larry Matthies, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA
Daniela Rus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Atsuo Takanishi, Waseda University, Japan
Charles Thorpe, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Manuela Veloso, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Junku Yuh, Korea Aerospace University, Korea
Shin-ichi Yuta, Tsukuba University, Japan

Autonomous Robots Blog: www.autonomousrobotsblog.com 

MEDIA EDITOR: Sabine Hauert, University of Bristol, United Kingdom