This book is devoted to mechatronic, chemical, bacteriological, biological, and hybrid systems, utilizing cooperative, networked, swarm, self-organizing, evolutionary and bio-inspired design principles and targeting underwater, ground, air, and space applications. It addresses issues such as open-ended evolution, self-replication, self-development, reliability, scalability, energy foraging, adaptivity, and artificial sociality. The book has been prepared by 52 authors from world-leading research groups in 14 countries. This book covers not only current but also future key technologies and is aimed at anyone who is interested in learning more about collective robotics and how it might affect our society.
