Dear Colleagues,

The improvements in the design and control of robotic systems achieved over the past few decades in terms of software/hardware development, result in the rapid functioning of robots in designed and structured environments, e.g., in industry. In contrast, the manipulation/locomotion agility of even the most dynamic robots, when operating in unstructured environments, is still many times lower than that of most biological systems, e.g., humans and animals. Such a deficiency results in the slow performance of robotic platforms in real-world scenarios, ranging from disaster-response cases to health-care and service tasks. It consequently leads to failure in fulfilling tasks, as it is often crucial for the robot to quickly respond/react to external interactions and disturbances. The progress in robot agility can, therefore, considerably influence the viable exploitation of robotics in all real-world applications demanding responsiveness and agility. To this end, it is necessary to utilize novel design and control approaches. The focus of this Special Issue is on the state-of-the-art of interdisciplinary topics required for novel actuator design and control, to allow for the development of agile robotic systems capable of executing dynamic motions and quickly responding to external/internal state changes.

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• novel drive topologies
• bi-/multi-articulated drives
• actuator transmission design
• variable impedance actuators
• passive parallel/series compliance
• motor controllers/drivers
• motor cooling systems
• actuator thermal management
• motor flux tuning
• actuator motion/effort control