Xiaorui Zhu received the B.S. and the M.S. degree in mechatronics engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, in 1998 and 2000 respectively, and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from University of Utah, Salt Lake City, in 2006. She is currently a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China since 2007. Her current research interests include localization and mapping of mobile robot, nonlinear control of UAV, design of novel mobile robotic systems.

Youngshik Kim received the B.S. degree from Inha University, Korea in 1996, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Utah, USA, in 2003 and 2008, respectively, all in mechanical engineering. He is currently an associate professor in the department of mechanical engineering at Hanbat National University, Korea. His main research interests include SMA actuator, bio-inspired robot, motion control, mobility and manipulation of compliant robotic systems.

Mark A. Minor received the B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1993, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from Michigan State University, East Lansing, in 1996 and 2000, respectively. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, where since 2000, he has been a faculty member. His current research interests include motion control of mobile robots, terrain adaptive mobile robot locomotion, sensing strategies and fusion structures, and nonlinear robust control of distributed parameter systems.