From the contents: Part I: Contact Modelling for Grasp Planning and Haptic Rendering -- Rapid Collision Dynamics for Multiple Contacts with Friction -- Does Torque Minimization Yield a Stable Human Grasp?- Dynamic Proxies and Haptic Constraints -- Modelling and Controlling the Compliance of a Robotic Hand with Soft Finger-pads -- Part II: Grasping Control -- Grasp Synthesis from Example: Tuning the Example to a Task or Object -- Efficient and Precise Grasp Planning for Real World Objects -- Toward Sensorless Acquisition of Multiple Contact Points Between Planar Parts -- Semi-Autonomous Human-Robot Interaction for People with Disability -- Part III: Haptic Perception -- On Observing Contact States in Overconstrained Manipulation -- Tactile Flow and Haptic Discrimination of Softness -- Evaluation of Multipoint Contact Interfaces in Haptic Perception of Shapes -- Part IV: Design of Systems Allowing for Real or Virtual Grasping -- Haptic Interfaces: Collocation and Coherence Issues.The problem of robotic and virtual interaction with physical objects has been the subject of research for many years in both the robotic manipulation and haptics communities. Both communities have focused much attention on human touch-based perception and manipulation, modelling contact between real or virtual hands and objects, or mechanism design. However, as a whole, these problems have not yet been addressed from a unified perspective. This edited book is the outcome of a well-attended workshop which brought together leading scholars from various branches of the robotics, virtual-reality, and human studies communities during the 2004 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. It covers some of the most challenging problems on the forefront of today’s research on physical interaction with real and virtual objects, with special emphasis on modelling contacts between objects, grasp planning algorithms, haptic perception, and advanced design of hands, devices and interfaces.