I consider myself lucky to work in the Laboratory for Intelligent Mechanical
Systems at Northwestern University's Mechanical Engineering Department, where I
have access to an amazing variety of resources, the most important of which are
people. First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor, Ed Colgate, for
being an incredibly effective teacher, both inside the classroom and out.
Obviously, without his efforts, this document would not exist. The others in
my research group did much of the work that made this thesis possible, and I
thank them for their efforts and assistance. Many thanks go out to Paul
Millman for his help with electro-mechanical design issues, Beeling Chang and
Mike Stanley for their help with programming in C, Ken Grace for answers to my
incessant questions, and J.C Tsai and Witaya Wannasuphoprasit. All of them
have been helpful and supportive friends. The members of my Master's Defense
Committee, Michael Peshkin and Lucy Pao, made sure that this document is
technically sound and relevant, and I'd like them to know I appreciate their
efforts. Finally I'd like to thank my parents for supporting my efforts over
the past 25 years, and most of all, Jodi, for the inspiration to get up each
and every day with a smile on my face.
