I would like to thank my dad, Jagadish, mom, Bharathi, and sister, Anvitha, for their unconditional support through the duration of writing this book. I would also like to give a lot of credit to Arwa Manasawala, Vivek Anantharaman, and the entire team at Packt Publishing for putting up with me, guiding me, and most of all, giving me the wonderful opportunity to share what I have learned over the years with those looking for it.

This book couldn't have been written if I myself didn't have the knowledge and experience about the subject. I owe this to my mentors. I would like to thank Frits Lyneborg, the creator of letsmakerobots.com, a website that ignited my passion for robotics. I am indebted to Dr Eric Matson and the incredible team at Purdue's M2M research lab, who shared my curiosity in technology and helped me become a better roboticist.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank each and every friend and colleague at Purdue University, without whom this book wouldn't be nearly as good as I hoped.