The Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems (JINT) publishes peer-reviewed and original, invited, survey and review papers. These papers should promote and disseminate scientific knowledge and information in the fields of system theory, control systems, distributed systems, bioengineering, robotics and automation, human-robot interaction, human-machine interfaces and interaction, robot ethics, social and service robotics, medical robotics, mechatronics, unmanned systems, multi-robot teams and networked swarms, machine intelligence, learning, system autonomy, cyber physical systems, and other related areas in which cutting edge technologies have been developed and applied to model, design, build and test complex engineering and autonomous systems. A major focus of JINT is system autonomy, levels of autonomy and metrics to measure autonomy as integral ingredients of designing and building high-confidence systems. JINT is the only peer-reviewed journal putting emphasis on system ‘intelligence’ and ‘intelligent behavior’ as desirable attributes of system design, which subsequently leads to semi- or fully- autonomous systems that operate in dynamic and uncertain environments. Coupled with the quest for autonomy and autonomous operation of Unmanned Systems that has taken center stage in research and development, JINT welcomes archive and original papers on ‘design for autonomy’, as well as on efficient human-machine interfaces that reduce the operator workload.