The Robotics and Mechatronics Conference 2008 (ROBOMEC’08) was held at the “Big Hat” in Nagano, Japan, June 5-7, 2008, sponsored by the Robotics and Mechatronics Division of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME). Prof. Minoru Hashimoto of Shinshu University served as organizing chair, Prof. Takashi Kawamura of Shinshu University as general chair and Hiroki Murakami of IHI Corporation as program chair. The conference motto was “Robotics and Mechatronics for Sustainable Industrial Development.” A record-breaking 1,054 papers were presented in about 70 sessions, including Nano/Micro Fluid System and Medical and Welfare Robotics and Mechatronics. Participants numbered over 1,500, making it a great success. This special issue presents 15 papers from the conference selected from 109 outstanding presentations further narrowed to 42 before final selection for Part 1 (Vol.21, No.2). We thank the authors for their invaluable contributions and the reviewers for their time and effort. We also thank Editor-in-Chief Prof. Tatsuo Arai of Osaka University for organizing this special issue.