Autonomous robots is a robots which can perform desired tasks in unstructured environments without continuous human guidance(can possible to do without guidance or can act on their own, independent of any controller). Many kinds of robots have some degree of autonomy. Different robots can be autonomous in different ways. A high degree of autonomy is particularly desirable in fields such as space exploration, cleaning floors, mowing lawns, and waste water treatment.Some modern factory robots are "autonomous" within the strict confines of their direct environment. It may not be that every degree of freedom exists in their surrounding ,One important area of robotics research is to enable the robot to cope with its environment whether this is on land, underwater, in the air, underground, or in space., BigDog is one of the Autonomous robots which can walks, runs, and climbs on rough terrain and carries heavy loads
A fully autonomous robot has the ability to
Gain information about the environment.
Work for an extended period without human intervention.
Move either all or part of itself throughout its operating environment without human assistance.
Avoid situations that are harmful to people, property, or itself unless those are part of its design specifications.
Read
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/dow...1&type=pdf
http://studentbank.in/report-AUTONOMOUS-...munication
http://en.wikipediawiki/Autonomous_robot
http://science.howstuffworksrobot4.htm