The 40th ASME Mechanisms and Robotics (MR) conference is scheduled to be held as part of the 2016 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE) in Charlotte, NC from August 21-24, 2016. Since 1952, the ASME Mechanisms and Robotics (MR) conference has provided an international forum for the exchange of technical and scientific information on the theory and practice of mechanical and robotic systems. Topics will range throughout areas central to design and analysis of mechanical, mechatronic, and robotic systems including kinematics, dynamics, design, analysis and validation, novel mechanisms and robots, software systems, educational practices, and various applications. Papers are specially invited from the upcoming areas in soft-, flexible- and human-safe robot, reconfigurable mechanisms and robots, origami-based mechanisms and robots, rehabilitation and medical robots, and exoskeleton/prostheses design and development. Submitted papers will be eligible for a number of awards including the Mechanisms and Robotics Best Paper award, Freudenstein/General Motors Young Investigator award, A.T. Yang Memorial award, and Compliant Mechanism awards. Since 2014, the authors of the best papers of the Mechanisms and Robotics conference are invited to submit enhanced archival versions of the papers to an IDETC Special Issue of the Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics. Also there will be annual Mechanism and Robot Design Competitions for both undergraduate and graduate students. Please visit the competition website for details.