Robotics- Science and Systems V spans a wide spectrum of robotics, bringing together researchers working on the foundations of robotics, robotics applications, and the analysis of robotics systems. This volume presents the proceedings of the fifth annual Robotics- Science and Systems conference, held in 2009 at the University of Washington in Seattle. The papers presented cover a range of topics, including manipulation, locomotion, machine learning, localization, visual SLAM, haptics, and biologically inspired design. The conference and its proceedings reflect not only the tremendous growth of robotics as a discipline but also the desire in the robotics community for a flagship event at which the best of the research in the field can be presented.