Computational kinematics is an enthralling area of science with a rich spectrum of problems at the junction of mechanics, robotics, computer science, mathematics, and computer graphics. The covered topics include design and optimization of cable-driven robots, analysis of parallel manipulators, motion planning, numerical methods for mechanism calibration and optimization, geometric approaches to mechanism analysis and design, synthesis of mechanisms, kinematical issues in biomechanics, construction of novel mechanical devices, as well as detection and treatment of singularities.

The results should be of interest for practicing and research engineers as well as Ph.D. students from the fields of mechanical and electrical engineering, computer science, and computer graphics.

Metrology is part of the essential but largely hidden infrastructure of the modern world. This book concentrates on the infrastructure aspects of metrology. It introduces the underlying concepts: International system of units, traceability and uncertainty; and describes the concepts that are implemented to assure the comparability, reliability and quantifiable trust of measurement results. It is shown what benefits the traditional metrological principles have in fields as medicine or in the evaluation of cyber physical systems.

This monograph is focused on control law design methods for asymptotic tracking and disturbance rejection in the presence of uncertainties. The methods are based on adaptive implementation of the Internal Model Principle (IMP). The monograph shows how this principle can be applied to the problems of asymptotic rejection/tracking of a priori uncertain exogenous signals for linear and nonlinear plants with known and unknown parameters. The book begins by introducing the problems of adaptive control, the challenges that are faced, modern methods and an overview of the IMP. It then introduces special observers for uncertain exogeneous signals affecting linear and nonlinear systems with known and unknown parameters. The basic algorithms of adaptation applied to the canonical closed-loop error models are presented. The authors then address the systematic design of adaptive systems for asymptotic rejection/tracking of a priori uncertain exosignals. The monograph also discusses the adaptive rejection/tracking of a priori uncertain exogenous signals in systems with input delay, the problems of performance improvement in disturbance rejection and reference tracking and the issue of robustness of closed-loop systems. Adaptive Regulation provides a systematic discussion of the IMP applied to a variety of control problems, making it of interest to researchers and industrial practitioners.

This book focuses on the design and analysis of collective decision-making strategies for the best-of-n problem. After providing a formalization of the structure of the best-of-n problem supported by a comprehensive survey of the swarm robotics literature, it introduces the functioning of a collective decision-making strategy and identifies a set of mechanisms that are essential for a strategy to solve the best-of-n problem. The best-of-n problem is an abstraction that captures the frequent requirement of a robot swarm to choose one option from of a finite set when optimizing benefits and costs. The book leverages the identification of these mechanisms to develop a modular and model-driven methodology to design collective decision-making strategies and to analyze their performance at different level of abstractions. Lastly, the author provides a series of case studies in which the proposed methodology is used to design different strategies, using robot experiments to show how the designed strategies can be ported to different application scenarios.

By proposing and forming a mobile manipulator for modern multi-floor buildings, A Robotic Framework for the Mobile Manipulator: Theory and Application helps readers visualize an end-to-end workflow for making a robot system work in a targeted environment. From a product-oriented viewpoint, this book is considered as a bridge from theories to real products, in which robotic software modules and the robotic system integration are mainly concerned. In the end, readers will have an overview of how to build and integrate various single robotic modules to execute a list of designed tasks in the real world, as well as how to make a robot system work independently, without human interventions. With references and execution guidelines provided at the end of each chapter, the book will be a useful tool for developers and researchers looking to expand their knowledge about the robotics and the robotic software.

Research and development of various parallel mechanism applications in engineering are now being performed more and more actively in every industrial field. Parallel robot based machine tools development is considered a key technology of robot applications in manufacturing industries. The material covered here describes the basic theory, approaches, and algorithms in the field of parallel robot based machine tools. In addition families of new alternative mechanical architectures which can be used for machine tools with parallel architecture are introduced. Given equal importance is the design of mechanism systems such as kinematic analysis, stiffness analysis, kinetostatic modeling, and optimization.

This book is inspired by the development of distributed model predictive control of networked systems to save computation and communication sources. The significant new contribution is to show how to design efficient DMPCs that can be coordinated asynchronously with the increasing effectiveness of the event-triggering mechanism and how to improve the event-triggered DMPC for different requirements improvement of control performance, extension to interconnected networked systems, etc. The book is likely to be of interest to the persons who are engaged in researching control theory in academic institutes, the persons who go in for developing control systems in R&D institutes or companies, the control engineers who are engaged in the implementation of control algorithms, and people who are interested in the distributed MPC.

Robotic systems are characterized by the intersection of computer intelligence with the physical world. This blend of physical reasoning and computational intelligence is well illustrated by the Tetrobot study described in this book. Tetrobot: A Modular Approach to Reconfigurable Parallel Robotics describes a new approach to the design of robotic systems. The Tetrobot approach utilizes modular components which may be reconfigured into many different mechanisms which are suited to different applications. The Tetrobot system includes two unique contributions: a new mechanism (a multilink spherical joint design), and a new control architecture based on propagation of kinematic solutions through the structure. The resulting Tetrobot system consists of fundamental components which may be mechanically reassembled into any modular configuration, and the control architecture will provide position control of the resulting structure. A prototype Tetrobot system has been built and evaluated experimentally. Tetrobot arms, platforms, and walking machines have been built and controlled in a variety of motion and loading conditions. The Tetrobot system has applications in a variety of domains where reconfiguration, flexibility, load capacity, and failure recovery are important aspects of the task. A number of key research directions have been opened by the Tetrobot research activities. Continuing topics of interest include: development of a more distributed implementation of the computer control architecture, analysis of the dynamics of the Tetrobot system motion for improved control of high-speed motions, integration of sensor systems to control the motion and shape of the high-dimensionality systems, and exploration of self-reconfiguration of the system. Tetrobot: A Modular Approach to Reconfigurable Parallel Robotics will be of interest to research workers, specialists and professionals in the areas of robotics, mechanical systems and computer engineering.

By the dawn of the new millennium, robotics has undergone a major tra- formation in scope and dimensions. This expansion has been brought about bythematurityofthe?eldandtheadvancesinitsrelatedtechnologies.From a largely dominant industrial focus, robotics has been rapidly expanding into the challenges of the human world. The new generation of robots is expected to safely and dependably co-habitat with humans in homes, workplaces, and communities, providingsupportinservices, entertainment, education, heal- care, manufacturing, and assistance. Beyond its impact on physical robots, the body of knowledge robotics has produced is revealing a much wider range of applications reaching across - verse researchareas and scienti?c disciplines, such as: biomechanics, haptics, neurosciences, virtual simulation, animation, surgery, and sensor networks among others. In return, the challenges of the new emerging areas are pr- ing an abundant source of stimulation and insights for the ?eld of robotics. It is indeed at the intersection of disciplines that the most striking advances happen. The goal of the series of Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR) is to bring, in a timely fashion, the latest advances and developments in robotics on the basis of their signi?cance and quality. It is our hope that the wider dissemination of research developments will stimulate more exchanges and collaborations among the research community and contribute to further advancement of this rapidly growing ?

For some time, all branches of the military have used a wide range of sensors to provide data for many purposes, including surveillance, reconnoitring, target detection and battle damage assessment. Many nations have also attempted to utilise these sensors for civilian applications, such as crop monitoring, agricultural disease tracking, environmental diagnostics, cartography, ocean temperature profiling, urban planning, and the characterisation of the Ozone Hole above Antarctica. The recent convergence of several important technologies has made possible new, advanced, high performance, sensor based applications relying on the near-simultaneous fusion of data from an ensemble of different types of sensors. The book examines the underlying principles of sensor operation and data fusion, the techniques and technologies that enable the process, including the operation of 'fusion engines'. Fundamental theory and the enabling technologies of data fusion are presented in a systematic and accessible manner. Applications are discussed in the areas of medicine, meteorology, BDA and targeting, transportation, cartography, the environment, agriculture, and manufacturing and process control.

The volume contains peer-reviewed proceedings of EPREC 2021 with a focus on control applications in the modern power system. The book includes original research and case studies that present recent developments in the control system, especially load frequency control, wide-area monitoring, control & instrumentation, optimization, intelligent control, energy management system, SCADA systems, etc. The book will be a valuable reference guide for beginners, researchers, and professionals interested in advancements in the control system.

This book focuses on the nonlinear dynamics based on the vector fields with univariate quadratic functions. This book is a unique monograph for two-dimensional quadratic nonlinear systems. It provides different points of view about nonlinear dynamics and bifurcations of the quadratic dynamical systems. Such a two-dimensional dynamical system is one of simplest dynamical systems in nonlinear dynamics, but the local and global structures of equilibriums and flows in such two-dimensional quadratic systems help us understand other nonlinear dynamical systems, which is also a crucial step toward solving the Hilbert's sixteenth problem. Possible singular dynamics of the two-dimensional quadratic systems are discussed in detail. The dynamics of equilibriums and one-dimensional flows in two-dimensional systems are presented. Saddle-sink and saddle-source bifurcations are discussed, and saddle-center bifurcations are presented. The infinite-equilibrium states are switching bifurcations for nonlinear systems. From the first integral manifolds, the saddle-center networks are developed, and the networks of saddles, source, and sink are also presented. This book serves as a reference book on dynamical systems and control for researchers, students, and engineering in mathematics, mechanical, and electrical engineering.

This book focuses on the stabilization and model predictive control of interconnected systems with mixed connection configurations. It introduces the concept of dissipation-based quadratic constraint for developing attractivity assurance methods for interconnected systems. In order to develop these methods, distributed and decentralized architectures are employed, whereby the communication between subsystems is fully connected, partially connected, or completely disconnected. Given that the control inputs are entirely or partially decoupled between subsystems and no additional constraints are imposed on the interactive variables beyond the coupling constraint itself, the proposed approaches can be used with various types of systems and applications. Further, the book describes how the effects of coupling delays and data losses in device networks are resolved. From a practical perspective, the innovations presented are of benefit in applications in a broad range of fields, including the process and manufacturing industries, networked robotics, and network-centric systems such as chemical process systems, power systems, telecommunication networks, transportation networks, and, no less importantly, supply chain automation.

This book presents lectures given at the 8th International Workshop on Spoken Dialog Systems. As agents evolve in terms of their ability to carry on a dialog with users, several qualities are emerging as essential components of a successful system. Users do not carry on long conversations on only one topic-they tend to switch between several topics. Thus the authors are observing the emergence of multi-domain systems that enable users to seamlessly hop from one domain to another. The systems have become active social partners. Accordingly, work on social dialog has become crucial to active and engaging human-robot/agent interaction. These new systems call for a coherent framework that guides their actions as chatbots and conversational agents. Human-Robot/Agent assessment mechanisms naturally lend themselves to this task. As these systems increasingly assist humans in a multitude of tasks, the ethics of their existence, their design and their interaction with users are becoming crucial issues. This book discusses the essential players and features involved, such as chat-based agents, multi-domain dialog systems, human-robot interaction, social dialog policy, and advanced dialog system architectures.

Focused on the mathematical foundations of social media analysis, Graph-Based Social Media Analysis provides a comprehensive introduction to the use of graph analysis in the study of social and digital media. It addresses an important scientific and technological challenge, namely the confluence of graph analysis and network theory with linear algebra, digital media, machine learning, big data analysis, and signal processing. Supplying an overview of graph-based social media analysis, the book provides readers with a clear understanding of social media structure. It uses graph theory, particularly the algebraic description and analysis of graphs, in social media studies. The book emphasizes the big data aspects of social and digital media. It presents various approaches to storing vast amounts of data online and retrieving that data in real-time. It demystifies complex social media phenomena, such as information diffusion, marketing and recommendation systems in social media, and evolving systems. It also covers emerging trends, such as big data analysis and social media evolution. Describing how to conduct proper analysis of the social and digital media markets, the book provides insights into processing, storing, and visualizing big social media data and social graphs. It includes coverage of graphs in social and digital media, graph and hyper-graph fundamentals, mathematical foundations coming from linear algebra, algebraic graph analysis, graph clustering, community detection, graph matching, web search based on ranking, label propagation and diffusion in social media, graph-based pattern recognition and machine learning, graph-based pattern classification and dimensionality reduction, and much more. This book is an ideal reference for scientists and engineers working in social media and digital media production and distribution. It is also suitable for use as a textbook in undergraduate or graduate courses on digital media, social media, or social networks.

Fault Diagnosis and Fault-Tolerant Control and Guidance for Aerospace demonstrates the attractive potential of recent developments in control for resolving such issues as flight performance, self protection and extended-life structures. Importantly, the text deals with a number of practically significant considerations: tuning, complexity of design, real-time capability, evaluation of worst-case performance, robustness in harsh environments, and extensibility when development or adaptation is required. Coverage of such issues helps to draw the advanced concepts arising from academic research back towards the technological concerns of industry. Initial coverage of basic definitions and ideas and a literature review gives way to a treatment of electrical flight control system failures: oscillatory failure, runaway, and jamming. Advanced fault detection and diagnosis for linear and linear-parameter-varying systems are described. Lastly recovery strategies appropriate to remaining actuator/sensor/communications resources are developed. The authors exploit experience gained in research collaboration with academic and major industrial partners to validate advanced fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control techniques with realistic benchmarks or real-world aeronautical and space systems. Consequently, the results presented in Fault Diagnosis and Fault-Tolerant Control and Guidance for Aerospace, will be of interest in both academic and aerospatial-industrial milieux.

This book helps readers evaluate and specificy the best Warehouse Management System (WMS) for their need. The advice is based on practical knowledge, describing in detail fundamental processes and technologies needed for a basic understanding. New approaches in the structure and design of WMS are presented, along with discussion of the limitations of current systems. The book shows how to operate a simple WMS based on the open-source initiative myWMS.

Cooperative Control Design: A Systematic, Passivity-Based Approach discusses multi-agent coordination problems, including formation control, attitude coordination, and synchronization. The goal of the book is to introduce passivity as a design tool for multi-agent systems, to provide exemplary work using this tool, and to illustrate its advantages in designing robust cooperative control algorithms. The discussion begins with an introduction to passivity and demonstrates how passivity can be used as a design tool for motion coordination. Followed by the case of adaptive redesigns for reference velocity recovery while describing a basic design, a modified design and the parameter convergence problem. Formation control is presented as it relates to relative distance control and relative position control. The coverage is concluded with a comprehensive discussion of agreement and the synchronization problem with an example using attitude coordination.

The time evol11tion of many physical phenomena in nat11re can be de scribed by partial differential eq11ations. To analyze and control the dynamic behavior of s11ch systems. infinite dimensional system theory was developed and has been refined over the past several decades. In recent years. stim11lated by the applications arising from space exploration. a11tomated manufact11ring, and other areas of technological advancement, major progress has been made in both theory and control technology associated with infinite dimensional systems. For example, new conditions in the time domain and frequency domain have been derived which guarantee that a Co-semigroup is exponen tially stable; new feedback control laws helVe been proposed to exponentially;;tabilize beam. wave, and thermoelastic equations; and new methods have been developed which allow us to show that the spectrum-determined growth condition holds for a wide class of systems. Therefore, there is a need for a reference book which presents these restllts in an integrated fashion. Complementing the existing books, e. g . . 1]. 41]. and 128]. this book reports some recent achievements in stability and feedback stabilization of infinite dimensional systems. In particular, emphasis will be placed on the second order partial differential equations. such as Euler-Bernoulli beam equations. which arise from control of numerous mechanical systems stich as flexible robot arms and large space structures. We will be focusing on new results. most of which are our own recently obtained research results."

This book gathers contributions on analytical, numerical, and application aspects of time-delay systems, under the paradigm of control theory, and discusses recent advances in these different contexts, also highlighting the interdisciplinary connections. The book will serve as a useful tool for graduate students and researchers in the fields of dynamical systems, automatic control, numerical methods, and functional analysis.

The book features original papers from the 2nd International Conference on Smart IoT Systems: Innovations and Computing (SSIC 2019), presenting scientific work related to smart solution concepts. It discusses computational collective intelligence, which includes interactions between smart devices, smart environments and smart interactions, as well as information technology support for such areas. It also describes how to successfully approach various government organizations for funding for business and the humanitarian technology development projects. Thanks to the high-quality content and the broad range of the topics covered, the book appeals to researchers pursuing advanced studies.

This textbook provides a thorough introduction and overview of the design and engineering of state-of-the-art prosthetics and assistive technologies. Innovations in prosthetics are increasingly made by cross-disciplinary thinking, and the author introduces the application of biomedical, mechanical, electrical, computer, and materials engineering principles to the design of artificial limbs. Coverage includes the fundamentals of biomechanics, biomechanical modeling and measurements, the basics of anatomy and physiology of limb defects, and the historical development of prosthetic design. This book stimulates the innovative thinking necessary for advancing limb restoration, and will be essential reading for students, as well as researchers, professional engineers, and prosthetists involved in the design and manufacture of artificial limbs. Learning enhanced by the exercises, including physical modeling with MATLAB and Simulink; Includes appendices with relevant equations and parameters for reference; Introduction to the design and engineering of prosthetics and assistive technologies.

This book addresses the problem of multi-agent systems, considering that it can be interpreted as a generalized multi-synchronization problem. From manufacturing tasks, through encryption and communication algorithms, to high-precision experiments, the simultaneous cooperation between multiple systems or agents is essential to successfully carrying out different modern activities, both in academy and industry. For example, the coordination of multiple assembler robots in manufacturing lines. These agents need to synchronize. The first two chapters of the book describe the synchronization of dynamical systems, paying special attention to the synchronization of non-identical systems. Following, the third chapter presents an interesting application of the synchronization phenomenon for state estimation. Subsequently, the authors fully address the multi-agent problem interpreted as multi-synchronization. The final chapters introduce the reader to a more complex problem, the synchronization of systems governed by partial differential equations, both of integer and fractional order. The book aimed at graduates, postgraduate students and researchers closely related to the area of automatic control. Previous knowledge of linear algebra, classical and fractional calculus is requested, as well as some fundamental notions of graph theory.