This volume presents the proceedings of the Joint International Conference of the XII International Conference on Mechanisms and Mechanical Transmissions (MTM) and the XXIII International Conference on Robotics (Robotics '16), that was held in Aachen, Germany, October 26th-27th, 2016. It contains applications of mechanisms and transmissions in several modern technical fields such as mechatronics, biomechanics, machines, micromachines, robotics and apparatus. In connection with these fields, the work combines the theoretical results with experimental testing. The book presents reviewed papers developed by researchers specialized in mechanisms analysis and synthesis, dynamics of mechanisms and machines, mechanical transmissions, biomechanics, precision mechanics, mechatronics, micromechanisms and microactuators, computational and experimental methods, CAD in mechanism and machine design, mechanical design of robot architecture, parallel robots, mobile robots, micro and nano robots, sensors and actuators in robotics, intelligent control systems, biomedical engineering, teleoperation, haptics, and virtual reality.

This work addresses the challenge of providing effective cutaneous haptic feedback in robotic teleoperation, with the objective of achieving the highest degree of transparency whilst guaranteeing the stability of the considered systems. On the one hand, it evaluates teleoperation systems that provide only cutaneous cues to the operator, thus guaranteeing the highest degree of safety. This cutaneous-only approach shows intermediate performance between no force feedback and full haptic feedback provided by a grounded haptic interface, and it is best suitable for those scenarios where the safety of the system is paramount, e.g., robotic surgery. On the other hand, in order to achieve a higher level of performance, this work also investigates novel robotic teleoperation systems with force reflection able to provide mixed cutaneous and kinesthetic cues to the operator. Cutaneous cues can compensate for the temporary reduction of kinesthetic feedback necessary to satisfy certain stability conditions. This state-of-the-art volume is oriented toward researchers, educators, and students who are interested in force feedback techniques for robotic teleoperation, cutaneous device design, cutaneous rendering methods and perception studies, as well as readers from different disciplines who are interested in applying cutaneous haptic technologies and methods to their field of interest.

Mechatronics in Action s case-study approach provides the most effective means of illustrating how mechatronics can make products and systems more flexible, more responsive and possess higher levels of functionality than would otherwise be possible. The series of case studies serves to illustrate how a mechatronic approach has been used to achieve enhanced performance through the transfer of functionality from the mechanical domain to electronics and software.

Mechatronics in Action not only provides readers with access to a range of case studies, and the experts view of these, but also offers case studies in course design and development to support tutors in making the best and most effective use of the technical coverage provided. It provides, in an easily accessible form, a means of increasing the understanding of the mechatronic concept, while giving both students and tutors substantial technical insight into how this concept has been developed and used.

In this edited collection we commemorate the 60th birthday of Prof. Christopher Byrnes and the retirement of Prof. Anders Lindquist from the Chair of Optimization and Systems Theory at KTH. These papers were presented in part at a 2009 workshop in KTH, Stockholm, honoring the lifetime contributions of Professors Byrnes and Lindquist in various fields of applied mathematics.

Precise dynamic models of processes are required for many applications, ranging from control engineering to the natural sciences and economics. Frequently, such precise models cannot be derived using theoretical considerations alone. Therefore, they must be determined experimentally. This book treats the determination of dynamic models based on measurements taken at the process, which is known as system identification or process identification. Both offline and online methods are presented, i.e. methods that post-process the measured data as well as methods that provide models during the measurement. The book is theory-oriented and application-oriented and most methods covered have been used successfully in practical applications for many different processes. Illustrative examples in this book with real measured data range from hydraulic and electric actuators up to combustion engines. Real experimental data is also provided on the Springer webpage, allowing readers to gather their first experience with the methods presented in this book. Among others, the book covers the following subjects: determination of the non-parametric frequency response, (fast) Fourier transform, correlation analysis, parameter estimation with a focus on the method of Least Squares and modifications, identification of time-variant processes, identification in closed-loop, identification of continuous time processes, and subspace methods. Some methods for nonlinear system identification are also considered, such as the Extended Kalman filter and neural networks. The different methods are compared by using a real three-mass oscillator process, a model of a drive train. For many identification methods, hints for the practical implementation and application are provided. The book is intended to meet the needs of students and practicing engineers working in research and development, design and manufacturing.

From an engineering standpoint, the increasing complexity of robotic systems and the increasing demand for more autonomously learning robots, has become essential. This book is largely based on the successful workshop "From motor to interaction learning in robots" held at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robot Systems. The major aim of the book is to give students interested the topics described above a chance to get started faster and researchers a helpful compandium.

Nanorobots represent a nanoscale device where proteins such as DNA, carbon nanotubes could act as motors, mechanical joints, transmission elements, or sensors. When these different components were assembled together they can form nanorobots with multi-degree-of-freedom, able to apply forces and manipulate objects in the nanoscale world. Design, Modeling and Characterization of Bio-Nanorobotic Systems investigates the design, assembly, simulation, and prototyping of biological and artificial molecular structures with the goal of implementing their internal nanoscale movements within nanorobotic systems in an optimized manner.

This book offers a comprehensive presentation of optimization and polyoptimization methods. The examples included are taken from various domains: mechanics, electrical engineering, economy, informatics, and automatic control, making the book especially attractive. With the motto "from general abstraction to practical examples," it presents the theory and applications of optimization step by step, from the function of one variable and functions of many variables with constraints, to infinite dimensional problems (calculus of variations), a continuation of which are optimization methods of dynamical systems, that is, dynamic programming and the maximum principle, and finishing with polyoptimization methods. It includes numerous practical examples, e.g., optimization of hierarchical systems, optimization of time-delay systems, rocket stabilization modeled by balancing a stick on a finger, a simplified version of the journey to the moon, optimization of hybrid systems and of the electrical long transmission line, analytical determination of extremal errors in dynamical systems of the rth order, multicriteria optimization with safety margins (the skeleton method), and ending with a dynamic model of bicycle. The book is aimed at readers who wish to study modern optimization methods, from problem formulation and proofs to practical applications illustrated by inspiring concrete examples.

This book provides an overview of model-based environmental visual perception for humanoid robots. The visual perception of a humanoid robot creates a bidirectional bridge connecting sensor signals with internal representations of environmental objects. The objective of such perception systems is to answer two fundamental questions: What & where is it? To answer these questions using a sensor-to-representation bridge, coordinated processes are conducted to extract and exploit cues matching robot's mental representations to physical entities. These include sensor & actuator modeling, calibration, filtering, and feature extraction for state estimation. This book discusses the following topics in depth: * Active Sensing: Robust probabilistic methods for optimal, high dynamic range image acquisition are suitable for use with inexpensive cameras. This enables ideal sensing in arbitrary environmental conditions encountered in human-centric spaces. The book quantitatively shows the importance of equipping robots with dependable visual sensing. * Feature Extraction & Recognition: Parameter-free, edge extraction methods based on structural graphs enable the representation of geometric primitives effectively and efficiently. This is done by eccentricity segmentation providing excellent recognition even on noisy & low-resolution images. Stereoscopic vision, Euclidean metric and graph-shape descriptors are shown to be powerful mechanisms for difficult recognition tasks. * Global Self-Localization & Depth Uncertainty Learning: Simultaneous feature matching for global localization and 6D self-pose estimation are addressed by a novel geometric and probabilistic concept using intersection of Gaussian spheres. The path from intuition to the closed-form optimal solution determining the robot location is described, including a supervised learning method for uncertainty depth modeling based on extensive ground-truth training data from a motion capture system. The methods and experiments are presented in self-contained chapters with comparisons and the state of the art. The algorithms were implemented and empirically evaluated on two humanoid robots: ARMAR III-A & B. The excellent robustness, performance and derived results received an award at the IEEE conference on humanoid robots and the contributions have been utilized for numerous visual manipulation tasks with demonstration at distinguished venues such as ICRA, CeBIT, IAS, and Automatica.

The primary aim of this volume is to provide researchers and engineers from both academia and industry with up-to-date coverage of recent advances in the fields of robotic welding, intelligent systems and automation. It gathers selected papers from the 2018 International Conference on Robotic Welding, Intelligence and Automation (RWIA 2018), held Oct 20-22, 2018 in Guangzhou, China. The contributions reveal how intelligentized welding manufacturing (IWM) is becoming an inescapable trend, just as intelligentized robotic welding is becoming a key technology. The volume is divided into four main parts: Intelligent Techniques for Robotic Welding, Sensing in Arc Welding Processing, Modeling and Intelligent Control of Welding Processing, and Intelligent Control and its Applications in Engineering.

This monograph covers some selected problems of positive and fractional electrical circuits composed of resistors, coils, capacitors and voltage (current) sources. The book consists of 8 chapters, 4 appendices and a list of references. Chapter 1 is devoted to fractional standard and positive continuous-time and discrete-time linear systems without and with delays. In chapter 2 the standard and positive fractional electrical circuits are considered and the fractional electrical circuits in transient states are analyzed. Descriptor linear electrical circuits and their properties are investigated in chapter 3, while chapter 4 is devoted to the stability of fractional standard and positive linear electrical circuits. The reachability, observability and reconstructability of fractional positive electrical circuits and their decoupling zeros are analyzed in chapter 5. The fractional linear electrical circuits with feedbacks are considered in chapter 6. In chapter 7 solutions of minimum energy control for standard and fractional systems with and without bounded inputs is presented. In chapter 8 the fractional continuous-time 2D linear systems described by the Roesser type models are investigated.

This volume gathers the peer reviewed papers presented at the 4th edition of the International Workshop "Service Orientation in Holonic and Multi-agent Manufacturing - SOHOMA'14" organized and hosted on November 5-6, 2014 by the University of Lorraine, France in collaboration with the CIMR Research Centre of the University Politehnica of Bucharest and the TEMPO Laboratory of the University of Valenciennes and Hainaut-Cambresis. The book is structured in six parts, each one covering a specific research line which represents a trend in future manufacturing: (1) Holonic and Agent-based Industrial Automation Systems; (2) Service-oriented Management and Control of Manufacturing Systems; (3) Distributed Modelling for Safety and Security in Industrial Systems; (4) Complexity, Big Data and Virtualization in Computing-oriented Manufacturing; (5) Adaptive, Bio-inspired and Self-organizing Multi-Agent Systems for Manufacturing and (6) Physical Internet Simulation, Modelling and Control. There is a clear orientation of the SOHOMA'14 workshop towards complexity, which is a common view of all six parts. There is need for a framework allowing the development of manufacturing cyber physical systems including capabilities for complex event processing and data analytics which are expected to move the manufacturing domain closer towards cloud manufacturing within contextual enterprises. Recent advances in sensor, communication and intelligent computing technologies made possible the Internet connectivity of the physical world: the Physical Internet, where not only documents and images are created, shared, or modified in the cyberspace, but also the physical resources and products interact over Internet and make decisions based on shared communication.

Passivity and associated stability conditions form one of the cornerstones in control theory and have begun to be applied in process control. In this book, passivity-based developments in all areas of control theory are addressed systematically for the first time. The emphasis is placed on real results that add insight. Case studies illustrate applications in all the main chapters. MATLAB(R) routines and a library of functions that implement the methods developed in the book can be downloaded from springer.com.

Featuring original research from well-known experts in the field of sliding mode control, this book presents new design schemes for a useful and practical optimal control with very few impractical assumptions. The results presented allow optimal control theory to grow in its applicability to real-world systems. On the cutting-edge of optimal control research, this book is an excellent resource for both graduate students and researchers in engineering, mathematics, and optimal control.

This monograph covers theoretical aspects of simultaneous localization and map building for mobile robots. These include estimation stability, nonlinear models for the propagation of uncertainties, temporal landmark compatibility, as well as issues pertaining the coupling of control and SLAM. One of the most relevant topics covered in this monograph is the theoretical formalism of partial observability in SLAM.

A self-contained introduction to algebraic control for nonlinear systems suitable for researchers and graduate students.

The most popular treatment of control for nonlinear systems is from the viewpoint of differential geometry yet this approach proves not to be the most natural when considering problems like dynamic feedback and realization. Professors Conte, Moog and Perdon develop an alternative linear-algebraic strategy based on the use of vector spaces over suitable fields of nonlinear functions. This algebraic perspective is complementary to, and parallel in concept with, its more celebrated differential-geometric counterpart.

Algebraic Methods for Nonlinear Control Systems describes a wide range of results, some of which can be derived using differential geometry but many of which cannot. They include:

a [ classical and generalized realization in the nonlinear context;

a [ accessibility and observability recast within the linear-algebraic setting;

a [ discussion and solution of basic feedback problems like input-to-output linearization, input-to-state linearization, non-interacting control and disturbance decoupling;

a [ results for dynamic and static state and output feedback.

Dynamic feedback and realization are shown to be dealt with and solved much more easily within the algebraic framework.

Originally published as Nonlinear Control Systems, 1-85233-151-8, this second edition has been completely revised with new text a" chapters on modeling and systems structure are expanded and that on output feedback added de novo a" examples and exercises. The book is divided into two parts: the first being devoted to the necessary methodology and the second toan exposition of applications to control problems.

This book is a delight for academics, researchers and professionals working in evolutionary and swarm computing, computational intelligence, machine learning and engineering design, as well as search and optimization in general. It provides an introduction to the design and development of a number of popular and recent swarm and evolutionary algorithms with a focus on their applications in engineering problems in diverse domains. The topics discussed include particle swarm optimization, the artificial bee colony algorithm, Spider Monkey optimization algorithm, genetic algorithms, constrained multi-objective evolutionary algorithms, genetic programming, and evolutionary fuzzy systems. A friendly and informative treatment of the topics makes this book an ideal reference for beginners and those with experience alike.

This monograph presents a novel method of sliding mode control for switch-regulated nonlinear systems. The Delta Sigma modulation approach allows one to implement a continuous control scheme using one or multiple, independent switches, thus effectively merging the available linear and nonlinear controller design techniques with sliding mode control. Sliding Mode Control: The Delta-Sigma Modulation Approach, combines rigorous mathematical derivation of the unique features of Sliding Mode Control and Delta-Sigma modulation with numerous illustrative examples from diverse areas of engineering. In addition, engineering case studies demonstrate the applicability of the technique and the ease with which one can implement the exposed results. This book will appeal to researchers in control engineering and can be used as graduate-level textbook for a first course on sliding mode control.

Incorporating intelligence in industrial systems can help to increase productivity, cut-off production costs, and to improve working conditions and safety in industrial environments. This need has resulted in the rapid development of modeling and control methods for industrial systems and robots, of fault detection and isolation methods for the prevention of critical situations in industrial work-cells and production plants, of optimization methods aiming at a more profitable functioning of industrial installations and robotic devices and of machine intelligence methods aiming at reducing human intervention in industrial systems operation. To this end, the book analyzes and extends some main directions of research in modeling and control for industrial systems. These are: (i) industrial robots, (ii) mobile robots and autonomous vehicles, (iii) adaptive and robust control of electromechanical systems, (iv) filtering and stochastic estimation for multisensor fusion and sensorless control of industrial systems (iv) fault detection and isolation in robotic and industrial systems, (v) optimization in industrial automation and robotic systems design, and (vi) machine intelligence for robots autonomy. The book will be a useful companion to engineers and researchers since it covers a wide spectrum of problems in the area of industrial systems. Moreover, the book is addressed to undergraduate and post-graduate students, as an upper-level course supplement of automatic control and robotics courses.

Furthering the aim of reducing human exposure to hazardous environments, this monograph presents a detailed study of the modeling and control of vehicle-manipulator systems. The text shows how complex interactions can be performed at remote locations using systems that combine the manipulability of robotic manipulators with the ability of mobile robots to locomote over large areas. The first part studies the kinematics and dynamics of rigid bodies and standard robotic manipulators and can be used as an introduction to robotics focussing on robust mathematical modeling. The monograph then moves on to study vehicle-manipulator systems in great detail with emphasis on combining two different configuration spaces in a mathematically sound way. Robustness of these systems is extremely important and Modeling and Control of Vehicle-manipulator Systems effectively represents the dynamic equations using a mathematically robust framework. Several tools from Lie theory and differential geometry are used to obtain globally valid representations of the dynamic equations of vehicle-manipulator systems. The specific characteristics of several different types of vehicle-manipulator systems are included and the various application areas of these systems are discussed in detail. For underwater robots buoyancy and gravity, drag forces, added mass properties, and ocean currents are considered. For space robotics the effects of free fall environments and the strong dynamic coupling between the spacecraft and the manipulator are discussed. For wheeled robots wheel kinematics and non-holonomic motion is treated, and finally the inertial forces are included for robots mounted on a forced moving base. Modeling and Control of Vehicle-manipulator Systems will be of interest to researchers and engineers studying and working on many applications of robotics: underwater, space, personal assistance, and mobile manipulation in general, all of which have similarities in the equations required for modeling and control.

Fuzzy logic methodology has been proven effective in dealing with complex nonlinear systems containing uncertainties that are otherwise difficult to model. Technology based on this methodology has been applied to many real-world problems, especially in the area of consumer products. This book presents the first unified and thorough treatment of fuzzy modeling and fuzzy control, providing necessary tools for the control of complex nonlinear systems. Careful consideration is given to questions concerning model complexity, model precision, and computing time. In addition to being an excellent reference for electrical, computer, chemical, industrial, civil, manufacturing, mechanical and aeronautical engineers, the book may also be appropriate for classroom use in a graduate course in electrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science. Applied mathematicians, control engineers, computer scientists, and physicists will benefit from the presentation as well.

In this book, a generic model in as far as possible mathematical closed-formis developed that predicts the behavior of large self-organizing robot groups (robot swarms) based on their control algorithm. In addition, an extensive subsumption of the relatively young and distinctive interdisciplinary research field of swarm robotics is emphasized. The connection to many related fields is highlighted and the concepts and methods borrowed from these fields are described shortly.

This important work is an attempt to synthesize two areas that need to be treated in tandem. The book brings together the fields of robot spatial mapping and cognitive spatial mapping, which share some common core problems. One would expect some cross-fertilization of research between the two areas to have occurred, yet this has begun only recently. There are now signs that some synthesis is happening, so this work is a timely one for students and engineers in robotics.