This book includes 15 programming and constructional projects, and covers the range of AVR chips currently available, including the recent Tiny AVR. No prior experience with microcontrollers is assumed.
John Morton is author of the popular PIC: Your Personal Introductory Course, also published by Newnes.
*The hands-on way of learning to use the Atmel AVR microcontroller
*Project work designed to put the AVR through its paces
*The only book designed to get you up-and-running with the AVR from square one

This volume is an outgrowth of the workshop Applications of Advanced Control Theory to Robotics and Automation, organized in honor of the 70th birthdays of Petar V. Kokotovic and Salvatore Nicosia. Both Petar and Turi have carried out distinguished work in the control community, and have long been recognized as mentors as well as experts and pioneers in the field of automatic control, covering many topics in control theory and several different applications. The variety of their research is reflected in this book, which includes contributions ranging from mathematics to laboratory experiments.Main topics covered include: * Observer design for time-delay systems, nonlinear systems, and identification for different classes of systems* Lyapunov tools for linear differential inclusions, control of constrained systems, and finite-time stability concepts * New studies of robot manipulators, parameter identification, and different control problems for mobile robots* Applications of modern control techniques to port-controlled Hamiltonian systems, different classes of vehicles, and web handling systems* Applications of the max-plus algebra to system-order reduction; optimal machine schedu used by many of the authors will make this book suitable for experts, as well as young researchers who seek a more intuitive understanding of these relevant topics in the field

An aerial robot is a system capable of sustained flight with no direct human control and able to perform a specific task. A lighter than air robot is an aerial robot that relies on the static lift to balance its own weight. It can also be defined as a lighter than air unmanned aerial vehicle or an unmanned airship with sufficient autonomy. Lighter than air systems are particularly appealing since the energy to keep them airborne is small. They are increasingly considered for various tasks such as monitoring, surveillance, advertising, freight carrier, transportation.

This book familiarizes readers with a hierarchical decoupled planning and control strategy that has been proven efficient through research. It is made up of a hierarchy of modules with well defined functions operating at a variety of rates, linked together from top to bottom. The outer loop, closed periodically, consists of a discrete search that produces a set of waypoints leading to the goal while avoiding obstacles and weighed regions. The second level smoothes this set so that the generated paths are feasible given the vehicle's velocity and accelerations limits. The third level generates flyable, timed trajectories and the last one is the tracking controller that attempts to minimize the error between the robot measured trajectory and the reference trajectory.

This hierarchy is reflected in thestructure and contentof the book. Topics treated are: Modelling, Flight Planning, Trajectory Design and Control. Finally, some actual projects are described in the appendix. This volume will prove useful for researchers and practitioners working in Robotics and Automation, Aerospace Technology, Control and Artificial Intelligence.

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In this book for the first time two scientific fields - consensus formation and synchronization of communications - are presented together and examined through their interrelational aspects, of rapidly growing importance. Both fields have indeed attracted enormous research interest especially in relation to complex networks.
In networks of dynamic systems (or agents), consensus means to reach an agreement regarding a certain quantity of interest that depends on the state of all dynamical systems (agents). Consensus problems have a long history in control theory and computer sciences, and form the foundation of the field of distributed computing. Synchronization, which defines correlated-in-time behavior between different processes and roots going back to Huygens to the least, is now a highly popular, exciting and rapidly developing topic, with applications ranging from biological networks to mathematical epidemiology, and from processing information in the brain to engineering of communications devices.
The book reviews recent finding in both fields and describes novel approaches to consensus formation, where consensus is realized as an instance of the nonlinear dynamics paradigm of chaos synchronization. The chapters are written by world-known experts in both fields and cover topics ranging from fundaments to various applications of consensus and synchronization."

This monograph presents a novel concept of a mobile robot, which is a single-wheel, gyroscopically stabilized robot. The robot is balanced by a spinning wheel attached through a two-link manipulator at the wheel bearing, and actuated by a drive motor. This configuration conveys significant advantages including insensitivity to attitude disturbances, high maneuverability, low rolling resistance, ability to recover from falls, and amphibious capability for potential applications on both land and water. This book focuses on the dynamics and control aspects, including modeling, model-based control, learning-based control, and shared control with human operators. This novel mobile robot concept opens up the science of dynamically stable systems with a single wheel configuration. The book also presents considerations in concept, design implementations, and kinematics modeling, as well as experimental results from various algorithms and cases. The system is a nonholonomic, underactuated, and highly nonlinear system, so this book is appropriate for scientists and engineers with interests in mobile robot, dynamics and control, as a research reference and postgraduate textbook.

"Modeling, Control and Coordination of Helicopter Systems" provides a comprehensive treatment of helicopter systems, ranging from related nonlinear flight dynamic modeling and stability analysis to advanced control design for single helicopter systems, and also covers issues related to the coordination and formation control of multiple helicopter systems to achieve high performance tasks. Ensuring stability in helicopter flight is a challenging problem for nonlinear control design and development. This book is a valuable reference on modeling, control and coordination of helicopter systems, providing readers with practical solutions for the problems that still plague helicopter system design and implementation. Readers will gain a complete picture of helicopters at the systems level, as well as a better understanding of the technical intricacies involved.

The theory of linear functional observers, which is the subject of this book, is increasingly becoming a popular researched topic because of the many advantages it presents in state observation and control system design. This book presents recent information on the current state of the art research in this field. This book will serve as a useful reference to researchers in this area of research to understand the fundamental concepts relevant to the theory of functional observers and to gather most recent advancements in the field. This book is useful to academics and postgraduate students researching into the theory of linear functional observers. This book can also be useful for specialized final year undergraduate courses in control systems engineering and applied mathematics with a research focus.

The principal chapters of this book form a collection of technical articles sp- ning many areas of research in robotics, these are followed by a set of short r- iniscences and tributes written by former students of Professor George A. Bekey. Professor Bekey, a pioneer in robotics, retired from the University of Southern C- ifornia (USC) in 2002 after serving on its faculty for forty years. He maintains an association with USC as University Professor Emeritus. Professor Bekey turned 80 in June 2008 - this is his Festschrift. As one of Professor Bekey's former students, it has been my privilege to know him for many years. This book represents the collective warm feelings of his former students, who remember their association with him in the fondest terms. Part I of this book is composed of technical chapters representing threads of active robotics research knitted loosely together. In many cases the themes of the chapters have their origins in the work the authors did when they were graduate students with Professor Bekey. These chapters are written for the reader interested in a sampling of modern research in Autonomous Robots. It is my hope that, for the serious reader, these chapters will serve as invitations to explore the ?eld via further reading and research.

A successful cyber-physical system, a complex interweaving of hardware and software with some part of the physical environment, depends on proper identification of the, often pre-existing, physical element. A bespoke "cyber" part of the system may then be designed from scratch. Optimal Mobile Sensing and Actuation Strategies in Cyber-physical Systems focuses on distributed-parameter systems the dynamics of which can be modelled with partial differential equations. These are very challenging to observe, their states and inputs being distributed throughout a spatial domain. Consequently, systematic approaches to the optimization of sensor location have to be devised for parameter estimation. The text begins by reviewing the field of cyber-physical systems and introducing background notions of distributed parameter systems and optimal observation theory. New research problems are then defined within this framework. Two important problems considered are optimal mobile sensor trajectory planning and the accuracy effects and allocation of remote sensors. These are followed up with a solution to the problem of optimal robust estimation. Actuation policies are then introduced into the framework with the purpose of improving estimation and optimizing the trajectories of both sensors and actuators simultaneously. The large number of illustrations within the text will assist the reader to visualize the application of the methods proposed. A group of similar examples are used throughout the book to help the reader assimilate the material more easily. The monograph concentrates on the use of methods for which a cyber-physical-systems infrastructure is required. The methods are computationally heavy and require mobile sensors and actuators with communications abilities. Application examples cover fields from environmental science to national security so that readers are encouraged to link the ideas of cyber-physical systems with their own research.

This book contains the papers included in the proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on High-speed and Intercity Railways (IWHIR 2011) held in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, China from July 19 to July 22, 2011, which is organized by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, in collaboration with Southwest Jiaotong University, Beijing Jiaotong University, Dalian Jiaotong University, China Engineering Consultants, Inc., Zhejiang University, and Tsinghua University. Continuing the great initiatives and momentums of the rapid development in high-speed and intercity railways worldwide in recent years, IWHIR 2011 aims at providing a platform for academic scholars and practicing engineers to share knowledge and experience, to promote collaboration, and to strengthen R&D activities related to railway engineering. Engineers, scientists, professors, and students from universities, research institutes, and related industrial companies have been cordially invited to participate in the workshop. These papers have covered a wide range of issues concerning high-speed and intercity railways in the theoretical, numerical, and experimental work pertaining to high-speed and intercity railways. Showcasing diversity and quality, these papers report the state-of-the-art and point to future directions of research and development in this exciting area.

This constitutes the Proceedings of the 22nd IFIP TC7 Conference held in July 2005, in Torino, Italy, and dedicated to Camillo Possio, on the 60th anniversary of his death during the last air raid over Torino. The papers in this volume concern primarily stochastic and distributed systems, their control/optimization, and inverse problems. These proceedings also explore applications of optimization techniques and computational methods in fields such as medicine, biology and economics.

Autonomy for Marine Robots provides a timely and insightful overview of intelligent autonomy in marine robots. A brief history of this emerging field is provided, along with a discussion of the challenges unique to the underwater environment and their impact on the level of intelligent autonomy required. Topics covered at length examine advanced frameworks, path-planning, fault tolerance, machine learning, and cooperation as relevant to marine robots that need intelligent autonomy.

There are many methods of stable controller design for nonlinear systems. In seeking to go beyond the minimum requirement of stability, Adaptive Dynamic Programming in Discrete Time approaches the challenging topic of optimal control for nonlinear systems using the tools of adaptive dynamic programming (ADP). The range of systems treated is extensive; affine, switched, singularly perturbed and time-delay nonlinear systems are discussed as are the uses of neural networks and techniques of value and policy iteration. The text features three main aspects of ADP in which the methods proposed for stabilization and for tracking and games benefit from the incorporation of optimal control methods:
infinite-horizon control for which the difficulty of solving partial differential Hamilton Jacobi Bellman equations directly is overcome, and proof provided that the iterative value function updating sequence converges to the infimum of all the value functions obtained by admissible control law sequences;
finite-horizon control, implemented in discrete-time nonlinear systems showing the reader how to obtain suboptimal control solutions within a fixed number of control steps and with results more easily applied in real systems than those usually gained from infinite-horizon control;
nonlinear games for which a pair of mixed optimal policies are derived for solving games both when the saddle point does not exist, and, when it does, avoiding the existence conditions of the saddle point.
Non-zero-sum games are studied in the context of a single network scheme in which policies are obtained guaranteeing system stability and minimizing the individual performance function yielding a Nash equilibrium.
In order to make the coverage suitable for the student as well as for the expert reader, Adaptive Dynamic Programming in Discrete Time: establishes the fundamental theory involved clearly with each chapter devoted to a clearly identifiable control paradigm;
demonstrates convergence proofs of the ADP algorithms to deepen understanding of the derivation of stability and convergence with the iterative computational methods used; and
shows how ADP methods can be put to use both in simulation and in real applications.
This text will be of considerable interest to researchers interested in optimal control and its applications in operations research, applied mathematics computational intelligence and engineering. Graduate students working in control and operations research will also find the ideas presented here to be a source of powerful methods for furthering their study.

Lego robots Mindstorms are sweeping the world and fans need to learn how to programme them
Lego Mindstorms are a new generation of Lego Robots that can be manipulated using microcomputers, light and touch sensors, an infrared transmitter and CD-ROMs. Since Lego launched Lego Mindstorms in late 1998 sales have skyrocketed - with no sign of slowing down. Mindstorms have captured the imagination of adults and children alike, creating a subculture of Mindstorm enthusiasts around the world. The kits are now a staple part of engineering and computer science classes at many high profile Universities.
Building Robots with Lego Mindstorms provides readers with a fundamental understanding of the geometry, electronics, engineering, and programming required to build your own robots. Mario and Giulio Ferrari are world-renowned experts in the field of Lego Mindstorms robotics, and in this book they share their unrivaled knowledge and expertise of robotics as well as provide a series of chapters detailing how to design and build the most exotic robots. Mario and Giulio also give detailed explanations of how to integrate Lego Mindstorms kits with other Lego programmable bricks such asScout and Cybermaster, as well as with non-robotic Lego Technics models.

Emerging Trends in Computing, Informatics, Systems Sciences, and Engineering includes a set of rigorously reviewed world-class manuscripts addressing and detailing state-of-the-art research projects in the areas of Industrial Electronics, Technology & Automation, Telecommunications and Networking, Systems, Computing Sciences and Software Engineering, Engineering Education, Instructional Technology, Assessment, and E-learning. This book includes the proceedings of the International Joint Conferences on Computer, Information, and Systems Sciences, and Engineering (CISSE 2010). The proceedings are a set of rigorously reviewed world-class manuscripts presenting the state of international practice in Innovative Algorithms and Techniques in Automation, Industrial Electronics and Telecommunications.

During the past decade model predictive control (MPC), also referred to as receding horizon control or moving horizon control, has become the preferred control strategy for quite a number of industrial processes. There have been many significant advances in this area over the past years, one of the most important ones being its extension to nonlinear systems. This book gives an up-to-date assessment of the current state of the art in the new field of nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC). The main topic areas that appear to be of central importance for NMPC are covered, namely receding horizon control theory, modeling for NMPC, computational aspects of on-line optimization and application issues. The book consists of selected papers presented at the International Symposium on Nonlinear Model Predictive Control - Assessment and Future Directions, which took place from June 3 to 5, 1998, in Ascona, Switzerland.
The book is geared towards researchers and practitioners in the area of control engineering and control theory. It is also suited for postgraduate students as the book contains several overview articles that give a tutorial introduction into the various aspects of nonlinear model predictive control, including systems theory, computations, modeling and applications.

This book introduces the latest progress in six degrees of freedom (6-DoF) haptic rendering with the focus on a new approach for simulating force/torque feedback in performing tasks that require dexterous manipulation skills. One of the major challenges in 6-DoF haptic rendering is to resolve the conflict between high speed and high fidelity requirements, especially in simulating a tool interacting with both rigid and deformable objects in a narrow space and with fine features. The book presents a configuration-based optimization approach to tackle this challenge. Addressing a key issue in many VR-based simulation systems, the book will be of particular interest to researchers and professionals in the areas of surgical simulation, rehabilitation, virtual assembly, and inspection and maintenance.

The direct generation of physical objects based on three dimensional computer aided design (3D-CAD) data is currently a manufacturing process of major importance. The dynamic development in this new high tech area is characterized by the different kinds of equipment commercially available at present, as well as the many new procedures that have been patented or are under development.
This book provides a major contribution to progress in industrial applications through its in-depth descriptions of the new technological methodologies and their implications in the planning and shaping of design.
All the essential commercially available systems are discussed in detail, and some important systems currently in development are also reviewed. Starting with the necessary 3D-Geometrical Modelling the general tasks for process realization are explained.
Further essential main points covered in the volume are:
Characteristics of the most suitable areas of application in the manufacturing industry.
Systematic approaches for decision-making for the most suitable equipment and usages (whether to invest or job out).
Methodical support for proper utilization of selected equipment.
Efficient combination with current manufacturing technologies.
Technological and economical aspects for evaluation and comparison of other traditional procedures.
The book will be of particular interest to workers and researchers in the fields of manufacturing (especially tool making), engineering, marketing, and CAD/CAM; CIM. The book is also suitable for students of engineering, management and economic disciplines.

This book presents the synthesis and analysis of fuzzy controllers and its application to a class of mechanical systems. It mainly focuses on the use of type-2 fuzzy controllers to account for disturbances known as hard or nonsmooth nonlinearities. The book, which summarizes the authors' research on type-2 fuzzy logic and control of mechanical systems, presents models, simulation and experiments towards the control of servomotors with dead-zone and Coulomb friction, and the control of both wheeled mobile robots and a biped robot. Closed-loop systems are analyzed in the framework of smooth and nonsmooth Lyapunov functions.

The Fifth International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS 2000) dealt with new strategies to realize complex, modular, robust, and fault-tolerant robotic systems. Technologies, algorithms, and system architectures for distributed autonomous robotic systems were presented and discussed during the meeting. DARS 2000 was truly an international event, with participants represent ing eleven countries from Europe, Asia, and the Americas. All of the papers in this volume were presented at DARS 2000, and were selected on the basis of peer re views to ensure quality and relevance. These papers have the common goal of con tributing solutions to realize robust and intelligent multirobot systems. The topics of the symposium address a wide range of issues that are important in the development of decentralized robotic systems. These topics include architec tures, communication, biological inspirations, reconfigurable robots, localization, exploration and mapping, distributed sensing, multi robot motion coordination, tar get assignment and tracking, multirobot learning, and cooperative object transport. DARS clearly requires a broad area of interdisciplinary technologies related not only to robotics and computer engineering, but also to biology and psychology. The DARS symposium is the leading established conference on distributed au tonomous systems. The First, Second, and Third International Symposia on Distrib uted Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS '92, DARS '94, and DARS '96) were held at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Saitama, Japan."

The 6th International Asia Conference on Industrial Engineering and Management Innovation is sponsored by the Chinese Industrial Engineering Institution and organized by Tianjin University. The conference aims to share and disseminate information on the most recent and relevant researches, theories and practices in industrial and system engineering to promote their development and application in university and enterprises.

This book uses techniques of Fourier series and functional analysis to deal with certain problems in differential equations. The Fourier series and functional analysis are merely tools; the authors' real interest lies in the differential equations that they study. It has been known since 1967 that a wide variety of sets {ewikt} of complex exponential functions play an important role in the control theory of systems governed by partial differential equations. However, this book is the first serious attempt to gather all of the available theory of these "nonharmonic Fourier series" in one place, combining published results with new results by the authors, to create a unique source of such material for practicing applied mathematicians, engineers and other scientific professionals.

This book highlights electromagnetic actuation (EMA) and sensing systems for a broad range of applications including targeted drug delivery, drug-release-rate control, catheterization, intravitreal needleless injections, wireless magnetic capsule endoscopy, and micromanipulations. It also reviews the state-of-the-art magnetic actuation and sensing technologies with remotely controlled targets used in biomedicine.

This book presents novel algorithms for designing Discrete-Time Sliding Mode Controllers (DSMCs) for Networked Control Systems (NCSs) with both types of fractional delays namely deterministic delay and random delay along with different packet loss conditions such as single packet loss and multiple packet loss that occur within the sampling period. Firstly, the switching type and non-switching type algorithms developed for the deterministic type fractional delay where the delay is compensated using Thiran's approximation technique. A modified discrete-time sliding surface is proposed to derive the discrete-time sliding mode control algorithms. The algorithm is further extended for the random fractional delay with single packet loss and multiple packet loss situations. The random fractional delay is modelled using Poisson's distribution function and packet loss is modelled by means of Bernoulli's function. The condition for closed loop stability in all above situations are derived using the Lyapunov function. Lastly, the efficacy of the proposed DSMC algorithms are demonstrated by extensive simulations and also experimentally validated on a servo system.

This monograph presents an updated source of information on the state of the art in advanced control of articulated and mobile robots. It includes relevant selected problems dealing with enhanced actuation, motion planning and control functions for articulated robots, as well as of sensory and autonomous decision capabilities for mobile robots. The basic idea behind the book is to provide a larger community of robotic researchers and developers with a reliable source of information and innovative applications in the field of control of cooperating and mobile robots. This book is the outcome of the research project MISTRAL (Methodologies and Integration of Subsystems and Technologies for Anthropic Robotics and Locomotion) funded in 2001-2002 by the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research. The thorough discussion, rigorous treatment, and wide span of the presented work reveal the significant advances in the theoretical foundation and technology basis of the robotics field worldwide.