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 research areas 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 ?

Although biometric systems present powerful alternatives to traditional authentication schemes, there are still many concerns about their security. Advances in Biometrics for Secure Human Authentication and Recognition showcases some of the latest technologies and algorithms being used for human authentication and recognition. Examining the full range of biometrics solutions, including unimodal and multimodal biometrics, the book covers conventional techniques as well as novel systems that have been developed over the past few years. It presents new biometric algorithms with novel feature extraction techniques, new computer vision approaches, soft computing approaches, and machine learning techniques under a unified framework used in biometrics systems. Filled with comprehensive graphical and modular illustrations, the text covers applications of affective computing in biometrics, matching sketch to photograph, cryptography approaches in biometrics, biometrics alteration, heterogeneous biometrics, and age invariant biometrics. It also presents biometrics algorithms with novel feature extraction techniques, computer vision approaches, soft computing approaches, and machine learning techniques under a unified framework used in biometrics systems. Containing the work of some of the world's most respected biometrics researchers, the book includes model question papers, mathematical notations, and exercises to reinforce understanding. Providing an up-to-date review of intelligence techniques and theories used in biometric technologies for secure human authentication and identification, this is an essential reference for researchers, scholars, graduate students, engineers, practitioners, and developers in the field of biometrics and its related fields.

Rescue Robotics presents the most significant findings of the DDT Project on robots and systems for urban search and rescue. This project was launched by the Japanese government in 2002 with the aim of applying a wide variety of robotics technologies to find a solution to the problem of disaster response, especially urban search and rescue in large-scale earthquakes.

From 2002 to 2007 more than 100 researchers took part in the DDT Project, coming from a wide spectrum of research and development to make up four research groups: Aerial Robot Systems MU (Mission Unit), Information Infrastructure System MU, In-Rubble Robot System MU, and On-Rubble Robot System MU. This book discusses their development and testing of various robotic systems and technologies such as serpentine robots, traced vehicles, intelligent human interface and data processing, as well as analysing and verifying the results of these experiments.

Rescue Robotics will be of interest to researchers and students, but will also prove useful for emergency response personnel. It offers an insight into the state of the art of rescue robotics and its readers will benefit from a knowledge of the advanced technologies involved in this field.

This book presents recent advances in the field of intelligent systems. Composed of fourteen selected chapters, it covers a wide range of research that varies from applications in industrial data science to those in applied science. Today the word INNOVATION is more and more connected with the words INTELLIGENT and SECURITY, as such the book discusses the theory and applications of hot topics such as big data, education applications of robots with different levels of autonomy, knowledge-based modeling and control of complex dynamical systems, sign-based synthesis of behavior, security issues with intelligent systems, innovative intelligent control design, neuromorphic computation, data-driven classification, intelligent modeling and measurement innovations, multisensor data association, personal education assistants, a modern production architecture, study of peer review and scientometrics, intelligent research on bug report data, and clustering non-Gaussian data. The broad and varied research discussed represents the mainstream of contemporary intelligent innovations that are slowly but surely changing the world.

The presence of non-linearities, such as stiction and deadband, places limits on the performance of control valves. Indeed, in the process industries, stiction is the most common valve problem, and over the last decade numerous different techniques for overcoming it have been proposed.

Detection and Diagnosis of Stiction in Control Loops represents a comprehensive presentation of these methods, including their principles, assumptions, strengths and drawbacks. Guidelines and working procedures are provided for the implementation of each method and MATLAB(r)-based software can be downloaded from www.ualberta.ca/ bhuang/stiction-book enabling readers to apply the methods to their own data. Methods for the limitation of stiction effects are proposed within the general context of: oscillation detection in control loops, stiction detection diagnosis;, stiction quantification and diagnosis of multiple faults.

The state-of-the-art algorithms presented in this book are demonstrated and compared in industrial case studies of diverse origin chemicals, building, mining, pulp and paper, mineral and metal processing. Industry-based engineers will find the book to be valuable guidance in increasing the performance of their control loops while academic researchers and graduate students interested in control performance and fault detection will discover a wealth of static-friction-related research and useful algorithms."

The theory of switched systems is related to the study of hybrid systems, which has gained attention from control theorists, computer scientists, and practicing engineers. This book examines switched systems from a control-theoretic perspective, focusing on stability analysis and control synthesis of systems that combine continuous dynamics with switching events. It includes a vast bibliography and a section of technical and historical notes.

This unique reference represents a cross-section of forefront robotics research, ranging from robotics and systems to learning, autonomy and failure detection, from vision and navigation to localization and mapping, which are based on the papers presented at the 1st European Robotics Symposium (EUROS-06) held in Palermo, Italy from 16-18 March, 2006. The European Robotics Symposium (EUROS) is a brand-new International scientific event promoted by EURON, the European Robotics Network.

Internal combustion engines (ICE) still have potential for substantial improvements, particularly with regard to fuel efficiency and environmental compatibility. In order to fully exploit the remaining margins, increasingly sophisticated control systems have to be applied. This book offers an introduction to cost-effective model-based control-system design for ICE. The primary emphasis is put on the ICE and its auxiliary devices. Mathematical models for these processes are developed and solutions for selected feedforward and feedback control-problems are presented.

The discussions concerning pollutant emissions and fuel economy of ICE in automotive applications constantly intensified since the first edition of this book was published. Concerns about the air quality, the limited resources of fossil fuels and the detrimental effects of greenhouse gases exceedingly spurred the interest of both the industry and academia in further improvements.

The most important changes and additions included in this second edition are: restructured and slightly extended section on superchargers, short subsection on rotational oscillations and their treatment on engine test-benches, complete section on modeling, detection, and control of engine knock, improved physical and chemical model for the three-way catalytic converter, new methodology for the design of an air-to-fuel ratio controller, short introduction to thermodynamic engine-cycle calculation and corresponding control-oriented aspects.

This book reports on the latest advances in concepts and further development of principal component analysis (PCA), discussing in detail a number of open problems related to dimensional reduction techniques and their extensions. It brings together research findings, previously scattered throughout many scientific journal papers worldwide, and presents them in a methodologically unified form. Offering vital insights into the subject matter in self-contained chapters that balance the theory and concrete applications, and focusing on open problems, it is essential reading for all researchers and practitioners with an interest in PCA

Digital Twins for Healthcare: Design, Challenges and Solutions establishes the state-of-art in the specification, design, creation, deployment and exploitation of digital twins' technologies for healthcare and wellbeing. A digital twin is a digital replication of a living or non-living physical entity. When data is transmitted seamlessly, it bridges the physical and virtual worlds, thus allowing the virtual entity to exist simultaneously with the physical entity. A digital twin facilitates the means to understand, monitor, and optimize the functions of the physical entity and provide continuous feedback. It can be used to improve citizens' quality of life and wellbeing in smart cities and the virtualization of industrial processes.

This book offers the first systematic guide to machine ethics, bridging between computer science, social sciences and philosophy. Based on a dialogue between an AI scientist and a novelist philosopher, the book discusses important findings on which moral values machines can be taught and how. In turn, it investigates what kind of artificial intelligence (AI) people do actually want. What are the main consequences of the integration of AI in people's every-day life? In order to co-exist and collaborate with humans, machines need morality, but which moral values should we teach them? Moreover, how can we implement benevolent AI? These are just some of the questions carefully examined in the book, which offers a comprehensive account of ethical issues concerning AI, on the one hand, and a timely snapshot of the power and potential benefits of this technology on the other. Starting with an introduction to common-sense ethical principles, the book then guides the reader, helping them develop and understand more complex ethical concerns and placing them in a larger, technological context. The book makes these topics accessible to a non-expert audience, while also offering alternative reading pathways to inspire more specialized readers.

Theoretical and Computational Aspects of Feedback in Structural Systems with Piezoceramic Controllers.- Modeling and Approximation of a Coupled 3-D Structural Acoustics Problem.- Parameter Identification in the Frequency Domain.- On Model Identification of Gaussian Reciprocal Processes from the Eigenstructure of Their Covariances.- An Inverse Problem in Thermal Imaging.- Optimal Fixed-Finite-Dimensional Compensator for Burgers' Equation with Unbounded Input/Output Operators.- Boundary Control and Stabilization for a Viscous Burgers' Equation.- A Sinc-Galerkin Method for Convection Dominated Transport.- Discrete Observability of the Wave Equation on Bounded Domains in Euclidean Space.- A New Algorithm for Nonlinear Filtering.- Continuation Methods for Nonlinear Eigenvalue Problems via a Sinc-Galerkin Scheme.- On the Kalman-Yacubovich-Popov Lemma for Nonlinear Systems.- Robust Control of Distributed Parameter Systems with Structured Uncertainty.- On the Phase Portrait of the Karmarkar's Flow.- The Reduced Basis Method in Control Problems.- Numerical Treatment of Oscillating Integrals Appearing in Heat Conduction Problems.- Root Locus for Control Systems with Completely Separated Boundary Conditions.- On the Problem of Parameter Identification in Perspective Systems and its Application to Motion Estimation Problems in Computer Vision.- Over-Regularization of Ill-Posed Problems.- A Model for the Optimal Control of a Measles Epidemic.- Condition Numbers for the Sinc Matrices Associated with Discretizing the Second-Order Differential Operator.- Computational Models for Lattice Structures.- The Partial Differential Equations of Controlled Invariance.- What is the Distance Between Two Autoregressive Systems?.- Sinc Convolution Approximate Solution of Burgers' Equation.- Sinc-Galerkin Collocation Method for Parabolic Equations in Finite Space-Time Regions.- A Modified Levenberg-Marquardt Algorithm for Large-Scale Inverse Problems.- A Local Sampling Scheme for Invariant Evolution Equations on a Compact Symmetric Space, Especially the Sphere.- Hasse Diagram and Dynamic Feedback of Linear Systems.- Point Placement for Observation of the Heat Equation on the Sphere.

Advanced Control of Wheeled Inverted Pendulum Systems is an orderly presentation of recent ideas for overcoming the complications inherent in the control of wheeled inverted pendulum (WIP) systems, in the presence of uncertain dynamics, nonholonomic kinematic constraints as well as underactuated configurations. The text leads the reader in a theoretical exploration of problems in kinematics, dynamics modeling, advanced control design techniques and trajectory generation for WIPs. An important concern is how to deal with various uncertainties associated with the nominal model, WIPs being characterized by unstable balance and unmodelled dynamics and being subject to time-varying external disturbances for which accurate models are hard to come by. The book is self-contained, supplying the reader with everything from mathematical preliminaries and the basic Lagrange-Euler-based derivation of dynamics equations to various advanced motion control and force control approaches as well as trajectory generation method. Although primarily intended for researchers in robotic control, Advanced Control of Wheeled Inverted Pendulum Systems will also be useful reading for graduate students studying nonlinear systems more generally.

Compliant mechanisms and actuators are growing in importance due to their benefits in robotics, medical technology, sensor applications, or in handling compressible objects. This book helps to understand the mechanical behavior of compliant systems. Suggested classifications and different modeling methods are shown that allow for the description of compliant systems.

Robotized Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation describes the methods needed to develop a robotic system that is clinically applicable for the application of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Chapter 1 introduces the basic principles of TMS and discusses current developments towards robotized TMS. Part I (Chapters 2 and 3) systematically analyzes and clinically evaluates robotized TMS. More specifically, it presents the impact of head motion on the induced electric field. In Part II (Chapters 3 to 8), a new method for a robust robot/camera calibration, a sophisticated force-torque control with hand-assisted positioning, a novel FTA-sensor for system safety, and techniques for direct head tracking, are described and evaluated. Part III discusses these developments in the context of safety and clinical applicability of robotized TMS and presents future prospects of robotized TMS. Robotized Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation is intended for researchers as a guide for developing effective robotized TMS solutions. Professionals and practitioners may also find the book valuable.

Cable-driven parallel robots are a new kind of lightweight manipulators with excellent scalability in terms of size, payload, and dynamics capacities. For the first time, a comprehensive compendium is presented of the field of cable-driven parallel robots. A thorough theory of cable robots is setup leading the reader from first principles to the latest results in research. The main topics covered in the book are classification, terminology, and fields of application for cable-driven parallel robots. The geometric foundation of the standard cable model is introduced followed by statics, force distribution, and stiffness. Inverse and forward kinematics are addressed by elaborating efficient algorithms. Furthermore, the workspace is introduced and different algorithms are detailed. The book contains the dynamic equations as well as simulation models with applicable parameters. Advanced cable models are described taking into account pulleys, elastic cables, and sagging cables. For practitioner, a descriptive design method is stated including methodology, parameter synthesis, construction design, component selection, and calibration. Rich examples are presented by means of simulation results from sample robots as well as experimental validation on reference demonstrators. The book contains a representative overview of reference demonstrator system. Tables with physical parameters for geometry, cable properties, and robot parameterizations support case studies and are valuable references for building custom cable robots. For scientist, the book provides the starting point to address new scientific challenges as open problems are named and a commented review of the literature on cable robot with more than 500 references are given.

This book comprises the proceedings of the Recent Developments in Control Theory and Applications workshop held in Toronto, Canada, 29th-30th June 1998 in honor of the 60th birthday of E.J. Davison. While the scope of the workshop was quite broad, the main theme was robust control, decentralized control and applications.
Some topics include:
- robust control for car steering
- flow control for networks
- fault diagnosis in discrete event systems.
With contributions from distinguished authors of international repute, the material presented here focuses upon new findings in the field of control including interesting applications. As well as being informative, it is a useful tool for practitioners of systems and control to ascertain new developments in the field.

Proportionala "integrala "derivative (PID) controllers are the most adopted controllers in industrial settings because of the advantageous cost/benefit ratio they are able to provide. Despite their long history and the know-how gained from years of experience, the availability of microprocessors and software tools and the increasing demand for higher product quality at reduced cost have stimulated researchers to devise new methodologies to improve their performance and make them easier to use.

Practical PID Control covers important issues that arise when a PID controller is to be applied in practical cases. Its focus is on those functionalities that can provide significant improvements in performance in combination with a sound tuning of parameters. In particular, the choice of filter to make the controller proper, the use of a feedforward action and the selection of an anti-windup strategy are addressed. Further, the choice of the identification algorithm and of the model reduction technique are analysed in the context of model-based PID control. Widely adopted PID-based control architectures (ratio and cascade control) and performance assessment are also covered. For these topics, recent contributions are explained and compared with more standard approaches. A large number of simulation and experimental results are provided in order better to illustrate the different methodologies and to discuss their pros and cons. Practical PID Control is a helpful and instructive reference for researchers, graduate students and practitioners in process control.

A large 2008 ISECS International Colloquium on Computing, Communication, Control, and Management (CCCM 2008), was held in Guangzhou, August 2008, China. Just like the name of the Colloquium, the theme for this conference is Advancing Computing, Communication, Control, and Management Technologies. 2008 ISECS International Colloquium on Computing, Communication, Control, and Management is co-sponsored by Guangdong University of Business Studies, China, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Russia, Central South University, China, Southwestern University of Finance & Economics, China, and University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is also co-sponsored IEEE Technology Management Council, IEEE Computer Society, and Intelligent Information Technology Application Research Institute. Much work went into preparing a program of high quality. We received about 972 submissions. Every paper was reviewed by 3 program committee members, about 382 were selected as regular papers, representing a 39% acceptance rate for regular papers. The CCCM conferences serve as good platforms for the engineering community to meet with each other and to exchange ideas. The conference has also stroke a balance between theoretical and application development. The conference committees have been formed with over two hundred committee members who are mainly research center heads, faculty deans, department heads, professors, and research scientists from over 30 countries. The conferences are truly international meetings with a high level of participation from many countries. The response that we have received for the congress is excellent. This volume contains revised and extended research articles written by prominent researchers participating in the conference.

This proceedings book helps bring insights from this array of technical sub-topics together, as advanced robot algorithms draw on the combined expertise of many fields-including control theory, computational geometry and topology, geometrical and physical modeling, reasoning under uncertainty, probabilistic algorithms, game theory, and theoretical computer science. Intelligent robots and autonomous systems depend on algorithms that efficiently realize functionalities ranging from perception to decision making, from motion planning to control. The works collected in this SPAR book represent the state of the art in algorithmic robotics. They originate from papers accepted to the 14th International Workshop on the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics (WAFR), traditionally a biannual, single-track meeting of leading researchers in the field of robotics. WAFR has always served as a premiere venue for the publication of some of robotics' most important, fundamental, and lasting algorithmic contributions, ensuring the rapid circulation of new ideas. Though an in-person meeting was planned for June 15-17, 2020, in Oulu, Finland, the event ended up being canceled owing to the infeasibility of international travel during the global COVID-19 crisis.

This book presents techniques that enable mobile manipulation robots to autonomously adapt to new situations. Covers kinematic modeling and learning; self-calibration; tactile sensing and object recognition; imitation learning and programming by demonstration.

Integral processes with dead time are frequently encountered in the process industry; typical examples include supply chains, level control and batch distillation columns. Special attention must be paid to their control because they lack asymptotic stability (they are not self-regulating) and because of their delays. As a result, many techniques have been devised to cope with these hurdles both in the context of single-degree-of-freedom (proportional-integral-differential (PID)) and two-degree-of-freedom control schemes.

Control of Integral Processes with Dead Time provides a unified and coherent review of the various approaches devised for the control of integral processes, addressing the problem from different standpoints. In particular, the book treats the following topics:

how to tune a PID controller and assess its performance;

how to design a two-degree-of-freedom control scheme in order to deal with both the set-point following and load disturbance rejection tasks;

how to modify the basic Smith predictor control scheme in order to cope with the presence of an integrator in the process; and

how to address the presence of large process dead times.

The methods are presented sequentially, highlighting the evolution of their rationale and implementation and thus clearly characterising them from both academic and industrial perspectives. Control of Integral Processes with Dead Time will serve academic researchers in systems with dead time both as a reference and stimulus for new ideas for further work and will help industry-based control and process engineers to solve their control problems using the most suitable technique and achieving the best cost: benefit ratio."

This book includes papers presented at the International Conference "Educational Robotics in the Maker Era - EDUROBOTICS 2020", Online, February 2021. The contributions cover a variety of topics useful for teacher education and for designing learning by making activities for children and youth, with an emphasis on modern low-cost technologies (including block-based programming environments, Do-It-Yourself electronics, 3D printed artifacts, the use of intelligent distributed systems, the IoT technology, and gamification) in formal and informal education settings. This collection of contributions (17 chapters and 2 short papers) provides researchers and practitioners the latest advances in educational robotics in a broader sense focusing on science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) education. Teachers and educators at any school level can find insights and inspirations into how educational robotics can promote technological interest and 21st-century skills: creativity, critical thinking, team working, and problem-solving with special emphasis on new emerging making technologies.

From the reviews: "The book is an excellent combination of theory and real-world applications. Each application not only demonstrates the power of the theoretical results but also is important on its own behalf." IEEE Control Systems Magazine