This conference which was originally planned as workshop took place on October 19 to 22, 1998 in St-Hubert, Montreal. The idea of a conference devoted to Space Robotics matured when two IFAC Technical Committees, Aerospace Control and Robotics decided to co-sponsor such an event. The final decision converged with technological maturity of Space Robotics itself. It became obvious that robotics is a unique but viable technology that can be used in Space exploration.
Robotics is the intelligent connection of perception to action. This broad definition of robotics encompasses both science and technology. In the early days, the changing technology in manufacturing was driving the development in robotics. New manufacturing technology required new, economical and efficient methods of production. Development was geared towards robots in the form of manipulators. In later years, the development was driven by demand in service industry, military and special applications. One of those special applications is related to Space and its exploration. The rapid development in Space related technologies brought forward questions about the need for automation technologies that would allow for operations in Space in an efficient and safe way. Some Space operations could not have possibly been done without extensive use of automation and especially robotics. There are numerous robotics meetings and conferences across the world but it became obvious that the meetings addressing particular problems in space robotics would be useful and helpful.
The Program Committee tried to include in conference presentations all specific fields of robotics that are important in Space applications. On manipulators' side, kinematics, manipulation, dexterity, sensors and control systems have been covered. On mobile robots' side new control techniques, telerobotics, nonholonomic systems, and trajectory planning have been considered. Also, applications and Space operations have been reviewed.
Altogether 30 papers were selected and accepted by the International Organizing Committee. Papers were presented in 8 sessions in three days. There were also three keynote speeches presented by invited speakers and three distinguished speakers to present keynote lectures on three separate occasions. Speakers were chosen in order to give a broad overview of space robotics activities in all involved countries. Participants came from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom and the USA.
In day 1, eight papers were presented in two sessions. Session 1 was related to Dextrous Robots and Session 2 to Mobile Robots (Part 1 and 2). Day 2 included a keynote speech on the topic of "Robotics and On-Board Autonomy: For What and How Far Can We Go?," followed by Session 3: Robot Controllers and Session 4: Vision Systems and Control. Day 3 consisted of 5 sessions, Session 5: Manipulation Control, Session 6: Kinematics, Session 7: Nonholonomic Systems, Session 8: Space Operation (Part 1 and Part 2).

Growing numbers of engineering graduates are finding employment in the control systems area with applications to manufacturing. To be properly prepared for such positions, it is desirable that the students be exposed to the topics of process control, discrete logic control and the fundamentals of manufacturing. Presently there is no existing textbook and/or reference that combine together process control, discrete logic control and the fundamentals of manufacturing. This is a book that fills that gap.
This book integrates together the theory with a number of illustrative examples. Constructive procedures will be given for designing controllers and manufacturing lines, including methods for designing digital controllers, fuzzy logic controllers and adaptive controllers, and methods for the design of the flow of operations in a manufacturing line. One chapter will be devoted to equipment interfacing and computer communications, with the focus on fieldbuses, device drivers and computer networks. There are no existing control-oriented textbooks that bring this material into the picture, although interfacing and communications are becoming a bigger and bigger part of the overall control problem.

* Covers both analog and digital control using P/PI/PID controllers and discrete logic control using ladder logic diagrams and programmable logic controllers
* Contains a brief introduction to model predictive control, adaptive control, and neural net control
* Covers control from the device/process level up to and including the production system level
*Contains an introduction to manufacturing systems with the emphasis on performance measures, flow-line analysis, and line balancing
* Contains a chapter on equipment interfacing with a brief introduction on OLE for process control (OPC), the GEM standard, fieldbuses, and Ethernet
* Material is based on a course with a lab project developed and taught at the Georgia Institute of Technology
* Coverage is at the introductory level with a minimal amount of background required to read the text

Industrial and Manufacturing Systems serves as an in-depth guide to major applications in this focal area of interest to the engineering community. This volume emphasizes the neural network structures used to achieve practical and effective systems, and provides numerous examples. Industrial and Manufacturing Systems is a unique and comprehensive reference to diverse application methodologies and implementations by means of neural network systems. It willbe of use to practitioners, researchers, and students in industrial, manufacturing, electrical, and mechanical engineering, as well as in computer science and engineering.
Key Features
* Quality control techniques
* Active noise and vibration control
* Chemical processing systems
* Process monitoring and diagnosis
* Robotic assembly in electronics manufacturing systems
* Smart structural systems of improved effective-ness
* Closed loop feedback control in uncertain nonlinear manufacturing systems
* Adaptive neural controllers in industrial systems
* Machine tool control systems
Emphasis is placed on neural network structures for achieving practical and effective systems, with numerous examples illustrating the text; Practitioners, researchers, and students in industrial, manufacturing, electrical, and mechanical engineering, as well as in computer science and engineering, will find this volume a unique and comprehensive reference to diverse application methodologies and implementations by means of neura network systems.

Carefully refereed and edited papers on the most current developments in the theory and applications of curves and surfaces.

This volume, with its companion volume, contains a selection of papers presented at the Third International Conference on Curves and Surfaces which was held in June 1996 at Chamonix, France. Each book contains several invited survey lectures prepared by leading experts in the fields of approximation theory, computer- aided geometric design, numerical analysis, and wavelets. In addition, each book includes a number of closely related full-length research papers which have been refereed and meticulously edited.

These books should be of great interest to mathematicians, engineers, and computer scientists working in the field of Approximation Theory, Computer-Aided Geometric Design (CAGD), Computer Graphics, Numerical Analysis, CAD/CAM, and application areas.

These proceedings contain the papers presented at the 5th IFAC Symposium on Automated Systems Based on Human Skill, held in Berlin, Germany, 26-28 September 1995. The symposium, like previous ones in the series, brought together researchers, developers and users of complex human-machine systems. Discussions covered manufacturing, process control, aircraft and air traffic control, and administrative processes with an emphasis on how to design such systems and integrate both developers and users into the design process. The main issues addressed, therefore, were the joint engineering of production processes, information technology and work organisation and the possibility that this may lead to the re-definition of human operators in process automation.

Computer Control and Human Error presents accounts of various incidents at computer-controlled plants. These incidents include equipment and software faults; treating the computer as a "black box"; misjudging the way operators respond to the computer; errors in the data entry; failure to inform operators of changes in data or programs; and unauthorized interference with peripheral equipment. The discussion then turns to the use of hazard and operability studies (Hazops) to prevent or reduce errors in computer-controlled plants. The book describes the conventional Hazop as used in the process industry and an overview of the different Chazop frameworks/guidelines suggested by engineers and researchers. It then presents new Chazop methodology which is based on incident analysis. The final chapter presents reasons for failures in computerized systems, each of which is illustrated with an example. Most of the examples did not cause an actual safety problem, simply because they occurred within systems that are not safety-related. Some of these examples appear in the literature; others are from personal experience or from private communications.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is playing an increasing role in production and manufacturing engineering. Since a great deal of manufacturing knowledge can be put in the form of rules, expert systems have emerged as a promising practical tool of AI for solving engineering problems. Expert systems allow knowledge to be used for constructing human-machine systems that have specialized methods and techniques for solving problems in practical application areas. This book contains the structure and rules for 15 expert systems dealing with various aspects of production and manufacturing engineering. Topics covered range from casting design evaluation through to quality control. All expert systems included are accompanied by description of their structure and the rules are included on floppy disc in ASCII that can be readily accessed. These expert systems are generic in nature and readers should find it possible to modify these expert systems for their own specific applications.

The last decade has seen the emergence of a unified approach for product design which attempts to combine traditionally distinct tasks such as design, management, marketing, analysis, manufacture and materials. Often called "Concurrent Engineering" or "Simultaneous Engineering", this new philosophy aims at improving cost competitiveness by reducing waste of time, money, and other resources inherent in the iterative traditional methods. In view of the importance of this new philosophy, concurrent engineering was selected as the theme for the conference on which this text is based. The main objective of the conference was to bring together researchers and practitioners from government, industries and academia interested in the multi-disciplinary and inter-organizational productivity aspects of advanced manufacturing systems utilizing CAD/CAM, CAE, CIM, parametric technology, AI, robotics, and AGV technology. A selection of the papers presented at the conference are presented in this, and a companion volume, and emphasize aspects of concurrent engineering and flexible automation. This book of proceedings on robotics, automation and production engineering is intended for researchers and practitioners from government, industries and academia interested in advanced manufacturing systems.

Expert and knowledge-based systems have great potential for industrial control systems, particularly in the process industries. Recognising the importance of this emerging area, the Institution of Electrical Engineers organised a Vacation School on the subject, for engineers from industry and academia, at the University of Strathclyde in September 1990. The course and this resulting text cover four main issues: the background of knowledge-based control, artificial intelligence, applications of knowledge expertise, and deductive control. The background material presents knowledge based control from the perspective of Systems Engineering and Information Technology. When combined with an introduction to both artificial intelligence and fuzzy logic, a firm foundation is laid for consolidation of the later material of the book. The importance of fuzzy control is considered and the use of expert systems in self-tuning control is discussed. The use of real-time knowledged based systems in Fermentation supervisory control is described and the impact of neural networks in process modelling is also considered. The development of COGSYS which is an environment for building expert systems and its applications is described, together with its application to a gas processing plant. Case studies in condition monitoring are presented. The development of qualitative models for physical systems which is currently attracting considerable interest from the Al community is considered. The design of multivariable control systems and other aspects of process control are also covered.

This book gives an overview of the works performed by the Computer and Automation Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Since the late 1970s, there was a need for the recognition of the fundamental role of adequate abstractions and higher level conceptual models in all fields of computer applications. The approach presented explores various conceptual descriptive methods of specification processing.

The truth of the matter is that our deficiency does not lie in the want of well-verified "facts." What we lack is our bearings. The contemporary experience of things technological has repeatedly confounded our vision, our expectations, and our capacity to make intelligent judgments. Categories, arguments, conclusions, and choices that would have been entirely obvious in earlier times are obvious no longer. Patterns of perceptive thinking that were entirely reliable in the past now lead us systematically astray. Many of our standard conceptions of technology reveal a disorientation that borders on dissociation from reality. And as long as we lack the ability to make our situation intelligible, all of the "data" in the world will make no difference.;From the Introduction

The fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe Animate Classroom in a Book (R), the best-selling series of hands-on software training workbooks, offers what no other book or training program does -- an official training series from Adobe, developed with the support of Adobe product experts. Adobe Animate Classroom in a Book (2021 release) contains lessons that cover the basics and beyond, providing countless tips and techniques to help you become more productive with the program. You can follow the book from start to finish or choose only those lessons that interest you. Purchase of this book includes valuable online features. Follow the instructions in the book's "Getting Started" section to unlock access to: Downloadable lesson files you need to work through the projects in the book Web Edition containing the complete text of the book, interactive quizzes, and videos that walk you through the lessons step by step What you need to use this book: Adobe Animate (2021 release) software, for either Windows or macOS. (Software not included.) Note: Classroom in a Book does not replace the documentation, support, updates, or any other benefits of being a registered owner of Adobe Animate software.

Manufacturing today means that more complex products must be brought to the market at a dramatically reduced time. In order to achieve this, efficient tools must be used such as CAD/CAM in combination with the new fast field of rapid prototyping. Prototyping can be a potential bottle neck in a product development activity. A delay in bringing the product to market can cause a disaster for the whole product. This work examines layer manufacturing and these related issues.

A robot can build a car. But a robot cannot buy a car ... The explosion in the development of computer- and robot-based manufacturing is seeing the rapid expansion of laborless production systems. Such systems create enormous instability, both for the overall world economy where money previously paid in wages is now invested in labor-saving technology and therefore cannot be spent on goods, and for workers whose jobs are being de-skilled or are simply disappearing. Bringing together contributions from workers employed in the new electronics and information industries with theorists in economics, politics and science, Cutting Edge provides an up-to-the-minute analysis of the complex relations between technology and work. Individual essays look at topics including the cyclical nature of a technologically driven economy, the privatization of knowledge which new information industries demand, the convergence of different economic sectors under the impact of digitalization, and the strategies which trade unionists and governments might deploy to protect jobs and living standards. Technology has the potential to end material scarcity and lay the foundations for higher forms of human fulfillment. But under existing power structures, it is more likely to exacerbate the poverty and misery under which most people live. Cutting Edge weighs that balance and, in helping us to understand how technology interacts with the production of goods and services, tips it in the direction of a more equal and creative world.

In the competitive business arena companies must continually strive to create new and better products faster, more efficiently, and more cost effectively than their competitors to gain and keep the competitive advantage. Computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided engineering (CAE), and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) are now the industry standard. These seven volumes give the reader a comprehensive treatment of the techniques and applications of CAD, CAE, and CAM.

Petri nets are widely used in modeling, analysis, and control of discrete event systems arising from manufacturing, transportation, computer and communication networks, and web service systems. However, Petri net models for practical systems can be very large, making it difficult to apply such models to real-life problems.

System Modeling and Control with Resource-Oriented Petri Nets introduces a new resource-oriented Petri net (ROPN) model that was developed by the authors. Not only does it successfully reduce model size, but it also offers improvements that facilitate effective modeling, analysis, and control of automated and reconfigurable manufacturing systems.

Presenting the latest research in this novel approach, this cutting-edge volume provides proven theories and methodologies for implementing cost and time-saving improvements to contemporary manufacturing systems. It provides effective tools for deadlock avoidance?deadlock-free routing and deadlock-free scheduling. The authors supply simple and complex industrial manufacturing system examples to illustrate time-tested concepts, theories, and approaches for solving real-life application problems. Written in a clear and concise manner, the text covers applications to automated and reconfigurable manufacturing systems, automated guided vehicle (AGV) systems, semiconductor manufacturing systems, and flexible assembly systems.

Explaining complex concepts in a manner that is easy to understand, the authors provide the understanding and tools needed for more effective modeling, analysis, performance evaluation, control, and scheduling of engineering processes that will lead to more flexible and efficient manufacturing systems.

The Oxford University Robotics Research Group has been working for several years to improve the ability of automated guided vehicles. This book brings together much of the key research work on sensors and planning that was inspired by an industrial vehicle donated by a factory automation division in GEC, GEC-FAST, together with background material to provide a basic but up-to-date reference guide to autonomous vehicle research. The book includes work on control, sensing technologies, sensor management and data-fusion, different styles of path planning suited for off-line or online plans and task planning. It is designed to act both as a reference for the robotics professional, and as a text for university-level courses.

Manufacturing Systems covers the basic elements of manufacturing as a managed body of activities. Topics include materials, processes, and management techniques.