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.

An International Conference on Robotics and Factories of the Future was held on December 4-7, 1984 in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. The development of technology and the status as it stands today is highly multidisciplinary and complex in nature. It has added new dimensions and challenges in the development of factories of the future. Thus it calls upon an integrated approach of technological, economic and sociological impacts of robots and computers in factories of the future. Sessions in this conference included: Planning of Automation, Future Trends & Management, Integration of CAD/CAM & Robot Cell, Robots Applications, Manipulation I, Controls I, Manipulation II, Computer Vision and Sensors, Robot Cell and Mobile Robot, Controls II, Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Applications of Robots, Industrial Panel, CAD/CAM and Flexible Manufacturing, Robotics and CAD/CAM Education I, Social and Economic Implications, Robotics and CAD/CAM Education II, and Industry and User Interaction. 142 papers were presented during the conference and participants came from 18 countries. The plenary session and keynote speakers were: J. M. Kelly, IBM Quality Institute, Southbury, Connecticut; M. E. Merchant, Metcut Research, Cincinnati, Ohio; Stellio Demark, ASEA Robotics, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Stanley J. Polcyn, Unimation Inc., Danbury, Connecticut; Carl Ruoff,Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, California; Joseph Tulkoff, Lockheed Georgia Company, Marietta, Georgia; N. M. Swani, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India; James R. Barrett, Computer Vision, Bedford, Maryland; Hadi A. Akeel, GMF Robotics, Troy, Michigan; John M.