This book focuses on the class of large-scale stochastic systems, which has dominated the attention of many academic and research groups. It discusses distributed-sensor networks, decentralized detection theory, and econometric models with integrated and decentralized policymakers.

Systems, cybernetics, control, and automation (SCCA) are four interrelated and overlapping scientific and technological fields that have contributed substantially to the development, growth, and progress of human society. A large number of models, methods, and tools were developed that assure high efficiency of SCCA applied to practical situations. The real-life applications of SCCA encompass a wide range of man-made or biological systems, including transportations, power generation, chemical industry, robotics, manufacturing, cybernetics organisms (cyborgs), aviation, economic systems, enterprise, systems, medical/health systems, environmental applications, and so on. The SCCA fields exhibit strong influences on society and rise, during their use and application, many ethical concerns and dilemmas. This book provides a consolidated and concise overview of SCCA, in a single volume for the first time, focusing on ontological, epistemological, social impact, ethical, and general philosophical issues. It is appropriate for use in engineering courses as a convenient tutorial source providing fundamental conceptual and educational material on these issues, or for independent reading by students and scientists. Included in the book is: * Background material on philosophy and systems theory * Major ontological, epistemological, societal and ethical/philosophical aspects of the four fields that are considered * Over 400 references and a list of 130 additional books in the relevant fields * Over 100 colored photos and 70 line figures that illustrate the text

Modern robots have arrived at a very matured state both in their mechanical / control aspects and their mental aspects. An Introduction to Robophilosophy explores the philosophical questions that arise in the development, creation, and use of mental - anthropomorphic and zoomorphic- robots that are capable of semiautonomous / autonomous operation, decision making and human-like action, being able to socially interact with humans and exhibit behavior similar to human beings or animals. Coverage first presents fundamental concepts, and an overview of philosophy, philosophy of science, and philosophy of technology. The six principal mental capabilities of modern robots, namely cognition, intelligence, autonomy, consciousness, conscience, and ethics are then studied from a philosophical point of view. They actually represent the product of technological embodiment of cognitive features to robots. Overall, readers are provided a consolidated thorough investigation of the philosophical aspects of these mental capabilities when embedded to robots. This book will serve as an ideal educational source in engineering and robotics courses as well as an introductory reference for researchers in the field of robotics, and it includes a rich bibliography.

A multiplicity of techniques and angles of attack are incorporated in 18 contributions describing recent developments in the structure, architecture, programming, control, and implementation of industrial robots capable of performing intelligent action and decision making. Annotation copyright Book

For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them. Aristotle Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty. Albert Einstein The second most important job in the world, second only to being a good parent, is being a good teacher. S.G. Ellis The fast technological changes and the resulting shifts of market conditions require the development and use of educational methodologies and opportunities with moderate economic demands. Currently, there is an increasing number of edu- tional institutes that respond to this challenge through the creation and adoption of distance education programs in which the teachers and students are separated by physical distance. It has been verified in many cases that, with the proper methods and tools, teaching and learning at a distance can be as effective as traditional fa- to-face instruction. Today, distance education is primarily performed through the Internet, which is the biggest and most powerful computer network of the World, and the World Wide Web (WWW), which is an effective front-end to the Internet and allows the Internet users to uniformly access a large repertory of resources (text, data, images, sound, video, etc.) available on the Internet.

Man is the best thing in the World. Nature does nothing uselessly. Aristotle There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not Man the less, but Nature more. John Burroughs The basic purpose of development is to enlarge people's choices. The objective of development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy and creative lives. Mahbub ul Hag Founder of the Human Development Report Theaimofthisbookis toprovidea compiledset ofconcepts,principles,methods and issues used for studying, designing and operating human-minding and natu- minding automation and industrial systems. The depth of presentation is suf?cient for the reader to understand the problems involved and the solution approaches, and appreciate the need of human-automation cooperative interaction, and the - portance of the efforts required for environment and ecosystem protection during any technological and development process in the society. Humans and technology are living and have to live together in a sustainable society and nature. Humans must not be viewed as components of automation and technology in the same way as machines. Automation and technology must incorporate the humans' needs and preferences, and radiate "beauty" in all ways, namely functionally, technically and humanistically. In overall, automation and technology should create comfort and give pleasure.

Modem manufacturing systems involve many processes and operations that can be monitored and controlled at several levels of intelligence. At the highest level there is a computer that supervises the various manufacturing functions, whereas at the lowest level there are stand alone computer controlled systems of manufacturing processes and robotic cells. Until recenty computer-aided manufacturing systems constituted isolated "islands" of automation, each oriented to a particular application, but present day systems offer integrated approaches to manufacturing and enterprise operations. These modem systems, known as computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) systems, can easily meet the current performance and manufacturing competitiveness requirements under strong environmental changes. CIM systems are much of a challenge, and imply a systemic approach to the design and operation of a manufacturing enterprise. Actualy, a CIM system must take into account in a unified way the following three views : the user view, the technology view, and the enterprise view. This means that CIM includes both the engineering and enterprise planning and control activities, as well as the information flow activities across all the stages of the system.

Modern manufacturing systems involve many processes and operations at various hierarchical levels of decision, control and execution. New applications for systems are arising from the synergy of machines, tools, robots and computers with management and information technologies. Novel systems are designed and put into operation to manufacture old and new high-quality products with speed, accuracy and economy. This book contains over thirty papers that examine state-of-the-art and how-to-do issues, as well as new solutions. Topics covered include: Process planning/scheduling and machine-cell design Process monitoring, inspection, diagnosis and maintenance Forecasting, optimization and control Design and control of robotic automated crane systems Applications: including laser material processing, stereolithography systems, alimentary pasta processes and automated/robotic road construction and maintenance. The book explores key elements and critical factors, presents new results and tools that are applicable to real situations.

Man is the best thing in the World. Nature does nothing uselessly. Aristotle There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not Man the less, but Nature more. John Burroughs The basic purpose of development is to enlarge people's choices. The objective of development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy and creative lives. Mahbub ul Hag Founder of the Human Development Report Theaimofthisbookis toprovidea compiledset ofconcepts,principles,methods and issues used for studying, designing and operating human-minding and natu- minding automation and industrial systems. The depth of presentation is suf?cient for the reader to understand the problems involved and the solution approaches, and appreciate the need of human-automation cooperative interaction, and the - portance of the efforts required for environment and ecosystem protection during any technological and development process in the society. Humans and technology are living and have to live together in a sustainable society and nature. Humans must not be viewed as components of automation and technology in the same way as machines. Automation and technology must incorporate the humans' needs and preferences, and radiate "beauty" in all ways, namely functionally, technically and humanistically. In overall, automation and technology should create comfort and give pleasure.

For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them. Aristotle Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty. Albert Einstein The second most important job in the world, second only to being a good parent, is being a good teacher. S.G. Ellis The fast technological changes and the resulting shifts of market conditions require the development and use of educational methodologies and opportunities with moderate economic demands. Currently, there is an increasing number of edu- tional institutes that respond to this challenge through the creation and adoption of distance education programs in which the teachers and students are separated by physical distance. It has been verified in many cases that, with the proper methods and tools, teaching and learning at a distance can be as effective as traditional fa- to-face instruction. Today, distance education is primarily performed through the Internet, which is the biggest and most powerful computer network of the World, and the World Wide Web (WWW), which is an effective front-end to the Internet and allows the Internet users to uniformly access a large repertory of resources (text, data, images, sound, video, etc.) available on the Internet.

The fields of control and robotics are now at an advanced level of maturity both in theory and practice. Numerous systems are used effectively in industrial production and other sectors of modern life. This volume contains a well-balanced collection of over fifty papers focusing on analysis and design problems. The current trends and advances in the fields are reflected. Topics covered include: system analysis, identification and stability optimal, adaptive, robust and QFT controller design design and application of driving simulators industrial robots and telemanipulators mobile, service, and legged robots virtual reality in robotics The book brings together important original results derived from a variety of academic and engineering environments. Also, it serves as a timely reference volume for the researcher and practitioner.

The present volume contains the papers which were accepted for presentation at the 3rd International Symposium for Systems Analysis and Simulation held in Berlin (GDR), September 12-:-16, 1988. It is already a tradition to meet a broad international community of experts in systems analysis, modelling and simulation at this symposium. This fact shows the requirements for a forum of presentation and discussion of new developments and applications of modelling and simulation in systems analysis. To realize the great interest in this field one has to take into consideration the developed role of computer simulation as a powerful tool of problem solving. More and more areas in sciences and production have been investigated by mathematical models and computer' simulation. Biological sciences and social sciences are even by now influenced by this trend. The model use on the computer has been very much improved in decision support systems. Parallel simulation will provide drastic shortening of computing time. Parallel simulation and model based decision support systems are brought in the focus of international activities. Numerical mathematics, systems theory and control sciences provide with algorithms supporting the modelling process itself based on simulation or analytic methods. Such simulation systems equipped with tools for modelling and graphics for representing results are real model support systems. A new important impact comes from artificial intelligence by knowledge processing. Expert systems may help decision making in case of missing mathematical models. Expert systems may also support teaching and using simulation systems.

Computer simulation has developed into a powerful tool for problem solving in a variety of areas, in the sciences as well as in industrial environments. New developments such as parallel simulation techniques will further improve the efficiency of the tool. Decision support systems, either based on mathematical models or on knowledge based expert systems will make computer simulation accessible to more users, and will provide better environments for systems analysis, modeling and simulation. Systems Analysis and Simulation presents the papers accepted for the 3rd International Symposium for Systems Analysis and Simulation held in Berlin (GDR) in September of 1988. The contributions selected for this two-volume set present the state of the art and current trends in computer simulation. Volume I emphasizes the theoretical foundations and the methodology for computer simulation and systems analysis. Volume II presents a variety of applications in fields such as manufacturing, robotics, economics, and biology.

Information, communication and automation technology (ICAT) ethics is the branch of applied ethics and technoethics which investigates the social and ethical issues of the integrated multidisciplinary ICAT field in the broad sense that includes all kinds of automated systems through the use of ICT and computer based systems (autonomous control systems, communication systems, software agents, robotic systems, etc.)This book involves 11 timely contributed chapters that cover a wide spectrum of topics in the ICAT ethics field. These topics include fundamental ethics concepts, ICAT ontology and history, ethics in storytelling for business intelligence, AI and human potential, ethics and social impact of automation, ICAT professional ethics and codes of ethics, ethics of IoT, human-AI moral gap, scientific and ethical problems of computer-model based mischaracterization of serious human threats as low risk situations, social and existential issues of dynamic modernity in ICAT, and role of technoethics for the fulfillment of humankind perfection.The study of ICAT ethics will help scientists and engineers to see why and how to avoid computer, communication, and automation technology abuse, and will make them behave as ethically responsible professionals. ICAT ethical perspectives are permanently in transition as technological advances move to novel unseen ICAT areas. ICAT ethics attempts to reveal the ethical dimensions of ICAT systems, and proposes proper ethical rules and principles based on traditional and modern ethical theories, that guide novel advancements towards moral/ethical practices that benefit the society.The book provides a rich source of information that can be profitably used by graduate students and researchers on ICAT moral philosophy, ethics, and social impact in our digital era.

The field of artificial intelligence (AI) has expanded enormously during the last years, and solid theoretical and application results are now available. Researchers and practitioners are building AI-based systems that face real-world and industrial problems. This text provides a balanced state-of-the-art presentation of the involvement of AI in the design and operation of important industrial systems with built-in intelligence. Topics included are: integration of qualitative and quantitative models, timing problems, intelligent simulation and control, multiresolutional architectures for autonomous systems, DAI systems, artificial neural networks in modelling and control, system diagnostics, industrial robotic systems and cells, man-robot systems, flexible manufacturing systems and knowledge-based scheduling systems. Readers should be able to save considerable time in searching the scattered literature in the field, and should find here a set of how-to-do issues and results which should improve their skills in analyzing and designing AI-based systems.