Precision manufacturing is a development that has been gathering momentum over the last century and accelerating over the last 25 years in terms of research, development, and application to product innovation. The driving force in this development arises from requirements for much higher performance of products, higher reliability, longer life, lower cost, and miniaturization. This development is widely known as precision engineering and, today, it is generally defined as manufacturing to tolerances which are better than one part in 105. Applications are abound and can be found in various semiconductor processes (e.g., lithography, wafer probing, inspection), Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMMs) and precision metrology systems (e.g., Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM)), and robot/machine tools to carry out micro-assembly (e.g., MEMS) and delicate short wavelength laser processes. As an enabling technology for precision engineering, precision instrumentation and measurement, geometrical calibration and compensation, and motion control are directly important issues to be addressed in the overall system design and realization. This book is focused on these aspects of precision engineering. It is a compilation of the major results and publications from a major project which develop a state-of-the-art high-speed, ultra-precision robotic system. A comprehensive and thorough treatment of the subject matter is provided in a manner that is amenable to a broad base of readers, ranging from the academics to the practitioners, by providing detailed experimental verifications of the developed materials.

Precision Motion Systems: Modeling, Control, and Applications presents basic dynamics and the control knowledge needed for the daily challenges of researchers and professionals working in the field. The book explains accurate dynamics and control algorithms, along with experimental validation of precision systems in industrial, medical, airborne and spaceborne applications. By using the proposed experimental designs, readers will be able to make further developments and validations. Presents accurate dynamics and control algorithms in industrial, medical, airborne and spaceborne applications Explains basic dynamics and control knowledge, such as Laplace transformations and stability analysis Teaches how to design, develop and control typical precision systems

An innovative and timely guide to the modeling, design and implementation of large-range compliant micropositioning systems based on flexure hinges Features innovative compact mechanism designs for large-range translational and rotational positioning Provides original and concise treatment of various flexure hinges with well-presented design and control methods Focuses on design implementation and applications through detailed examples

Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences was first conceived, published, and disseminated by the Center for Information and Numerical Data Analysis and Synthesis (CINDAS) * at Purdue University in 1957, starting its coverage of theses with the academic year 1955. Beginning with Volume 13, the printing and dissemination phases of the activity were transferred to University Microfilms/Xerox of Ann Arbor, Michigan, with the thought that such an arrangement would be more beneficial to the academic and general scientific and technical community. After five years of this joint undertaking we had concluded that it was in the interest of all con cerned if the printing and distribution of the volumes were handled by an interna tional publishing house to assure improved service and broader dissemination. Hence, starting with Volume 18, Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences has been disseminated on a worldwide basis by Plenum Publishing Cor poration of New York, and in the same year the coverage was broadened to include Canadian universities. All back issues can also be ordered from Plenum. We have reported in Volume 34 (thesis year 1989) a total of 13,377 theses titles from 26 Canadian and 184 United States universities. We are sure that this broader base for these titles reported will greatly enhance the value of this important annual reference work. While Volume 34 reports theses submitted in 1989, on occasion, certain univer sities do report theses submitted in previous years but not reported at the time.

SYROM conferences have been organized since 1973 by the Romanian branch of the International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanisms and Machine Science IFToMM, Year by year the event grew in quality. Now in its 10th edition, international visibility and recognition among the researchers active in the mechanisms science field has been achieved. SYROM 2009 brought together researchers and academic staff from the field of mechanisms and machine science from all over the world and served as a forum for presenting the achievements and most recent results in research and education. Topics treated include conceptual design, kinematics and dynamics, modeling and simulation, synthesis and optimization, command and control, current trends in education in this field, applications in high-tech products. The papers presented at this conference were subjected to a peer-review process to ensure the quality of the paper, the engineering significance, the soundness of results and the originality of the paper. The accepted papers fulfill these criteria and make the proceedings unique among the publications of this type.