The ESPRIT project SACODY, carried out between 1987 and 1991, has comprehensively studied the problems linked with the control of lightweight robots. It has succeeded in demonstrating how the implementation of computeraided testing and dynamic modelling techniques enables the improvement of the accuracy of industrial robots while increasing their operational speed. Starting from a background mainly addressing large structures developed for space applications, it has succeeded in transferring and applying a spatial control concept into the field of industrial robotics. This volume reports the achievements of the project, which wascarried out by leading experts from industry and academia within the framework of the first phase of ERSPRIT, the European strategic programme for research and development in information technology of the Commission of the European Communities. SACODY is a French acronym for project 1561, the English title of which is "A high performance Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) robot with on-line dynamic compensation".

Adaptive control has been a remarkable field for industrial and academic research since 1950s. Since more and more adaptive algorithms are applied in various control applications, it is becoming very important for practical implementation. As it can be confirmed from the increasing number of conferences and journals on adaptive control topics, it is certain that the adaptive control is a significant guidance for technology development.The authors the chapters in this book are professionals in their areas and their recent research results are presented in this book which will also provide new ideas for improved performance of various control application problems.

Adaptive Systems remain a very interesting field of theoretical research, extended by methodological studies and an increasing number of applications. The plenary papers, invited sessions and contributed sessions focused on many aspects of adaptive systems, such as systems identification and modelling, adaptive control of nonlinear systems and theoretical issues in adaptive control. Also covered were methodological aspects and applications of adaptive control, intelligent tuning and adaptive signal processing.

A manipulator, or 'robot', consists of a series of bodies (links) connected by joints to form a spatial mechanism. Usually the links are connected serially to form an open chain. The joints are either revolute (rotary) or prismatic (telescopic), various combinations of the two giving a wide va riety of possible configurations. Motive power is provided by pneumatic, hydraulic or electrical actuation of the joints. The robot arm is distinguished from other active spatial mechanisms by its reprogrammability. Therefore, the controller is integral to any de scription of the arm. In contrast with many other controlled processes (e. g. batch reactors), it is possible to model the dynamics of a ma nipulator very accurately. Unfortunately, for practical arm designs, the resulting models are complex and a considerable amount of research ef fort has gone into improving their numerical efficiency with a view to real time solution [32,41,51,61,77,87,91]. In recent years, improvements in electric motor technology coupled with new designs, such as direct-drive arms, have led to a rapid increase in the speed and load-carrying capabilities of manipulators. However, this has meant that the flexibility of the nominally rigid links has become increasingly significant. Present generation manipulators are limited to a load-carrying capacity of typically 5-10% of their own weight by the requirement of rigidity. For example, the Cincinatti-Milicron T3R3 robot weighs more than 1800 kg but has a maximum payload capacity of 23 kg.