This proceedings volume contains selected papers presented at the 2014 International Conference on Future Mechatronics and Automation, held in Beijing, China. Contributions cover the latest developments and advances in the field of Mechatronics and Automation.

The 2016 International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation Engineering (ICMAE2016) have been successfully held in Xiamen, China, on April 22nd - 24th.The conference received well over more than 200 submissions, however, only 64 articles were selected and recommended to be included in this proceedings, which organized into 4 main areas, namely, Industrial Automation and Control System, Intelligent Mechatronics and Robotics, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.The conference provides the opportunity to showcase state of art research and development in Mechatronics and Automation Engineering from researchers and developers from around the world under one roof to compare notes and establish collaborative relationships.

Mechatronics is a multidisciplinary branch of engineering combining mechanical, electrical and electronics, control and automation, and computer engineering fields. The main research task of mechatronics is design, control, and optimization of advanced devices, products, and hybrid systems utilizing the concepts found in all these fields. The purpose of this special issue is to help better understand how mechatronics will impact on the practice and research of developing advanced techniques to model, control, and optimize complex systems. The special issue presents recent advances in mechatronics and related technologies. The selected topics give an overview of the state of the art and present new research results and prospects for the future development of the interdisciplinary field of mechatronic systems.

Rapid developments in electronics over the past two decades have induced a move from purely mechanical vehicles to mechatronics design. Recent advances in computing, sensors, and information technology are pushing mobile equipment design to incorporate higher levels of automation under the novel concept of intelligent vehicles. Mechatronics and Intelligent Systems for Off-road Vehicles introduces this concept, and provides an overview of recent applications and future approaches within this field. Several case studies present real examples of vehicles designed to navigate in off-road environments typically encountered by agriculture, forestry, and construction machines. The examples analyzed describe and illustrate key features for agricultural robotics, such as automatic steering, safeguarding, mapping, and precision agriculture applications. The eight chapters include numerous figures, each designed to improve the reader’s comprehension of subjects such as: • automatic steering systems; • navigation systems; • vehicle architecture; • image processing and vision; and • three-dimensional perception and localization. Mechatronics and Intelligent Systems for Off-road Vehicles will be of great interest to professional engineers and researchers in vehicle automation, robotics, and the application of artificial intelligence to mobile equipment; as well as to graduate students of mechanical, electrical, and agricultural engineering.

Featuring selected contributions from the 2nd International Conference on Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering, held in Nice, France, February 18–19, 2016, this book introduces recent advances and state-of-the-art technologies in the field of advanced intelligent manufacturing. This systematic and carefully detailed collection provides a valuable reference source for mechanical engineering researchers who want to learn about the latest developments in advanced manufacturing and automation, readers from industry seeking potential solutions for their own applications, and those involved in the robotics and mechatronics industry.

Offering a comprehensive overview of the challenges, risks and options facing the future of mechatronics, this book provides insights into how these issues are currently assessed and managed. Building on the previously published book ‘Mechatronics in Action,’ it identifies and discusses the key issues likely to impact on future mechatronic systems. It supports mechatronics practitioners in identifying key areas in design, modeling and technology and places these in the wider context of concepts such as cyber-physical systems and the Internet of Things. For educators it considers the potential effects of developments in these areas on mechatronic course design, and ways of integrating these. Written by experts in the field, it explores topics including systems integration, design, modeling, privacy, ethics and future application domains. Highlighting novel innovation directions, it is intended for academics, engineers and students working in the field of mechatronics, particularly those developing new concepts, methods and ideas.