Parallel manipulators are characterized as having closed-loop kinematic chains. Compared to serial manipulators, which have open-ended structure, parallel manipulators have many advantages in terms of accuracy, rigidity and ability to manipulate heavy loads. Therefore, they have been getting many attentions in astronomy to flight simulators and especially in machine-tool industries.The aim of this book is to provide an overview of the state-of-art, to present new ideas, original results and practical experiences in parallel manipulators. This book mainly introduces advanced kinematic and dynamic analysis methods and cutting edge control technologies for parallel manipulators. Even though this book only contains several samples of research activities on parallel manipulators, I believe this book can give an idea to the reader about what has been done in the field recently, and what kind of open problems are in this area.

This book describes the active vibration control techniques which have been developed to suppress excessive vibrations of structures. It covers the fundamental principles of active control methods and their applications and shows how active vibration control techniques have replaced traditional passive vibration control. The book includes coverage of dynamic modeling, control design, sensing methodology, actuator mechanism and electronic circuit design, and the implementation of control algorithms via digital controllers. An in-depth approach has been taken to describe the modeling of structures for control design, the development of control algorithms suitable for structural control, and the implementation of control algorithms by means of Simulink block diagrams or C language. Details of currently available actuators and sensors and electronic circuits for signal conditioning and filtering have been provided based on the most recent advances in the field. The book is used as a textbook for students and a reference for researchers who are interested in studying cutting-edge technology. It will be a valuable resource for academic and industrial researchers and professionals involved in the design and manufacture of active vibration controllers for structures in a wide variety of fields and industries including the automotive, rail, aerospace, and civil engineering sectors.

“In other words, the invention of a mechanism will be to the scientific kinematist a synthetic problem, - which he can solve by the use of systematic, if also difficult, methods.” Reuleaux, F., Theoretische Kinematik, Braunschweig: Vieweg, 1875 Reuleaux, F., The Kinematics of Machinery, London: Macmillan, 1876 and New York: Dover, 1963 (translated by A.B.W. Kennedy) This book represents the third part of a larger work dedicated to the structural synthesis of parallel robots. Part 1 (Gogu 2008a) presented the methodology of structural synthesis and the systematisation of structural solutions of simple and complex limbs with two to six degrees of connectivity systematically generated by the structural synthesis approach. Part 2 (Gogu 2009a) presented structural solutions of translational parallel robotic manipulators with two and three degrees of mobility. This book focuses on various topologies of parallel robotic manipulators with planar motion of the moving platform systematically generated by using the structural synthesis approach proposed in Part 1. The originality of this work resides in the fact that it combines the new formulae for mobility connectivity, redundancy and overconstraints, and the evolutionary morphology in a unified approach of structural synthesis giving interesting innovative solutions for parallel mechanisms.

Parallel manipulators are characterized as having closed-loop kinematic chains. Compared to serial manipulators, which have open-ended structure, parallel manipulators have many advantages in terms of accuracy, rigidity and ability to manipulate heavy loads. Therefore, they have been getting many attentions in astronomy to flight simulators and especially in machine-tool industries.The aim of this book is to provide an overview of the state-of-art, to present new ideas, original results and practical experiences in parallel manipulators. This book mainly introduces advanced kinematic and dynamic analysis methods and cutting edge control technologies for parallel manipulators. Even though this book only contains several samples of research activities on parallel manipulators, I believe this book can give an idea to the reader about what has been done in the field recently, and what kind of open problems are in this area.

This book is intended for both mechanical and electronics engineers (researchers and graduate students) who wish to get some training in smart electronics devices embedded in mechanical systems. The book is partly a textbook and partly a monograph. It is a textbook as it provides a focused interdisciplinary experience for undergraduates that encompass important elements from traditional courses as well as contemporary developments in Mechtronics. It is simultaneously a monograph because it presents several new results and ideas and further developments and explanation of existing algorithms which are brought together and published in the book for the first time.

These proceedings present technical papers selected from the 2012 International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Knowledge Engineering (ISKE 2012), held on December 15-17 in Beijing. The aim of this conference is to bring together experts from different fields of expertise to discuss the state-of-the-art in Intelligent Systems and Knowledge Engineering, and to present new findings and perspectives on future developments. The proceedings introduce current scientific and technical advances in the fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning, pattern recognition, data mining, knowledge engineering, information retrieval, information theory, knowledge-based systems, knowledge representation and reasoning, multi-agent systems, and natural-language processing, etc. Furthermore they include papers on new intelligent computing paradigms, which combine new computing methodologies, e.g., cloud computing, service computing and pervasive computing with traditional intelligent methods. By presenting new methodologies and practices, the proceedings will benefit both researchers and practitioners who want to utilize intelligent methods in their specific fields. Dr. Fuchun Sun is a professor at the Department of Computer Science & Technology, Tsinghua University, China. Dr. Tianrui Li is a professor at the School of Information Science & Technology, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China. Dr. Hongbo Li also works at the Department of Computer Science & Technology, Tsinghua University, China.

This volume contains revised and extended research articles written by prominent researchers participating in the ICF4C 2011 conference. 2011 International Conference on Future Communication, Computing, Control and Management (ICF4C 2011) has been held on December 16-17, 2011, Phuket, Thailand. Topics covered include intelligent computing, network management, wireless networks, telecommunication, power engineering, control engineering, Signal and Image Processing, Machine Learning, Control Systems and Applications, The book will offer the states of arts of tremendous advances in Computing, Communication, Control, and Management and also serve as an excellent reference work for researchers and graduate students working on Computing, Communication, Control, and Management Research.