Real-time model predictive controller (MPC) implementation in active vibration control (AVC) is often rendered difficult by fast sampling speeds and extensive actuator-deformation asymmetry. If the control of lightly damped mechanical structures is assumed, the region of attraction containing the set of allowable initial conditions requires a large prediction horizon, making the already computationally demanding on-line process even more complex. Model Predictive Vibration Control provides insight into the predictive control of lightly damped vibrating structures by exploring computationally efficient algorithms which are capable of low frequency vibration control with guaranteed stability and constraint feasibility. In addition to a theoretical primer on active vibration damping and model predictive control, Model Predictive Vibration Control provides a guide through the necessary steps in understanding the founding ideas of predictive control applied in AVC such as: · the implementation of computationally efficient algorithms · control strategies in simulation and experiment and · typical hardware requirements for piezoceramics actuated smart structures. The use of a simple laboratory model and inclusion of over 170 illustrations provides readers with clear and methodical explanations, making Model Predictive Vibration Control the ideal support material for graduates, researchers and industrial practitioners with an interest in efficient predictive control to be utilized in active vibration attenuation.

Soft computing embraces various methodologies for the development of intelligent systems that have been successfully applied to a large number of real-world problems. Soft Computing in Industry contains a collection of papers that were presented at the 6th On-line World Conference on Soft Computing in Industrial Applications that was held in September 2001. It provides a comprehensive overview of recent theoretical developments in soft computing as well as of successful industrial applications. It is divided into seven parts covering material on: keynote papers on various subjects ranging from computing with autopoietic systems to the effects of the Internet on education; intelligent control; classification, clustering and optimization; image and signal processing; agents, multimedia and Internet; theoretical advances; prediction, design and diagnosis. The book is aimed at researchers and professional engineers who develop and apply intelligent systems in computer engineering.

This edited monograph contains research contributions on a wide range of topics such as stochastic control systems, adaptive control, sliding mode control and parameter identification methods. The book also covers applications of robust and adaptice control to chemical and biotechnological systems. This collection of papers commemorates the 70th birthday of Dr. Alexander S. Poznyak.

Robotics applications, initially developed for industrial and manufacturing contexts, are now strongly present in several elds. Besides well-known space and high-technology applications, robotics for every day life and medical s- vices is becoming more and more popular. As an example, robotic manipu- tors are particularly useful in surgery and radiation treatments, they could be employed for civil demining, for helping disabled people, and ultimately for domestic tasks, entertainment and education. Such a kind of robotic app- cations require the integration of many di erent skills. Autonomous vehicles and mobile robots in general must be integrated with articulated manipu- tors. Many robotic technologies (sensors, actuators and computing systems) must be properly used with speci c technologies (localisation, planning and control technologies). The task of designing robots for these applications is a hard challenge: a speci c competence in each area is demanded, in the e ort of a truly integrated multidisciplinary design.

Shedding light on new opportunities in predictor feedback, this book significantly broadens the set of techniques available to a mathematician or engineer working on delay systems. It is a collection of tools and techniques that make predictor feedback ideas applicable to nonlinear systems, systems modeled by PDEs, systems with highly uncertain or completely unknown input/output delays, and systems whose actuator or sensor dynamics are modeled by more general hyperbolic or parabolic PDEs, rather than by pure delay. Replete with examples, Delay Compensation for Nonlinear, Adaptive, and PDE Systems is an excellent reference guide for graduate students, researchers, and professionals in mathematics, systems control, as well as chemical, mechanical, electrical, computer, aerospace, and civil/structural engineering. Parts of the book may be used in graduate courses on general distributed parameter systems, linear delay systems, PDEs, nonlinear control, state estimator and observers, adaptive control, robust control, or linear time-varying systems.

This book provides comprehensive and integrated approaches for rigid and flexible object assembly. It presents comparison studies with the available force-guided robotic processes and covers contact-state modeling, scheme control strategies, and position searching algorithms. Further, it includes experimental validations for different assembly situations, including those for the assembly of industrial parts taken from the automotive industry.