Bionics evolved in the 1960s as a framework to pursue the development of artificial systems based on the study of biological systems. Numerous disciplines and technologies, including artificial intelligence and learningdevices, information processing, systems architecture and control, perception, sensory mechanisms, and bioenergetics, contributed to bionics research. This volume is based on a NATO Advanced Research Workshop within the Special Programme on Sensory Systems for Robotic Control, held in Il Ciocco, Italy, in June 1989. A consensus emerged at the workshop, and is reflected in the book, on the value of learning from nature in order to derive guidelines for the design of intelligent machines which operate in unstructured environments. The papers in the book are grouped into seven chapters: vision and dynamic systems, hands and tactile perception, locomotion, intelligent motor control, design technologies, interfacing robots to nervous systems, and robot societies and self-organization.

People have dreamed of machines, which would free them from unpleasant, dull, dirty and dangerous tasks and work for them as servants, for centuries if not millennia. Service robots seem to finally let these dreams come true. But where are all these robots that eventually serve us all day long, day for day? A few service robots have entered the market: domestic and professional cleaning robots, lawnmowers, milking robots, or entertainment robots. Some of these robots look more like toys or gadgets rather than real robots. But where is the rest? This is a question, which is asked not only by customers, but also by service providers, care organizations, politicians, and funding agencies. The answer is not very satisfying. Today’s service robots have their problems operating in everyday environments. This is by far more challenging than operating an industrial robot behind a fence. There is a comprehensive list of technical and scientific problems, which still need to be solved. To advance the state of the art in service robotics towards robots, which are capable of operating in an everyday environment, was the major objective of the DESIRE project (Deutsche Service Robotik Initiative – Germany Service Robotics Initiative) funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under grant no. 01IME01A. This book offers a sample of the results achieved in DESIRE.

The book is motivated by the pivotal issue: what is the performance limit of active control and energy harvesting? It aims to develop systematic design methodologies with a “visualization technique” where the performance limit can be readily determined solely based on visual inspections. Modern technological systems have evolved toward high speed, heavy load, lightweight, flexible operation and extreme conditions, as demonstrated in aerospace, marine, transportation and manufacturing industries. The associated vibration and noise issues have become such problematic that they may significantly confine the performance of the systems, to say the discomfort at least. Through the geometric representation of the performance specifications, fundamental issues such as (1) the existence of feasible controllers; (2) the optimality of controllers; (3) the performance limit of controllers; (4) compromisability among the performance specifications; (5) the synthesis of controllers; and (6) the influence of constraints on optimal solutions can all be resolved within the proposed framework. The state of the art is thus refined with a new approach complementary to those optimization-based routines, where extra effort would have to be exercised to disclose the compromisability of performance specifications. The proposed book will result in a new design methodology—performance limit-oriented active control. It was initiated by the author with the project “Active Control for Performance Limit” (ACPL). A series of fundamental results are obtained and will be disseminated in this book. The results are verified through extensive numerical demonstrations and are expected to provide useful guidance for practical engineering in the vibration and noise industry and research.

In the 90s, new languages and architectures were developed, new systems and networks were produced and new applications invented. The basic topics discussed are; High Speed Data Communications Protocols, Services and Networks for high speed data and for combined voice and data applications - i.e. ATM, SMDS, Frame Relay - Network Management, OSS Platforms, OSI and other information Technology Services, Network Control and Routing, Emergency Control and Telecommunication Politics. This publication offers the material basis for propagating the most advanced ideas, products, decisions and results of the 90s, and thereby it celebrates the advancements of Computer Communication on the route towards a new era.

Today's controllers are no longer seen as technicians who process transactions; they are now seen as business executives with a wide-ranging knowledge of total business operations, best practices, and corporate strategy. Providing a comprehensive overview of the roles and responsibilities of controllers in today's environment, this Eighth Edition of Controllership continues to provide controllers and vice presidents of finance with all aspects of management accounting from the controller's perspective, including internal control, profit planning, cost control, inventory, and financial disclosure.

Deterministic Learning Theory for Identification, Recognition, and Control presents a unified conceptual framework for knowledge acquisition, representation, and knowledge utilization in uncertain dynamic environments. It provides systematic design approaches for identification, recognition, and control of linear uncertain systems. Unlike many books currently available that focus on statistical principles, this book stresses learning through closed-loop neural control, effective representation and recognition of temporal patterns in a deterministic way. A Deterministic View of Learning in Dynamic Environments The authors begin with an introduction to the concepts of deterministic learning theory, followed by a discussion of the persistent excitation property of RBF networks. They describe the elements of deterministic learning, and address dynamical pattern recognition and pattern-based control processes. The results are applicable to areas such as detection and isolation of oscillation faults, ECG/EEG pattern recognition, robot learning and control, and security analysis and control of power systems. A New Model of Information Processing This book elucidates a learning theory which is developed using concepts and tools from the discipline of systems and control. Fundamental knowledge about system dynamics is obtained from dynamical processes, and is then utilized to achieve rapid recognition of dynamical patterns and pattern-based closed-loop control via the so-called internal and dynamical matching of system dynamics. This actually represents a new model of information processing, i.e. a model of dynamical parallel distributed processing (DPDP).