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Mechatronics in control!
Mechatronics 19 (2009) 1
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Mechatronics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mechatronics
Editorial
Mechatronics in control! The field of mechatronics is stretching its boundaries into new application areas and technological fields. Medical robotics, machines in home care, MEMS devices and automotive are a few of the fields where intelligent software is added to explore added features and new possibilities. The societal problem of our time, i.e. health and sustainable mobility benefits from model-based design and active control of moving physics. This is the centre of the field of mechatronics. It is a great pleasure to take up the responsibility as Editor-inChief of Mechatronics given this setting and development of technology. Peer-reviewed journals are an important means to distribute knowledge among academic and industrial research and development. This certainly holds for Mechatronics, being one of the first journals in this field, where the combination of solid theory, application and implementation is highly stimulated and appreciated. The history of our journal goes back some time, and in the recent years an important step was set by the previous Editor-inChief Claudio Melchiorri, by joining the IFAC. The format of the journal recently went through a significant transformation: now it has a large paper format, and is similar to the other journals of IFAC, such as Control Engineering Practice. Having my background in industry, combined with my current work within academia, I would like to put forward two key quality measures for publications: (1) I would like to publish papers which merge mechanical design with control design, and (2) those which combine simulation and theory with experiments. Also, combinations of industrial and academic authors would be very interesting, supporting the idea that academic research should find solutions for real problems. If we are successful with this I am sure that the measure of quality of the Journal, i.e. the impact factor, will be raised from the current 0.8 to above 1.0 in due time. This is my first target. The second goal I have is to speed up the review process. This requires a responsive editorial board, and moreover, reviewers from the field who are willing to contribute in the peer-reviewing process. This reviewing is crucial to maintain high standards in the scientific community, and I hope we can rely on you in the future as we could in the past.
0957-4158/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.mechatronics.2008.12.001
The change of the Editor-in-Chief is also a good moment to look to the structure of the board and to its members. Let me first thank Claudio Melchiorri for his duties as Editor-in-Chief for the past six years, and for the turn-around he made with the journal. Claudio will stay on the board as an Associate Editor (AE). Moreover, T.H. Lee will be Deputy Editor-in-Chief instead of handling one specific region. Also, I removed the book review position, and D. Subbaram Naidu will stay as an AE. Many people served on the board as AE for a significant long time, and expressed that they would like to step down. I would like to give my sincere gratitude to the leaving members, for their support and editorial activities in the past years: M. Acar, E. Carryer, P. Drews, T. Emura, R.M. Goodall, G. Hirzinger, K. Ikuta, J.T. Jones, T.R. Kurfess, L. Lin, J. Makra Ernöne, A. Morecki, W. Singhose, J.P. Trevelyan, C. Wu, Y.G. Xi and G.G. Yen. I also would like to welcome as new members of the board: J. Swevers, E.A. Lomonova, A. Sebastion and M.J.G. van de Molengraft. Some new ideas are to install a board position for reviews on patents or innovative ideas. Also, I would certainly stimulate (young) researchers in the field to contact me if they would like to have a position as AE, which or course will help their career development. Also, new ideas for special issues are more than welcome. I look forward to serving the readers and authors in the forthcoming years to have a high quality journal and timely processing of manuscripts. With your help I am sure we can realize this and contribute to the further strength of our nice technological field called mechatronics! Maarten Steinbuch Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Control Systems Technology Group, 3TU Centre High Tech Systems, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB, Eindhoven, The Netherlands E-mail address: [email protected]
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Mechatronics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mechatronics
Editorial
Mechatronics in control! The field of mechatronics is stretching its boundaries into new application areas and technological fields. Medical robotics, machines in home care, MEMS devices and automotive are a few of the fields where intelligent software is added to explore added features and new possibilities. The societal problem of our time, i.e. health and sustainable mobility benefits from model-based design and active control of moving physics. This is the centre of the field of mechatronics. It is a great pleasure to take up the responsibility as Editor-inChief of Mechatronics given this setting and development of technology. Peer-reviewed journals are an important means to distribute knowledge among academic and industrial research and development. This certainly holds for Mechatronics, being one of the first journals in this field, where the combination of solid theory, application and implementation is highly stimulated and appreciated. The history of our journal goes back some time, and in the recent years an important step was set by the previous Editor-inChief Claudio Melchiorri, by joining the IFAC. The format of the journal recently went through a significant transformation: now it has a large paper format, and is similar to the other journals of IFAC, such as Control Engineering Practice. Having my background in industry, combined with my current work within academia, I would like to put forward two key quality measures for publications: (1) I would like to publish papers which merge mechanical design with control design, and (2) those which combine simulation and theory with experiments. Also, combinations of industrial and academic authors would be very interesting, supporting the idea that academic research should find solutions for real problems. If we are successful with this I am sure that the measure of quality of the Journal, i.e. the impact factor, will be raised from the current 0.8 to above 1.0 in due time. This is my first target. The second goal I have is to speed up the review process. This requires a responsive editorial board, and moreover, reviewers from the field who are willing to contribute in the peer-reviewing process. This reviewing is crucial to maintain high standards in the scientific community, and I hope we can rely on you in the future as we could in the past.
0957-4158/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.mechatronics.2008.12.001
The change of the Editor-in-Chief is also a good moment to look to the structure of the board and to its members. Let me first thank Claudio Melchiorri for his duties as Editor-in-Chief for the past six years, and for the turn-around he made with the journal. Claudio will stay on the board as an Associate Editor (AE). Moreover, T.H. Lee will be Deputy Editor-in-Chief instead of handling one specific region. Also, I removed the book review position, and D. Subbaram Naidu will stay as an AE. Many people served on the board as AE for a significant long time, and expressed that they would like to step down. I would like to give my sincere gratitude to the leaving members, for their support and editorial activities in the past years: M. Acar, E. Carryer, P. Drews, T. Emura, R.M. Goodall, G. Hirzinger, K. Ikuta, J.T. Jones, T.R. Kurfess, L. Lin, J. Makra Ernöne, A. Morecki, W. Singhose, J.P. Trevelyan, C. Wu, Y.G. Xi and G.G. Yen. I also would like to welcome as new members of the board: J. Swevers, E.A. Lomonova, A. Sebastion and M.J.G. van de Molengraft. Some new ideas are to install a board position for reviews on patents or innovative ideas. Also, I would certainly stimulate (young) researchers in the field to contact me if they would like to have a position as AE, which or course will help their career development. Also, new ideas for special issues are more than welcome. I look forward to serving the readers and authors in the forthcoming years to have a high quality journal and timely processing of manuscripts. With your help I am sure we can realize this and contribute to the further strength of our nice technological field called mechatronics! Maarten Steinbuch Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Control Systems Technology Group, 3TU Centre High Tech Systems, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB, Eindhoven, The Netherlands E-mail address: [email protected]