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Theory and practice of robots and manipulators, Proceedings of the Eleventh CISM-IFToMM Symposium
1038
Book reviews
In summary, the book is recommended to readers who on the one hand are curious to learn about the elementary backgrounds of the finite element method but who on the other hand do not dare to consult directly a standard university style textbook. P. Steinmann Kaiserslautern Germany
Theory and Practice of Robots and Manipulators, Proceedings of the Eleventh CISM-IFToMM Symposium. Edited by A. Morecki, G. Bianchi, C. Rzymkowski (Springer-Verlag, Wien, New York, 1997, 432 pp.; ISBN 3-211-82903-2). The biannual CISM-IFToMM RoManSy Symposium is a well-established forum for leading scientists in the field of robotics. In 1996 the eleventh RoManSy Symposium was held in Udine and was attended by 59 participants from 13 countries, among them some of the best known researchers in this field. The proceedings of the eleventh RoManSy Symposium have been published by Springer in a paperback version containing 46 publications, which represent the state of the art in robotic research. The book gives an overview over recent activities in robotic manipulation starting with the opening lecture of O. Khatib, which addresses typical problems in mobile manipulation as redundancy, vehicle/arm coordination and cooperative manipulation. There are significant contributions in mechanics of robots with applications such as tube crawling robots and parallel manipulators as well as a hierarchical control concept for elastic cranes. In the field of synthesis and design optimized kinematic designs for manipulators and optimization of shape memory alloy actuators for grippers are proposed. The still growing interest in walking machines and mobile robots is taken into account by 13 papers, which concern biped anthropomorphic walking, its modelling and control, development of gaits and the design of biped or multilegged walking machines. For about 10 years biomechanical aspects of robotics have become the field of intensive research. This is reflected by two papers describing the development of a humanoid robot and an analysis of the human hand during violin playing. Eleven papers concern robot motion control issues. They cover applications like redundant and overactuated robots, multifingered grasping and industrial mobile robots using classical force control schemes, neural and adaptive techniques. An important issue for the design of elaborate manipulator control strategies is the intelligent sensing of contact forces and identification of contact states in combination with efficient object-oriented robot programming techniques. In the last chapter of the book some practical applications in the fields of telerobotics and assembly strategies are described and their performance is evaluated. The book undertakes the attempt to give a comprehensive and well-structured overview of scientific problems in robotics at the leading edge of research. In fact, many authors who contributed to it are internationally known as leading scientists in this field. Consequently, the theoretical background behind most of the papers in terms of mechanical modeling, optimization and control is on a very fundamental level. There are also some interesting new ideas in the field of biped walking and anthropomorphic robots included. Particularly the growing interest in connecting biological studies with design issues in robotics, which combines analysis of complex tasks in biological systems as human walking or violin playing with synthesis and optimization of new mechanical and controller designs, seems to arise interesting questions for future investigations. This leads to surprising mechanical designs such as the elephant trtmk type robot described in one of the papers. However, the book suffers from the lack of pratical impulses from industrial applications, which is apparent in almost all areas of robotic research. When reading the book the impression arises that most of the good ideas and sophisticated mathematical treatment remain purely scientific because possible industrial applications
Book reviews
1,039
are too far away to shift them into a practical domain. Nevertheless technical opportunities are demonstrated allowing new insights and showing new possible applications for the future, We consider the book suitable for all students, researchers, and practicing engineers interested in tile field of robotics as an overview of current research activities. It is as comprehensive as it" earl be in a field in which possible applications, mathematical methodologies, control architectures, and mechanical designs vary as much as they do in robotics. G. Prokop, F. Pfeiffer Garching Germany
Rotordynamics Prediction in Engineering (second edition), by Michd. Lalanne, Guy Ferraris (Wiley, New York; ISBN 0471972886). This book gives a good compact treatment on the fundamental effects that engineers are confronted with when solving problems in rotating machinery. The book mainly focuses on the influence of bending; the more easily predictable torsion problems are dealt with only briefly. Each chapter begins with statements of pertinent definitions, principles and basic relations. This is followed by graded sets of solved and supplementary problems. The solved problems illustrate and underline the theoretical contexts, present methods of analysis, provide practical examples and bring into sharp focus those points which enable students and engineers to apply the fundamentals of rotordynamics correctly and reliably. Topics covered include the characteristics of rotor elements, simple models and basic phenomena with respect to both monorotors and multirotors, the solution of equations and industrial applications. Special topics include transient motions and problems like asymmetric shafts, timevariant differential equations and coupling effects between torsion and bending. Parts of the book are based on teaching courses held by the authors at several international institutions. This underlines the experience of the authors who are widely recognized in the field of rotordynamics. Both students and practical engineers may benefit from this outstanding work. H. Ulbrich Essen Germany
Analysis, Design and Optimization of Composite Structures, by Alexander L. Kalamkarov, Alexander G. Kolpakov (Wiley, Chichester; ISBN 0471971898). This book of 356 pages is divided into 9 chapters, and in addition contains 4 appendices. The stated goal of the book is to bridge the gap between the mathematical theory of homogenization and the mechanics of composites as applied science. Although being mostly mathematically oriented the book presents a commendable attempt to solve this important problem. The extensive work on the asymptotic theory of homogenization has been carried out since the mid-seventies, and the about 100 references are mostly from this period, with special focus on the Russian, French and Italian contributions. The book is divided into two parts of almost equal size. Part I on Analysis of Composite Materials and Structures and Part II on Design of Composite Materials and Structural Members. The book also contains an appendix on a computational software package: DESIGNER, that can be downloaded from ftp://mechv.me.tuns,ca/pub/akalam/DESIGNER.
Book reviews
In summary, the book is recommended to readers who on the one hand are curious to learn about the elementary backgrounds of the finite element method but who on the other hand do not dare to consult directly a standard university style textbook. P. Steinmann Kaiserslautern Germany
Theory and Practice of Robots and Manipulators, Proceedings of the Eleventh CISM-IFToMM Symposium. Edited by A. Morecki, G. Bianchi, C. Rzymkowski (Springer-Verlag, Wien, New York, 1997, 432 pp.; ISBN 3-211-82903-2). The biannual CISM-IFToMM RoManSy Symposium is a well-established forum for leading scientists in the field of robotics. In 1996 the eleventh RoManSy Symposium was held in Udine and was attended by 59 participants from 13 countries, among them some of the best known researchers in this field. The proceedings of the eleventh RoManSy Symposium have been published by Springer in a paperback version containing 46 publications, which represent the state of the art in robotic research. The book gives an overview over recent activities in robotic manipulation starting with the opening lecture of O. Khatib, which addresses typical problems in mobile manipulation as redundancy, vehicle/arm coordination and cooperative manipulation. There are significant contributions in mechanics of robots with applications such as tube crawling robots and parallel manipulators as well as a hierarchical control concept for elastic cranes. In the field of synthesis and design optimized kinematic designs for manipulators and optimization of shape memory alloy actuators for grippers are proposed. The still growing interest in walking machines and mobile robots is taken into account by 13 papers, which concern biped anthropomorphic walking, its modelling and control, development of gaits and the design of biped or multilegged walking machines. For about 10 years biomechanical aspects of robotics have become the field of intensive research. This is reflected by two papers describing the development of a humanoid robot and an analysis of the human hand during violin playing. Eleven papers concern robot motion control issues. They cover applications like redundant and overactuated robots, multifingered grasping and industrial mobile robots using classical force control schemes, neural and adaptive techniques. An important issue for the design of elaborate manipulator control strategies is the intelligent sensing of contact forces and identification of contact states in combination with efficient object-oriented robot programming techniques. In the last chapter of the book some practical applications in the fields of telerobotics and assembly strategies are described and their performance is evaluated. The book undertakes the attempt to give a comprehensive and well-structured overview of scientific problems in robotics at the leading edge of research. In fact, many authors who contributed to it are internationally known as leading scientists in this field. Consequently, the theoretical background behind most of the papers in terms of mechanical modeling, optimization and control is on a very fundamental level. There are also some interesting new ideas in the field of biped walking and anthropomorphic robots included. Particularly the growing interest in connecting biological studies with design issues in robotics, which combines analysis of complex tasks in biological systems as human walking or violin playing with synthesis and optimization of new mechanical and controller designs, seems to arise interesting questions for future investigations. This leads to surprising mechanical designs such as the elephant trtmk type robot described in one of the papers. However, the book suffers from the lack of pratical impulses from industrial applications, which is apparent in almost all areas of robotic research. When reading the book the impression arises that most of the good ideas and sophisticated mathematical treatment remain purely scientific because possible industrial applications
Book reviews
1,039
are too far away to shift them into a practical domain. Nevertheless technical opportunities are demonstrated allowing new insights and showing new possible applications for the future, We consider the book suitable for all students, researchers, and practicing engineers interested in tile field of robotics as an overview of current research activities. It is as comprehensive as it" earl be in a field in which possible applications, mathematical methodologies, control architectures, and mechanical designs vary as much as they do in robotics. G. Prokop, F. Pfeiffer Garching Germany
Rotordynamics Prediction in Engineering (second edition), by Michd. Lalanne, Guy Ferraris (Wiley, New York; ISBN 0471972886). This book gives a good compact treatment on the fundamental effects that engineers are confronted with when solving problems in rotating machinery. The book mainly focuses on the influence of bending; the more easily predictable torsion problems are dealt with only briefly. Each chapter begins with statements of pertinent definitions, principles and basic relations. This is followed by graded sets of solved and supplementary problems. The solved problems illustrate and underline the theoretical contexts, present methods of analysis, provide practical examples and bring into sharp focus those points which enable students and engineers to apply the fundamentals of rotordynamics correctly and reliably. Topics covered include the characteristics of rotor elements, simple models and basic phenomena with respect to both monorotors and multirotors, the solution of equations and industrial applications. Special topics include transient motions and problems like asymmetric shafts, timevariant differential equations and coupling effects between torsion and bending. Parts of the book are based on teaching courses held by the authors at several international institutions. This underlines the experience of the authors who are widely recognized in the field of rotordynamics. Both students and practical engineers may benefit from this outstanding work. H. Ulbrich Essen Germany
Analysis, Design and Optimization of Composite Structures, by Alexander L. Kalamkarov, Alexander G. Kolpakov (Wiley, Chichester; ISBN 0471971898). This book of 356 pages is divided into 9 chapters, and in addition contains 4 appendices. The stated goal of the book is to bridge the gap between the mathematical theory of homogenization and the mechanics of composites as applied science. Although being mostly mathematically oriented the book presents a commendable attempt to solve this important problem. The extensive work on the asymptotic theory of homogenization has been carried out since the mid-seventies, and the about 100 references are mostly from this period, with special focus on the Russian, French and Italian contributions. The book is divided into two parts of almost equal size. Part I on Analysis of Composite Materials and Structures and Part II on Design of Composite Materials and Structural Members. The book also contains an appendix on a computational software package: DESIGNER, that can be downloaded from ftp://mechv.me.tuns,ca/pub/akalam/DESIGNER.