Mechatronics

Mechanical engineering, an engineering discipline born of the needs of the industrial revolution, is once again asked to do its substantial share in the call for industrial renewal. The general call is urgent as we face profound is sues of productivity and competitiveness that require engineering solutions, among others. The Mechanical Engineering Series features graduate texts and research monographs intended to address the need for information in contemporary areas of mechanical engineering. The series is conceived as a comprehensive one that will cover a broad range of concentrations important to mechanical engineering graduate ed ucation and research. We are fortunate to have a distinguished roster of consulting editors, each an expert in one of the areas of concentration. The names of the consulting editors are listed on the front page of the volume. The areas of concentration are applied mechanics, biomechanics, compu tational mechanics, dynamic systems and control, energetics, mechanics of material, processing, thermal science, and tribology. Professor Marshek, the consulting editor for dynamic systems and con trol, and I are pleased to present this volume of the series: Mechatronics: Electromechanics and Contromechanics by Professor Denny K. Miu. The selection of this volume underscores again the interest of the Mechanical Engineering Series to provide our readers with topical monographs as well as graduate texts.