CONFERENCE REPORT

Third IFAC Symposium on Mechatronic Systems

he Third IFAC Symposium on Mechatronic Systems was held in Sydney, Australia on 68 September 2004. The goal of the symposium was to bring together experts on mechatronic systems from different areas to present new research results and perspectives on the future of the field. There were 146 registrants representing 24 countries. The gathering proved to be an excellent forum for discussing new ideas and approaches to the multidisciplinary field of mechatronics.

Background
The IFAC Symposium on Mechatronic Systems is a biennial conference sponsored by the IFAC Technical Committee (TC) on Mechatronic Systems. This committee was established in 1999 in response to the growing importance of mechatronic systems in industry. One of the purposes of the TC is to streamline IFAC activities in the area of mechatronic systems. Prior to the establishment of the TC, mechatronics activities were organized under the umbrella of other IFAC TCs, such as the TC on Robotics and the TC on Automotive Control. The first conference in the series was held in Darmstadt, Germany, in 2000, shortly after the establishment of the TC on Mechatronic Systems. The second symposium was held in Berkeley, California, in 2002. The 4th IFAC Symposium on Mechatronic Systems will be held in 2006 in Heidelberg, Germany.

Venue
The conference was held at the Manly Pacific Novotel in Sydneys northern beaches district of Manly. The hotel is located across the road from one of the most popular white sand beaches in Australia.

industry toward 2020. In addition, he shared his views on the challenges of mechatronic systems design as well as important design methodologies for mechatronic systems. Finally, he illuminated the need for basic research and education and emphasized the critical role of control engineering in a mechatronics curriculum. The second plenary, presented by Hugh Durrant-Whyte of Sydney University, was on Autonomous Navigation in Unstructured Environments. Prof. Durrant-Whyte discussed applications of robotics that operate outdoors in harsh and unstructured environments for such applications such as mining, construction, and environmental monitoring. He presented solutions to the challenging problem of autonomous navigation of robotic vehicles in these environments. Roberto Horowitz of the University of California at Berkeley gave a talk titled Dual-Stage Servo Systems and Vibration Compensation in Computer Hard Disk Drives. He indicated that a current goal of the magnetic disk drive industry is to break the one terabit per-square-inch density barrier. Horowitz proposed dual-stage actuation as a potential enabling technology. He then discussed the design, fabrication, and control of microactuators fabricated using MEMS technology, and presented an alternative approach based on a PZT-actuated suspension. Kouhei Ohnishi of Keio University, Japan, presented a talk titled Medical MechatronicsApplication to Haptics. He presented an overview of haptics and its application to surgery and then demonstrated a successful implementation of haptic feedback using forceps. A talk titled Mechatronics in Fuel Cell Power Systems was then given by Anna

The Conference Program

The conference program consisted of technical sessions organized in four parallel tracks as well as six plenary lectures, six semiplenary lectures, and a poster session. A total of 132 papers were accepted after the completion of a full review process. All delegates were provided with a CD-ROM containing symposium preprints, and the official symposium proceedings will be published by Elsevier. A highlight of the symposium was the caliber of the six plenary presentations given by leading researchers from industry and academia. The first plenary speaker was Dr. Werner Dieterle from Robert Bosch GmbH. In his talk titled Mechatronic Systems: Industrial Applications and Modern Design Methodologies, Dr. Dieterle offered an overview of the mechatronics industry and discussed general trends in

Graham Goodwin of the University of Newcastle and Carl Knospe of the University of Virginia. Carl Knospe, who is an associate editor of IEEE Control Systems Magazine, was a semiplenary speaker at the symposium. His talk was titled Active Magnetic Bearings for Machining Applications.

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Stephanopoulou of the University of Michigan. Fuel cells require the integration of chemical, fluid, mechanical, thermal, electrical, and electronic subsystems. The final plenary was presented by Herman Soemers of the Philips Corporation and the University of Twente, The Netherlands. He presented a talk titled Mechatronics and Microsystems, which concentrated on the mechatronics aspects of microsystems and novel applications involving microactuators.

Special Sessions
The symposium included a number of special organized sessions on various aspects of mechatronic systems, including sessions titled Marine Robotics, Control of Drives, and Advanced Motion Control.

Awards
This years symposium also marked the establishment of awards to recognize the authors of the best paper and the best student paper. Two committees were established to choose a winner for each category. The best paper and best student paper committees were chaired by Rolf Isermann and Roger Goodall, respectively. A number of papers were shortlisted for each category, and the winners were determined based on the reviews received on the papers as well as the presentations made in the symposium. The best paper prize was awarded to Klaus Janschek, Valerij Tchernykh, and Sergeui Dyblenko for Opto-mechatronic Image Stabilization for Compact Space Camera. The best student paper prize was awarded to Katherine Peterson of the University of Michigan for the paper titled Nonlinear Magnetic Levitation of Automotive Engine Valves. The other two student finalists were Bram Bonsen of Eindhoven University of Technology for Measurement and Control of Slip in a Continuously Variable Transmission and Gareth Milton of the University of New South Wales for Automated Precision Centering of Optical Fibres for Nanogrinding. The student award was sponsored by Elsevier.

Semiplenaries
The plenary presentations were complemented by the following semiplenary lectures: Roger Goodall, Loughborough University, UK: Mechatronics in MotionSome Railway Applications Carl Knospe, University of Virginia, USA: Active Magnetic Bearings for Machining Applications Hideki Hashimoto, University of Tokyo, Japan: Robotics and Intelligent Space Job van Amerongen, University of Twente, The Netherlands: Mechatronics Education15 Years of Experience Masyoshi Tomizuka, University of California, Berkeley, USA: Sensors in the Engineering of Modern Mechatronic Systems Rolf Isermann, Technical University of Darmstadth, Germany: Model-Based Control and Diagnosis of Automobiles with Mechatronic Actuation.

Poster session at the symposium. A traditional component of IFAC conferences, the poster session stimulated extensive technical discussions.

Job van Amerongen of the University of Twente, The Netherlands. Prof. Amerongen gave a semiplenary talk titled Mechatronics Education15 Years of Experience.

(from left) Reza Moheimani of the University of Newcastle, Arie Feuer of the Technion, and Niloofar Moheimani. Reza Moheimani was the international program chair of the symposium, and Arie Feuer is a member of the IFAC council.

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Social Events
Three major social events, a welcoming reception, a conference banquet, and a farewell reception, rounded out the symposium schedule. Both receptions were well attended, and about 120 delegates and partners attended the conference banquet.

Thanks
Organizing a conference of this size required the efforts of many individuals from around the world. We wish to acknowledge the support of the IFAC Technical Committee on Mechatronic Systems as well as that of our colleagues who served on the International Program Committee. We also wish to thank all plenary speakers, semiplenary speakers, authors, session chairs, and those who organized invited sessions. All of these individuals worked hard to make this conference successful. We look forward to seeing everyone again at the 4th IFAC Symposium on Mechatronic Systems in Heidelberg in 2006. Reza Moheimani International Program Committee Chair Manly Beach located near Sydney, Australia. This worldfamous, 3-km beach provided a breathtaking backdrop for the symposium.

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