Foreword.- Preface.- List of Contributors.- Part I: State Estimation and Identification.- Circle-criterion observers and their feedback applications: an overview.- Unknown input observers and residual generators for linear time delay systems.- Set membership identification: the H-infinity case.- Algebraic methods for nonlinear systems: parameter identification and state estimation.- Recent techniques for the identification of piecewise affine and hybrid systems.- Part II: Control and System Theory.- Dual matrix inequalities in stability and performance analysis of linear differential/difference inclusions.- Oscillators as systems and synchrony as a design principle.- Nonlinear anti-windup for exponentially unstable linear plants.- Constrained pole assignment control.- An overview of finite-time stability.- Finite-time control of linear systems: a survey.- Part III: Robotics.- An application of iterative identification and control in the robotics field.- Friction identification and model-based digital control of a direct-drive manipulator.- A singular perturbation approach to control of flexible arms in compliant motion.- Fault tolerant tracking of a robot manipulator: an internal model based approach.- Set membership localization and map building for mobile robots.- Visual servoing with central catadioptric camera.- Motion control and coordination in mechanical and robotic systems.- Coordination of robot teams: a decentralized approach.- Part IV: Control of Electromechanical Systems.- Transient stabilization of multimachine power systems.- Robust controllers for large-scale interconnected systems: applications to web processing machines.- Control strategy using vision for the stabilization of an experimental PVTOL aircraft setup.- Neural network model reference adaptive control of marine vehicles.- Part V: ManufacturingSystems.- Projection and aggregation in maxplus algebra.- A switched system model for the optimal control of two symmetric competing queues with finite capacity.- Cooperative inventory control.- Part VI: Networked Control Systems.- Communication logic design and analysis for networked control systems.- Networked decentralized control of multirate sampled-data systems.- Finite-time stability for nonlinear networked control systems.- Index

This volume is an outgrowth of the workshop "Applications of Advanced Control Theory to Robotics and Automation, "organized in honor of the 70th birthdays of Petar V. Kokotovic and Salvatore (Turi) Nicosia. Both Petar and Turi have carried out distinguished work in the control community and have long been recognized as mentors, as well as experts and pioneers in the field of automatic control, covering many topics in control theory and several different applications. The variety of their research is reflected in this book, which includes contributions ranging from mathematics to laboratory experiments.

The scope of the work is very broad, and although each chapter is self-contained, the book has been organized into thematically related chapters, which in some cases, suggest to the reader a convenient reading sequence. The great variety of topics covered and the almost tutorial writing style used by many of the authors will make this book suitable for both experts in the control field and young researchers who seek a more intuitive understanding of these relevant topics in the field.