Precision Mechatronics: Design, Control and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Precision mechatronics consists of synergistic interaction among mechanical, electronic, control, and computing engineering disciplines with accuracy of micrometer or sub-nanometer scale. It has been widely and successfully applied in robotics, optical system, scanning probe microscopy (SFM), semiconductor manufacturing, biomedical engineering, and cell manipulation. There are currently some emerging technologies and breakthroughs in this field, such as novel mechanical design, ultra-precise sensing, new actuation, and advanced and intelligent control. Thus, a new wave of opportunities for precision mechatronics is coming up, for instance, for Industry 4.0 automation and medical robotics. However, there are still some challenges that researchers and engineers should overcome to fully utilize the potential of precision mechatronics: modeling and control are inherently complex due to the nonlinear characteristics of the precision actuators; reliability/cost is always a hurdle for commercialization; and the tradeoffs among the travel range, dynamic response, and accuracy are often overwhelming. Accordingly, this Special Issue seeks to showcase research papers and review articles related with precision mechatronics that focus on but are not limited to:

• Precision mechanical design, such as flexible parallel mechanisms;
• Precision sensing, such as capacitive sensors and laser interferometers;
• Precision actuation, such as piezoelectric actuators, voice coil motors, shape memory alloy actuators;
• Precision control, such as advanced control and intelligent control;
• Applications of precision mechatronics in robotics, optical systems, scanning probe microscopy (SFM), semiconductor manufacturing, biomedical engineering, and cell manipulation.

I look forward to receiving your submissions!

Dr. Pengzhi Li
Guest Editor

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