 |
Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM '01) 8–12 July 2001 Como, Italy |
 |
|
Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM '01) 8–12 July 2001 Como, Italy |
|
Welcome from the General Chair
It is my great pleasure and honour to serve as the General Chair
of the 2001 IEEE/ASME International Conference
on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM '01).
You will certainly find the highlights of the conference by navigating
on our homepage. Hereafter, let me spend a few words about why you should
attend this unique event.
The term "mechatronics" originated from Japan in the 70's.
A definition of the discipline is "the synergetic integration
of mechanical engineering with electronic and intelligent computer
control in the design and manufacture of industrial products and processes".
Mechatronics has been growing steadily in the last decade,
and has reached an international visibility which nowadays
make the figure of a mechatronic expert to be highly sought
in the engineering arena.
Two of the widest most prestigious professional societies,
the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
recently established the joint Transactions on Mechatronics,
which competes with a number of dedicated technical publications in the field.
Their biennial meeting, AIM, is reaching the 3rd edition,
still a baby-conference but quite a successful event already!
To give you a flavour of the size and level of the conference,
the past edition was held in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, September 1999.
A total of 235 participants attended the conference,
roughly one third from Asia, one quarter from Europe,
and the remaining forty-two percent from North America.
A total of 24 countries submitted papers with overall breakdown
of about one third for each of the three greater geographic regions
(America, Asia and Europe).
The technical program included the presentation of 171 papers and 6 videos,
organized into 36 sessions. The high technical quality of the submitted
papers, combined with the conscientious efforts of the program
committee members and the reviewers, enabled establishing
the record of the conference. A special issue of the IEEE/ASME
Transactions on Mechatronics, containing a selection
of revised papers from the conference, was co-edited by Kok-Meng Lee (General
Chair of AIM '99) and myself and published in June 2000.
This is the first time AIM comes to Europe and I am proud to host it.
Be sure the various fellows who are cooperating with me for the
technical organization are committed to improve the record of the conference,
if at all possible.
As in the past, workshops and tutorials, as well as invited sessions
are being organized together with regular paper and video sessions;
please, feel free to contact the respective Chairs,
should you be willing to submit challenging proposals.
Workshops (tutorials) shall be a wonderful option for students and
newcomers to learn about the latest developments (well assessed matter)
in the field.
Nevertheless, the main feature of this edition is the creation of an
Industry-Oriented track devoted to papers having a clear industrial
connotation. The idea is to attract participation from industry
and allow fruitful interaction with people from academia.
Especially, the field of mechatronics does strongly depend on the most
updated technologies (smart sensors and actuators, MEMS, etc.)
and, as such, it would have no future by being constrained to
a pure academic environment.
Another important novelty is the adoption of the electronic media
for paper submission, review and proceedings. In the age of Internet,
it would make no sense to continue to impoverish the Amazonian forest or
waste money (and time) for shipping and delivery. I trust that,
as a contributor, a reviewer or simply as a participant,
you will appreciate the accessibility and promptness of the media.
Last but not least, besides the technical contents,
the dates and location of the conference. Milan has direct flights with
major destinations world-wide, and Como is easily reachable from
Malpensa airport. The lake and its vicinity make it a perfect place
for vacation and a good starting point to explore the country:
bring your families or companions. I believe that, beyond landscape,
history, culture, gastronomy ... you will discover the special taste
of Italian hospitality!
Take a summer break, come to AIM '01, travel to Italy, visit Como,
enjoy the technical and social program, meet exciting people,
make new contacts and friends ... treat yourself.
I very much look forward to your participation.
If I can be of any help or assistance, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Bruno Siciliano
siciliano@unina.it
https://cds.unina.it/~sicilian