Mechatronics and Machine Vision 2002: Current Practice

Citation

(2003), "Mechatronics and Machine Vision 2002: Current Practice", Sensor Review, Vol. 23 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.2003.08723cae.001

Mechatronics and Machine Vision 2002: Current Practice

Mechatronics and Machine Vision 2002: Current Practice

R. Bradbeer and J. Billingsley (Eds)Research Studies Press2002373 pp.ISBN 0-86380-278-8£65.00

Keywords: Mechatronics, Machine vision

This book presents real applications of machine vision and describes the advances in mechatronic design. It comprises 39 papers from the 9th Annual Conference of Mechatronics and Machine Vision in Practice (M2VIP2002), divided into six focal areas.

Section 1, comprises seven papers related to Vision. These include "Self-Calibration of an Active Vision System for 3D Robot Vision", "Silicon Retina Sensing Guided by Omni-directional Vision" and "A Floating Point Genetic Algorithm for Affine Invariant Matching of Object Shapes". The following six papers focusses on industrial applications. Papers of interest include: "Multi-sensor Fusion in a Flexible Workcell Environment", "Automatic Foundry Brake Disk Inspection through Different Computer Vision Techniques, Using a New 3D Calibration Approach" and "A PVDF-based Micro- Newton Force Sensing System for Automated Micro-Manipulation".

The following two sections address the Design of Manipulators and MEMS Assembly and Robots and Machine Vision in Agriculture and Food Processing. The 15 topics addressed include "ROCON – A Virtual Construction Kit, Visualisation Tool and Remote Control System for Mechatronic Devices", "Automated Micro-assembly of MEMS by Centrifugal Force" and "Machine Vision Application to Grading of White Pepper Berries".

"Space and Time Sensor Fusion and Multi- sensor Integration for Indoor Mobile Robot Navigation", "Communication with an Underwater ROV Using Ultrasonic Transmission" and "Reactive Agent Architecture for Underwater Robotics Vehicles" are amongst the five papers presented in the Mobile Robots and Navigation. The final collection of papers address Robot-human Interaction. These include "Automatic Facial Expression Recognition for Human-Robot Interaction", "Development of an Expressive Social Robot" and "A Novel Mechatronic System for Non-Invasive Lumpectomy of the Breast Tissue".

Overall, this is an extremely good reference text. The material presented provides an up to date analysis of the advances in mechatronics and machine vision. The papers reflect the broad nature of the subject and are suitable for people from a variety of technical backgrounds.