1999 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics
September 19 - 23, 1999 - Renaissance Atlanta Hotel, Atlanta, Georgia USA

WELCOME

On behalf of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), we are glad to host you at the 1999 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM '99). The purpose of this biennial conference, following the footsteps of the first one in Tokyo, Japan, in 1997, is to promote activities in various areas of mechatronics by providing a forum for exchange of ideas, presentation of technical achievements, and discussion of future directions. The theme of the conference is Informatics in Mechatronics. This year, a total of 24 countries have submitted papers with overall breakdown of about 1/3 for each of the three greater geographic regions (America, Asia and Europe). The technical program includes the presentation of 171 papers and 6 videos, organized into 36 sessions. The conference proceedings are provided in both the traditional printed version and a CD-ROM disk. In addition, abstracts of the papers have been made available on the web prior to the meeting. All the papers have been accepted after a full-length paper peer review process conducted by the International Program Committee. The high technical quality of the submitted papers, combined with the conscientious efforts of the program committee members and the reviewers, enabled us to establish the record of the conference. The review was aided by the requirement that the papers be submitted in final format, thereby allowing a fair evaluation of uniform length. We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the tremendous effort invested in the review process by the Program Co-Chairs, the Members of the International Program Committee, and anonymous Reviewers. All meetings are housed in the Renaissance Atlanta Hotel. The conference begins on Sunday, September 19 with a half-day tutorial in the afternoon. Technical sessions are held in four parallel tracks from Monday to Wednesday. After the opening ceremony on Monday, two plenary lectures are delivered by Peter Will and Kazuo Tanie, respectively; these are followed by a panel. The day ends with a welcome reception in the evening. The highlights of Tuesday are the plenary lecture by Paolo Dario, the luncheon keynote speech by Toshio Fukuda, as well as the research laboratory tour at Georgia Tech and the Georgia Center for Advanced Telecommunications Technology (GCATT). At night, the banquet is aboard the Henry W. Grady Riverboat cruising the beautiful natural surroundings of Georgia's Stone Mountain Park, a masterpiece of nature that amazes millions of guests from around the world. Wednesday begins with a round table and ends with a farewell party in the evening. On Thursday, conference attendees have an opportunity to visit local industries. Finally, we wish to thank the local volunteers who have made things run smoothly. Of course, we must remember and thank all the authors of the papers. Without their contributions, there would be no conference at all. Welcome to Atlanta, Georgia! Kok-Meng Lee General Chair Bruno Siciliano General Co-Chair