GUEST EDITORIAL: INTRODUCTION TO THE 2009 SPECIAL ISSUE ON MECHANISMS, MACHINES AND MECHATRONICS

The development and application of theories of Mechanisms, Machines, and Mechatronics (M), are critical for device design, implementation, and control. Basic mechanisms, nonredundant and redundant (more joint degrees of freedom than required for the task space) serial manipulators (single branch, all joints actuated and acting in sequence on a payload), parallel robots (multiple branches, containing actuated and passive joints, acting on a common payload), and remotely-operated vehicles with manipulation systems for underwater and for space exploration, are all examples of systems requiring the application of M concepts. This Special Issue is intended to present recent and innovative results on the theories of M. The Special Issue consists of 18 papers, selected from and based on work originally presented at the 2009 CCToMM Symposium on M. The co-chairs of the 2009 CCToMM Symposium divided the submitted papers into seven application areas. This organization will be followed within this editorial. The papers were first subject to a review process prior to the 2009 CCToMM M Symposium presentation at Laval University, Quebec City, Quebec. After presentation at the Symposium, the papers underwent the usual full peer-review process of the Transactions of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering. Acceptance was subject to reviewer recommended modifications. The guest editors and reviewers with area expertise reviewed the works after final modification and prior to final acceptance. The authorship and content of the accepted papers are outlined below. Within the manipulator control area, Vakil, Fotouhi, and Nikiforuk present further results on the zeros of a single-flexible link manipulator. Soylu, Buckham and Podhorodeski consider the design of a multiple-input multiple-output sliding mode controller and a H‘ controller for reduction of the dynamic coupling in underwater-manipulator systems. Within the area of dynamics, Uhlar and Betsch consider mechanical integrators for the inverse dynamics of dissipative multibody systems. Within the design and implementation area, Ossino, Barnett, Angeles, Pasini and Sijpkes discuss path planning for robot-assisted rapid prototyping of ice structures. Ginzburg, Florentin, Frankenberg, and Nokleby design and implement an indoor localization system for the Omnibot omni-directional platform. Within the area of calibration and human-robot interaction, Horne and Notash consider pose selection for the kinematic calibration of a prototyped 4 degree of freedom manipulator. Firmani and Park develop a human-body model for paraplegics wearing an ambulatory exoskeleton. Lecours and Gosselin discuss the determination of the workspace of a 3PRPP parallel mechanism for human-robot collaboration. Within the area of manipulator synthesis, Wang and Baron consider the topological synthesis of translational parallel manipulators. Rousseau and Baron discuss isotropic parallel manipulators within the H4 class. Jiang and Gosselin present a geometric synthesis of planar 3-RPR parallel manipulators for singularity-free workspaces. Leclerc and Gosselin consider multi-criteria genetic algorithms for the optimization of the architecture of a cable driven mechanism. Within the area of wire actuated parallel manipulators, Liu and Gosselin discuss a planar closed-loop cable-driven parallel mechanism. McColl and Notash consider the workspace envelope formulation of planar wire-actuated parallel manipulators. Agahi and Notash discuss redundancy resolution of wire-actuated parallel manipulators.