Preface

The world's population is increasing rapidly and thus so is the need for producing more and more products each year. This requires the utilization of innovative and more efficient production technologies and systems, and a proper application of robust control systems for controlling processes, machines, robots, packaging and part transfer systems, and so on.

This book presents the latest achievements of researchers and engineers working on different aspects of production engineering and control systems. There are two sections: Section 1 includes four chapters on production engineering and Section 2 includes four chapters on robust control. Chapter 1 introduces production engineering and classifies different activities within this domain. Chapter 2 explains the strategy used for the optimization of process parameters in abrasive waterjet machining as a non-conventional cutting process. Chapter 3 is on additive manufacturing where inkjet printing is used for the 3D printing of smart products. Chapter 4 covers production systems and discusses the requirements for product lifecycle management. Chapter 5 explains the hierarchical sliding mode control for a 2D ballbot. Chapter 6 describes the controller modeling for proportional–integral–derivative (PID) gain tuning against external disturbances with constrained internal parameter variation of the permanent magnet DC motor based on an optimization technique. Chapter 7 focuses on the role of uncertainty in the development of the model and explains how a multi-robot control system can reduce various uncertainties. Finally, Chapter 8 proposes the design of the hardware architecture of an improved direct torque control (DTC) for real-time implementation.

The editors are thankful to those who contributed their findings for publication in this book. They would also like to thank Blanka Gugic, Zrinka Tomicic, Jelena Germuth, and other dedicated staff at IntechOpen for providing continuous support that made the publication of this book possible.

### **Dr. Majid Tolouei-Rad**

School of Engineering, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia

**Dr. Pengzhong Li** School of Mechanical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, P.R. China

**Dr. Liang Luo** Sino-German College of Postgraduate Studies, Tongji University, Shanghai, P.R. China

**1**

Section 1

Production Engineering

Section 1
