This volume is an outgrowth of the workshop "Applications of Advanced Control Theory to Robotics and Automation,” organized in honor of the 70th birthdays of Petar V. Kokotovic and Salvatore (Turi) Nicosia. Both Petar and Turi have carried out distinguished work in the control community and have long been recognized as mentors, experts, and pioneers in the field of automatic control, covering many topics in control theory and several different applications. The variety of their research is reflected in this book, which includes contributions from leading experts in the field ranging from mathematics to laboratory experiments.

Main topics covered include:

* State Estimation and Identification: observer designs for nonlinear systems and linear time-delay systems, as well as identification techniques for linear, nonlinear, piecewise linear, and hybrid systems.

* Control and System Theory: theoretical results related to the analysis and control of dynamical systems, including a presentation of Lyapunov tools for linear differential inclusions, a study of the control of constrained systems, and a treatment of finite-time stability concepts.

* Robotics: new studies of robot manipulators, parameter identification, and different control problems for mobile robots.

* Control of Electromechanical Systems: applications of modern control techniques to port-controlled Hamiltonian systems, different classes of vehicles, and web processing systems.

* Manufacturing Systems: applications of the max-plus algebra to system aggregation, optimal machine scheduling problems, and inventory control with cooperation between retailers.

* Networked Control Systems: analysis and design problems related to linear and nonlinear networked control systems.

The scope of the work is quite broad, andalthough each chapter is self-contained, the book has been organized into thematically related chapters, and in some cases, convenient reading sequences are suggested to the reader. The wide variety of topics covered and the tutorial writing style used by many of the contributors will make this book suitable for experts, as well as young researchers who seek a more intuitive understanding of these relevant topics in the field.