Always welcome

Surface finishing plays an important role in product quality due to its direct effects on product appearance. As a result, automated precision surface finishing processes are key technologies in the forming and shaping processes of industrial products and molds. The automated precision surface finishing processes can be divided into three main categories: the mechanical process, the electrochemical process, and the high energy beam process. The objective of this special issue for the International Journal of Automation Technology (IJAT) is to collect cutting-edge research works focused on automated precision surface finishing processes. The special issue of IJAT invites papers in the following areas:

• – Ultraprecision surface machining and finishing
• – Ultraprecision polishing
• – Ball burnishing
• – Ball polishing
• – Ultrasound-assisted polishing
• – Hydrodynamic polishing
• – Abrasive fluid jet polishing
• – Magnetorheological polishing
• – Magnetic field-assisted polishing
• – Robot-assisted polishing
• – Electrochemical polishing
• – Electrorheological fluid-assisted polishing
• – Chemical-mechanical polishing
• – Laser polishing
• – In-situ measurement for precision surface finishing

*Speedy Review (1-2months for the first review)
*IJAT is indexed in Scopus; Compendex (Ei-Index)
*日本語でも投稿できます（採録後、翻訳され英文で出版されます）

本特集号は，公道における実験を通して洗練した確実に動くシステムの構築とその制御手法を世界に発信することを目的としています．実世界における自律移動ロボットの公開実験「つくばチャレンジ」は，自律移動に加えて人物探索と歩行者用横断歩道の通過が求められるようになり，より人間に近い判断と運動能力が必要となりました．2017年は第二ステージ最後の年で，これまでの集大成となるコースが用意されており，ここで走行実験を行うことで新しい制御手法が得られるものと期待されます．そこで，「つくばチャレンジ」の走行実験で得られた成果を論文にまとめていただき，本特集号に投稿いただけるようにお願いいたします．

In recent years, the evolution of small-scaled unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) has been remarkable. Not only advanced research and development but also its industrial application has progressed rapidly. As the hobbyist market for drones, which opened around 2010, has become somewhat saturated, attention is now turning to commercial applications, not only in agriculture but also for new uses, such as for aerial surveys, infrastructure inspections, security, disaster surveys, and logistics. As a result, related start-up companies dealing in drone manufacture, service solutions, human resources development, etc. are popping up all over the world.
Therefore, this call for papers will be for a special issue with the following title: Cutting Edge of Drone Research and Development, and its Application. Specifically, we are calling for papers on the following topics.
1.  Drone Design
2.  Drone Sensors and Sensing Strategies
3.  Drone Propulsion
4.  Drone Control
5.  Drone Communication
6.  Drone Architecture
7.  Drone Health and Fault Management
8.  Drone Modeling, Simulation, Estimation, and Identification
9.  Drone Path Planning
10. Drone Sensing and Avoidance
11. Networked Drones
12. Drone Human Interfaces
13. Drone Guidance, Navigation, and Control
14. Drone Localization and SLAM
15. Drone Autonomy
16. Drone Manipulation
17. Drone Failure Effect Analysis
18. Bio-inspired Drones
19. Flapping Wing Drones
20. Drone Formations and Swarms
21. Drone Traffic Management System (UTM)
22. Drone Aviation Regulations
23. Drone Safety Risk Management
24. Drone Applications

[in Japanese]
Journal of Robotics and Mechatronicsでは、大学の研究者による研究論文だけではなく、企業の技術者や大学・高専の学生による開発報告も募集しています。ロボティクス・メカトロニクスのシステム・技術を開発してみたが学術研究としてはまとめづらい場合であっても、自分たちの開発成果を読者に紹介したいという場合には、開発報告を書いてください。掲載されるとオンラインで無料公開され、世界中の読者に対して自分たちの成果を発信できます。英文誌ですが、英語で書くのが苦手な方でも、日本語で書いて出版社で翻訳することも可能です。開発現場での製品開発やロボット競技会での活動を通して達成した成果を、ぜひとも開発報告として投稿してください。

[in English]
The Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics (JRM) is calling for not only research papers from university researchers but also development reports from corporate engineers and university or college students. If you would like to present to our readers a system or technology you have developed in the field of robotics and mechatronics, you are encouraged to write a development report, even if you find difficulty in writing a research paper. Once published, your report will appear online free of charge and be shared with readers all over the world. JRM is an English journal, but if you are not confident in your English skills, you can write your report in Japanese and we will translate it for you. We are looking forward to receiving your development reports on, such as, product development in your company or an achievement in a robotics competition.
<PDF>: https://www.fujipress.jp/main/wp-content/uploads/JRM_CFP_Development.pdf

The need for difficult-to-machine materials is increasing for opt-electric devices, semiconductors, automobiles, aircraft, and medical devices. Optical glass lenses have been molded with hard molds made of ceramics, such as tungsten carbide (WC) and silicon carbide (SiC), and it is most important to reduce form deviation and surface roughness in these molds. Single crystalline SiC is expected to be applied to semiconductors for the power module devices of automobiles, trains, and electrical devices. Nickel-based super alloys, Ti alloys, CFRP, hardened steels, and other materials are widely used in the aerospace, automobile, and chemical industries because of their superior properties, such as their high operating temperatures or superior specific strengths. Ti alloys are used in medical applications involving bones, dental implants, etc. In order to increase the performance and reduce the cost of these applications, the development of high-precision and high-performance abrasive technologies is very important. This special issue of the IJAT invites papers in the following areas:
• Grinding, finishing, deburring, lapping, polishing, honing, abrasive jet machining, etc.
• Grinding machines/systems and abrasive machines
• Abrasives and tools, tribology between tool and workpiece
• Truing, dressing, ELID (Electrolytic In-Process Dressing) for grinding
• Silicon wafers and hard/brittle materials processing
• Loose/suspended abrasive particle machining/polishing
• Hybrid super-finishing processes
• Precision/ultra-precision, micro-machining, nano-machining, super finishing/nano-surfacing
• Surface characterization/evaluation of surfaces processed with abrasives
• Metrology for precision/ultra-precision machining and in-process measurement/monitoring
• Environmentally friendly coolants/cooling
• Teaching and learning innovations

The successful automation of machine tools requires the avoidance of self-excited chatter vibrations, resulting in a reliable stable state of cutting. Machine tool operators tend to use their machines close to their power thresholds, thus unknowingly driving them toward the limits of their stability. Much progress has been made in the last decades concerning the understanding and prediction of such vibrations, and this has led to higher cutting rates, chip thicknesses, etc.
Several countermeasures, known as active and passive damping, are available to avoid chatter vibrations. However, their industrial use is not common. In fact, industry is somewhat unfamiliar with many of these measures.

This special issue is focused on active and passive damping measures, measures systematically designed and deliberately taken in order to increase the chatter-free depth of cut in machine tools. Authors are requested to point out a successful industrial application or at least a vision for one in their papers. Models demonstrating the effects of the chosen active or passive damping system are desirable. These models can also be used to systematically select the parameters of the system. We are also interested in systems that can be easily applied as low-cost patch-up solutions to improve the behavior of machines already in use.

This special issue is intended to deliver an overview of existing approaches and to introduce additional damping in machine tools.

We are no longer in an age when a product will sell just because it has advanced functions. To meet the diverse needs of users, production systems have responded by introducing mass-customization and mass-personalization schemes. The importance of interactive support as the user uses the product has become widely recognized today. Thus, the product and its associated services have become intertwined, and production systems are shifting from the production of artifacts as products to dealing with “servitized products”, for which systematic use is made of hardware, software, and human ware to carry out functional maintenance, usage process monitoring, and user assistance.

The goal of this special issue is to introduce good examples of design of product, production systems, and interaction of producers with customers with viewpoints of Service Engineering. We examine the relevant concepts and approaches of Service Engineering to improve competitiveness of goods and services. We invite our readers to submit papers on a wide range of topics, such as case studies of product service systems, studies on servitized products, survey of usage processes, or studies on the use of models generated from large data sets on customer behavior to construct systems to identify potential customer needs and seek methods to meet those needs, among others.

Global Manufacturing and Management for Services and Products
Lifecycle Product Service Management
Performance Indicators for Services and Products
Service Dominant Logic in Manufacturing
Intelligent System Service in Manufacturing
Manufacturing Systems for Services
Engineering Education for Services
Maintainability and Serviceability
Service Ecosystems
Service Innovation and Management
Service Automation Engineering
Design Tools for PSS systems
PSS Design and Planning Strategies
Industrial Marketing for PSS
Quality Management for PSS
Risk Management for PSS
Sustainability by PSS
Case Studies of PSS in B2B2C
Strategies in Servitization
Supply Chain Management
Value Co-creation: Logics and Case Studies
Manufacturing Systems for Servitized Products E-Business and E-Commerce for Servitized Products
Value Chain for Servitized Products

To solve problems underlying design and manufacturing we often rely on such methodologies of computational intelligence as artificial neural network, genetic algorithms, fuzzy logic, evolutionary computing, decision tree induction, DNA based computing, probabilistic reasoning, and inventive problem solving. In this special issue, we solicit original and review articles on the Intelligent Computation in Design and Manufacturing. The application areas are as follows (but not limited to):
•Design Theory and Methodology
•Design Automation
•Knowledge Management in Creative Engineering
•CAD/CAM/CAE
•Manufacturing Automation
•Manufacturing Process Modeling, Simulation, and Monitoring
•Manufacturing Systems Modeling, Simulation, Monitoring, and Management
•Internet-of-Things (IoT)
•Cognitive Metrology
•Scheduling
•Pattern Recognition
•Sustainable Manufacturing
•Enterprise Resource Planning

Agriculture, forestry and fisheries are important industries, and advances in robotics will help the operations to improve productivity and cost effective management of the growth and harvesting. Robotic technologies are increasingly being used in primary industry and will be used more in the near future.
This special issue’s objectives include collecting recent advances, automation, mechanization, research trends and their applications in agriculture, forestry and fisheries to promote a deeper understanding of major conceptual and technical challenges and facilitate spreading of recent breakthroughs in primary industries, and contribute to the enhancement of the quality of agricultural, forestry and fisheries robots by introducing the state-of-the-art in sensing, mobility, manipulation and related technologies. This special issue seeks for the leading researches, significant progresses, reviews and practical applications in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries.

Robot education has the potential to greatly influence the STEM education so important for nurturing next-generation engineers and researchers. This special issue’s objectives include collecting new knowledge on robot education and materials for further developing education on robots. These papers should include authors’ achievements in robot education, providing new knowledge and proposals for developing the capabilities next-generation engineers will need to use robots enterprisingly and efficiently. Papers should also introduce practical results and discuss how to make robot education more effective. This special issue will thus enhance the quality of robot education and help nurture next-generation engineers.

Focus:
Several missions are planned to explore the moon, Mars, asteroids, and comets, and a lot of researchers are studying and developing lunar or planetary rovers for future surface exploration. Even more international cooperative missions are under discussion targeting human lunar exploration. Space robotics is expected to support external vehicular activities (EVA) and internal vehicular activities (IVA) for future space utilization. Future space projects will require robotics technology to repair, and maintain orbiting satellites or to construct large structures in space. A key technology in those missions is space robotics including Al and automation.
We are inviting you, our readers, to submit papers on advanced space robotics, AI, and robotics and automation in space, including the following:
– Artificial intelligence in space: autonomous locations, navigation and map-building, SLAM technology, fault detection, isolation and recovery methods, image processing, object identification and feature detection, task planning, and scheduling, etc.
– Robotics in space: mechanical design of planetary rovers, space manipulators, actuators, and sensors for space robots, end-effectors and tools, reconfigurable robots and robot mobility, etc.
– Automation in space: simulation technology, test methods, remote operations, human-machine interaction, interaction with the space environment, and data mining and analysis, etc.

Please submit your full papers (PDF) for JACIII special issue through the online submission system,
https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jaciii
Please select one of the paper category that begins with “Special Issue:” and
write in “SCIS&ISIS2016” in the “Title of the special issue” field.

!!! Paper submission deadline has been extended to MARCH 21, 2017.!!!

Recently, machine learning has been paid much attention again after deep learning showed its potential. Such a technology is improved itself, but it is also integrated with “reinforcement learning” to show other potential, e.g., deep Q-networks (DQN) and AlphaGO proposed by Google DeepMind. This special issue focuses on both reinforcement learning and its hybrid methods, including reinforcement learning with deep learning or evolutionary computation to explore new potentials of reinforcement learning. Specifically, theoretical and application research efforts are welcome, as are research that improves reinforcement learning mechanisms and hybrid methods.

Please submit your full papers (PDF) for JACIII special issue through the online submission system,
https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jaciii
Please choose the paper category of “Special Issue:”
and write “Reinforcement2017” in the special issue title field.

[in Japanese]
近年、3Dプリンタが急速に注目を集めています。高性能化と低価格化を背景に、一般家庭でも3Dプリンタを所有できる時代になり、個人でも容易にデジタルデータからオリジナルの立体造形物を作り出すことが可能になりました。ものづくり革命の到来とも言われています。JRMでは、3Dプリンタによるものづくりの革新を特集するため、革新的な造形技術やモデリング技術、理工系教育への応用、などロボット・メカトロニクス分野への応用が期待される3Dプリンタの技術の報告を募集します。投稿者と読者の間でモデリングデータやノウハウを共有し、創造的アイデアのネットワークを形成していくことも狙いの１つです。大学や研究機関からはもちろん、企業からも、皆様の投稿をお待ちしております。

[in English]
The high performance and low price of 3D printers have made them available to ordinary homes and individuals. Nowadays original 3D objects can be easily produced by individuals using 3D printers. To focus on the innovation of manufacturing using 3D printers, we are calling for technical reports introducing 3D printer technologies applied to robotics and mechatronics fields. Examples include innovative shaping and modeling technology, scientific and technological education, and so on. One of our aims is to form a creative network among authors and readers through the sharing of modeling data and technical knowledge. Submissions are welcome from both academic institutions such as universities and laboratories and from commercial and other enterprises.
Details are given in the following PDF.
https://www.fujipress.jp/main/wp-content/uploads/JRM_3DPrinter_CFP_En.pdf

Significantly improved laser scanning and imaging technologies are enabling us to capture dense 3D point clouds of large-scale environments, such as assembly factories, engineering plants, buildings, roads, and railways. Large-scale point clouds are used in such applications as renovation, maintenance, simulation, asset management, and 3D mapping.

Researchers are devoting a lot of effort to point cloud processing and its applications. This special issue’s main objective is to provide the latest research results for and useful applications from large-scale point cloud processing.

Related topics include but are not limited to the following:
•Shape reconstruction from point-clouds
•Segmentation, registration, surface fitting, simplification, and compression for point-clouds
•Object recognition and classification using point-clouds
•Application systems of large-scale point clouds
•3D point acquisition using laser scanners or digital cameras

The papers in this special issue present the latest advances in point processing, and learning about these advances will help readers explore and share their knowledge and experience in technologies and development.

*Speedy Review (1-2months for the first review)
*IJAT is indexed in Scopus; Compendex (Ei-Index)
*日本語でも投稿できます（採録後、翻訳され英文で出版されます）

Regular paper submission is always welcome.

Regular paper submissions are always welcome!

Regular paper submissions are always welcome!