Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly gaining ground in the current era, reshaping various sectors such as healthcare, finance, and transportation. AI innovations like personalized medicine, self-driving cars, and smart cities are altering how these sectors function and hold the potential to improve our lives significantly. AI's ability to enhance productivity, streamline processes, and facilitate decision-making fosters industry competitiveness. However, its widespread adoption raises ethical and regulatory concerns, underscoring the need for responsible AI development to ensure positive societal and industrial impacts. Amidst this AI transformation, Mechatronics, robotics, and control play essential but often overlooked roles. These fields serve as the critical physical and operational foundations for AI pplications, bridging the gap between AI's digital intelligence and the tangible world. In doing so, they are shaping the future of technology, industry, and society. Mechatronics, for instance, is a multidisciplinary field that harmonizes principles from mechanical engineering, electronics, computer science, and control engineering. In the current AI era, Mechatronics is indispensable for integrating AI algorithms into mechanical systems, ensuring precise functioning in applications such as autonomous vehicles, robotic surgeries, and smart devices. Mechatronics is the intermediary connecting AI's computational power with the physical world, resulting in innovative solutions that profoundly impact various industries. In autonomous vehicles, Mechatronics plays a critical role as these vehicles rely on sensors like lidar, radar, and cameras to collect data about their surroundings. AI algorithms process this data in real time, enabling rapid decisions like lane changes and obstacle avoidance. Mechatronics designs the mechanical systems responsible for these actions, ensuring safe and efficient autonomous driving. Mechatronics has also revolutionized manufacturing by introducing smart robots and automated systems that adapt to changing tasks through AI. Collaborative robots (cobots) work alongside human operators, performing precise and consistent tasks thanks to Mechatronics, enabling them to sense and respond to their surroundings. The healthcare sector benefits from Mechatronics, particularly in robotic surgery systems. These systems, equipped with advanced sensors and precise mechanical arms, assist surgeons in complex procedures with unmatched precision. AI enhances these surgical robots, making surgeries safer and more effective. In daily life, Mechatronics contributes to smart appliances like voice-controlled thermostats, optimizing their operation by processing sensor data to enhance energy efficiency and user comfort. In essence, Mechatronics connects AI's digital intelligence with the physical world, driving automation and intelligent technology to new heights. Its impact extends across sectors, enhancing productivity and quality of life.
Similarly, Robotics combines mechanical engineering, electronics, computer science, and AI to create machines that mimic human actions, adapt to their environment, and perform tasks autonomously. Robots are transforming industries and daily interactions with technology. In industrial automation, robots excel in tasks requiring precision, speed, and consistency, guided by AI-driven algorithms. They assemble products, conduct quality checks, and collaborate seamlessly with human workers, increasing productivity and safety. In healthcare, surgical robots assist with intricate procedures, compensating for human hand tremors and offering augmented vision for less invasive surgeries and faster patient recovery. Rehabilitation robots aid patients in regaining mobility, improving their quality of life. The transportation sector is transforming significantly with autonomous vehicles, drones, and delivery robots. These machines use AI and sensors to navigate and make real-time decisions, potentially reducing accidents and traffic congestion. Robots also shine in disaster response and search-and-rescue missions, navigating hazardous environments and performing tasks autonomously to locate survivors and assess damage, reducing risks to human responders. Thus, robotics is ushering in transformative changes during the current AI era, enabling machines to perform diverse tasks autonomously and precisely, enhancing productivity, safety, and quality of life.
Often unsung pioneers in the automation revolution, control systems play critical roles in Mechatronics and robotics. They serve as the cognitive engines, ensuring machines and robots perform tasks precisely, adapt to changing conditions, and make real-time decisions. These systems bridge the gap between AI's digital intelligence and the physical world, enabling automation and intelligent machines. In Mechatronics, control systems govern mechanical components' behaviour by processing sensor data and executing predefined algorithms. For instance, in autonomous vehicles, control systems interpret sensor data to make steering, braking, and acceleration decisions, ensuring safe and efficient navigation. In robotics, control systems are pivotal. They encompass hardware and software components, including motor controllers, sensors, and AI algorithms, enabling robots to perform complex tasks precisely and adaptably. Surgical robots, for example, execute delicate procedures flawlessly based on a surgeon's commands. Moreover, control systems facilitate the creation of intelligent, autonomous machines in an era where automation and robotics reshape industries and daily life. Their role will expand as technology advances, driving deeper AI and automation integration into society. Thus, in other words, the current AI era is marked by AI's rapid advancement and widespread adoption, raising ethical and regulatory questions. In this transformation, Mechatronics, robotics, and control are essential, albeit often unnoticed. They provide AI's physical and operational foundations, bridging the gap between digital intelligence and the physical world. Mechatronics enables AI integration into mechanical systems, robotics extends human capabilities, and control systems ensure precise operation. Together, these fields drive AI and automation integration, enhancing productivity and improving our lives. To summarize, Mechatronics, Robotics, and Control serve as the physical and operational backbone of AI applications, bridging the gap between the digital intelligence of AI and the physical world. They play a pivotal role in shaping the future of technology, industry, and society, enabling the creation of intelligent systems and products that enhance our lives and transform industries. As AI advances, these fields will remain at the forefront of innovation, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in automation and intelligent technology. Therefore, focusing on this Interscience Institute of Management and Technology (IIMT), Bhubaneswar is conducting the International Conference on Mechatronics Robotics and Control (ICMRC-2024) with the primary objective of fostering research and innovation in the realm of Mechatronics, Robotics, and Control which is reshaping society and industry.
Furthermore, ICMRC-2024 aims to facilitate the global exchange of scientific knowledge, uniting researchers, developers, engineers, students, and practitioners. By providing an ideal platform, this event encourages sharing insights and experiences in these fields, promoting collaboration and advancement in the context of the current AI era, where artificial intelligence is profoundly impacting society and transforming various industries. The Topics of interest for submission include, but are not limited to:
Track 1: Mechatronics Fundamentals and Innovations
Advanced Mechatronics system design methodologies
Integration of artificial intelligence in Mechatronics devices
Innovative sensing and actuation technologies
Human-robot interaction and collaboration in Mechatronics
Mechatronics for smart cities and infrastructure
Mechatronics solutions for healthcare and medical devices
Bio-inspired Mechatronics systems and robotics
Mechatronics in aerospace and aviation applications
Track 2: Robotics and Automation
Robotic perception and decision-making in complex environments
Reinforcement learning for robotics control
Multi-robot systems and swarm robotics
Autonomous drones and their applications
Ethical considerations in robotics and AI
Human-robot interaction and social robotics
Robotics in manufacturing and Industry 4.0
Robotics for disaster response and search-and-rescue missions
Track 3: Advanced Control Systems
Real-time control algorithms for complex systems
Adaptive and learning control techniques
Nonlinear control and stability analysis
Control of cyber-physical systems
AI-based control in autonomous vehicles
Control in renewable energy systems
Fault-tolerant control in industrial applications
Control system security and resilience
Track 4: Applications of Mechatronics, Robotics, and Control
Smart manufacturing and digital twin technologies
Medical robotics for surgery and healthcare assistance
Precision agriculture and automated farming
Robotics and AI in education and STEM programs
Sustainable energy and environmental monitoring with Mechatronics
Autonomous transportation systems and self-driving cars
Space exploration and planetary robotics
Assistive robotics for people with disabilities and the elderly