Leibniz and the natural world : Activity, passivity and corporeal substances in Leibniz's Philosophy
In the present book, Pauline Phemister argues against traditional Anglo-American interpretations of Leibniz as an idealist who conceives ultimate reality as a plurality of mind-like immaterial beings and for whom physical bodies are ultimately unreal and our perceptions of them illusory. Re-reading the texts without the prior assumption of idealism allows the more material aspects of Leibniz's metaphysics to emerge. Leibniz is found to advance a synthesis of idealism and materialism. His ontology posits indivisible, living, animal-like corporeal substances as the real metaphysical constituents of the universe; his epistemology combines sense-experience and reason; and his ethics fuses confused perceptions and insensible appetites with distinct perceptions and rational choice. In the light of his sustained commitment to the reality of bodies, Phemister re-examines his dynamics, the doctrine of pre-established harmony and his views on freedom.
Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Methods for Nonlinear Control 2006 ; Proceedings from the 3rd IFAC Workshop, Nagoya, Japan, July 2006
A Differential-Geometric Approach for Bernstein’s Degrees-of-Freedom Problem.- Nonsmooth Riemannian Optimization with Applications to Sphere Packing and Grasping.- Synchronization of Networked Lagrangian Systems.- An Algorithm to Discretize One-Dimensional Distributed Port Hamiltonian Systems.- Virtual Lagrangian Construction Method for Infinitedimensional Systems with Homotopy Operators.- Direct Discrete-Time Design for Sampled-Data Hamiltonian Control Systems.- Kinematic Compensation in Port-Hamiltonian Telemanipulation.- Interconnection and Damping Assignment Passivity-Based Control of a Four-Tank System.- Towards Power-based Control Strategies for a Class of Nonlinear Mechanical Systems.- Power Shaping Control of Nonlinear Systems: A Benchmark Example.- Total Energy Shaping Control of Mechanical Systems: Simplifying the Matching Equations via Coordinate Changes.- Simultaneous Interconnection and Damping Assignment Passivity–Based Control: Two Practical Examples.
Advances in Robot Control : From Everyday Physics to Human-Like Movements
This volume provides a unique collection of papers written in honor of the 70th birthday of Suguru Arimoto who has long been recognized as a pioneer in the field of robot control. A variety of his research is reflected in this book, which includes contributions from leading experts in the field, who have also been closely associated with Suguru Arimoto at various stages in his distinguished career. The book is build around two themes: the physics-based robot control for coping with the so-called everyday physics problems on one hand, and the challenge of reproducing beautiful, human-like movements on the other hand. These themes defined much of Arimoto’s research in the field of robot control and are the cornerstones of his perception of human robotics.


