We are pleased to present the proceedings of the 13th National Conference on Mechanisms and Machines (NaCoMM 2007) held in the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore from December 12th to 13th, 2007. The objective of this conference is to provide a forum to disseminate latest developments in the areas of kinematics, dynamics, mechanisms, machine analysis and design, robotics, and their applications in addition to emerging areas such as bio-medical devices and micro/nano system technologies.
About 100 abstracts were received in response to the call for papers for the conference from around the world. These abstracts were examined to assess the fit with the scope of the conference. Based on this, we solicited full-length papers from the authors of 87 abstracts. Out of these, 75 papers were accepted based on at least two peer reviews for each paper. The review of papers was conducted electronically using the website created for the conference (http://www.mecheng.iisc.ernet.in/~nacomm07). We thank the reviewers from India and abroad for their thorough and prompt evaluation of the manuscripts.
The accepted papers were divided into two categories, viz., interactive poster presentation papers and oral presentation papers. This was because some papers are suitable for short oral presentation while others require more time to explain the background, method, and results. For example, in cases where there is a description of a prototype or an experiment, a direct interaction between the author and the conference attendee is immensely beneficial. The authors of such papers may also be able to demonstrate a physical system that they have built. In some other cases, the equations involved may warrant a detailed discussion. Based on these criteria, 24 papers were identified for interactive poster presentation and the remaining 51 for oral presentation. This CD-ROM proceedings include all the accepted papers.
The oral presentation papers were divided into different topics based on their subject matter. These topics, which became the session titles, include: aerospace mechanisms, compliant mechanisms, design, dynamics and controls, history/review, mechanics, mobile robots, planar kinematics, and spatial kinematics. The papers in these printed proceedings are arranged as per the schedule of sessions. The conference also included two keynote lectures by Professor Bernard Roth of Stanford University (who gave K. Lakshminarayana Memorial Lecture) and by Mr. N. C. Bhat of ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bangalore (who gave the B.M. Belgaumkar Memorial Lecture). The conference also included a Design Innovation session in which eminent personalities from different fields gave talks followed by discussion. This conference was followed by the sixth IFToMM Workshop on History of Machines and Mechanisms Science on December 14, 2007.
On behalf of all the conference organizers, I thank all the authors, reviewers, sponsoring organizations, student volunteers, the IISc administration, the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Centre for Product Design and Manufacturing at IISc for their help. I thank Alex Kurien, the system administrator of the ME department at IISc, for his tireless help in maintaining the conference website and streamlining the electronic communication with the authors and reviewers. I thank Tharakeshwar A. and Deepak C. for timely help in formatting the papers and Ms. Suma P. for secretarial help. I also acknowledge the help of Mr. Vivekanand S. for creating an attractive cover page for the proceedings. The CD ROM version of the proceedings was prepared by S. Raghu Menon.
Ashitava Ghosal
(Editor)