The field of robotics continues to flourish and develop. In common with
general scientific investigation, new ideas and implementations emerge
quite spontaneously and these are discussed, used, discarded or subsumed
at c- ferences, in the reference journals, as well as through the
Internet. After a little more maturity has been acquired by the new
concepts, then archival publication as a scientific or engineering
monograph may occur. The goal of the Springer Tracts in Advanced
Robotics is to publish new developments and advances in the fields of
robotics research - rapidly and informally but with a high quality. It
is hoped that prospective authors will welcome the opportunity to
publish a structured presentation of some of the emerging robotics
methodologies and technologies. The edited volume by Fabrizio Caccavale
and Luigi Villani concerns with a wide subject of modern engineering,
namely mechatronics. This new discipline has lately been receiving an
increasing deal of attention for its unique connotation to represent a
blend of mechanical, electronic and information technologies. In such a
scenario, the importance of providing the supervisory control system
with fault detection and fault identification capabilities becomes
crucial to the effective development of mechatronic systems.