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.
