Mastering the art of ‘mechatronics’ currently looks like one of the most attractive tasks of modern engineering technology and science. Many applications resort to the interdisciplinary approach of mechatronics to enhance the performance, quality and safety of either product or process. Some are very traditional (like hard disk drives, biomedical, automotive and aerospace systems) while others are fairly new (like micro and nano electromechanical systems, unmanned air vehicles, intelligent machining, manufacturing systems or bioinspired devices).