n the contest of high speed with high precision positioning mechanisms, a particular issue is high speed acceleration/deceleration motion with minimal overshoot. This issue is pertinent to high precision mechanisms used in many industries, such as manufacturing, hazardous environments, and military. The proposed approach to the issue is based on a new design of actuator.

Existing approaches to development of such mechanisms employ hardware, and compensate for hardware limitations using modern control algorithms. This methodology is not sufficient to generate the required capability. Based on an innovative approach inspired by certain characteristics of human muscle, this research further develops a new methodology for control systems design--the development of a generic actuator for high performance mechanisms. This approach reduces the emphasis on modern control approaches as a means of compensating for actuator limitations. The above paradigm represents a radical departure from the common norms of development of high performance systems. The reported research is concerned with a comparison between the proposed actuator and ordinary DC servo-motors.

The novel actuator technology analyzed in this thesis provides not only high speed with high precision performance, but also facilitates the design of control algorithms. Furthermore, this technology will impact on future applications and on theoretical work related to control system analysis and synthesis.