A new International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM) was jointly approved by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 1997. Since its inception, the IEEE/ASME AIM Conference has been held biennially, rotating the host country among Japan (AIM'97, AIM'03), the United States (AIM'99), Europe (AIM'01), and, in the future, other Asian Pacific-Rim nations as well. The conference has been co-sponsored by the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (IES), the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS), and the ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Division (DSCD). The great prac-tical significance of the conference theme has made past four AIM conferences a success and the conference has been expanded significantly - from predominantly Asians partici-pants in AIM'97 in Tokyo to a good representation of US scientists and engineers in AIM'99 in Atlanta, the European participants in AIM'01 in Como, Italy, and a global participation of researchers from 26 countries in AIM'03 in Port Island, Japan. This year, the conference is returning to the USA in Monterey, California from July 24-28, 2005. Following the footsteps of the previous four successful editions, the conference is to promote activities in various areas of mechatronics by providing a forum for exchange of ideas, presentation of technical achievements, and discussion of future directions. The theme of the conference is "Intelligent Mechatronics in Micro/Nano Technologies". The AIM brings together an international community of experts to discuss the state-of-the-art, new research results, perspectives of future developments, and innovative applications relevant to mechatronics, robotics, control, automation, and related areas. Active partici-pation of the conference by students in US institutions will thus no doubt provide a great learning experience for these students to significantly expand their horizons and to gain insightful guidance to their future research.
