Editorial

This special issue is to honor professor Tzyh-Jong Tarn for his 80 birthday. Prof. Tarn is a world outstanding expert in Systems and Control Theory, Robotics and Quantum Control, etc. He received the D.Sc. degree in control system engineering from Washington University at St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. He is at present a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and the Director of the Center for Robotics and Automation at Washington University. Dr. Tarn served as the President of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, the Director of IEEE Division X (Systems and Control), and a member of the IEEE Board of Directors. The Japan Foundation for the Promotion of Advanced Automation Technology presented him with the Best Research Article Award in March 1994. He also is a recipient of the Best Paper Award at the 1995 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Prof. Tarn has also made significant contribution to enhance the academic exchange between Chinese scholars and world systems science and automation society. This special issues contains 10 papers covering 1) Robot Control; 2) Quantum Control; 3) System Identification; 4) Advanced linear/Nonlinear Control Technique; and 5) Multi-agent Systems. These fields are closely related to Prof. Tarn''s research interests. The papers are arranged according to their categories....