ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes that a structure is an adaptive structure only when its actuators are of deformation inserting type. It describes that the computer attached to the structure can perform the tasks with the speed and the accuracy required by the adaptability criteria prescribed for the structure. The book talks about how to transform a conventional engineering structure into an adaptive structure so that it needs minimal energy to achieve its prescribed level of adaptability and uses deformation inserting actuators instead of force applying actuators. It focuses on the determination of the parameters of the plant so that the control objectives are attained with minimal energy. The computer can be a less powerful microprocessor working in uni-processing mode, or it can be an assembly of many powerful microprocessors working in a multi-processing mode.
