A more detailed announcement and call for papers will appear here on Monday -
please click 'refresh' when you revisit the page.
 

In the meantime the details of the ninth conference have been left on the site so that you can see what to expect.

Some fascinating photographs were taken at the Chiang Mai conference - I am waiting for Wong to send me the links.
If you were there and have photographs you would like to share, please either email them or send the URL where they can be seen.

To all delegates (especially presenters)

We would like to arrange for you to be met at Chiang Mai airport.  Please fill in the details on the new form
on the registration page (click here for the link) and select the 'Send arrival details' button.
This will cause your browser to send us an email.

Useful information on visual aids and power points is here.

On a sartorial note - the weather will be warm and humid - between 25C and 30C (77-85F).
I do not intend to bring a suit!  For formal wear, a light summer jacket should be sufficient.
You can find a weather forecast here.
Bring shorts for the elephant outing.
 

Registration

Please fill in the details on the form (click here for the link) and select the 'Make Registration' button.
This will cause your browser to send us an email.
If your browser is not set up for email, you can select and copy the text to a normal email.
We will be sure to reply within 48 hours (except Sunday!) so email again if you do not receive a reply.
Be sure that your email 'reply' address is correct.
You can also enter your partner's details.
We will probably not see any registration messages sent after Thursday 5th.
Please send them anyway, to enable us to complete our a records,
but be sure also to use the 'arrival time' message to Wong in Thailand.
If you copy and paste your registration details into that pane, we might have time over the weekend to print your name badge etc!
 

Programme

The HTML version is linked here.

A .pdf version is here - over 600k of download!
 

Social programme

Some exciting evening activities have heen arranged - linked here.
There will also be a lively partners' programme for the daytime.
 

Scope of the conference

    'Mechatronics' has become accepted for what it is, the blending of mechanics,
     electronics and computer control into an integrated design. Degree courses in
     mechatronics are now widespread.  That does not mean that mechatronics has lost its
     'art'.

     It continues to be the basis of an ever growing list of products and techniques of great
     technical and commercial value. Mechatronic design can result in products which are
     much simpler than their intricate and costly predecessors and can make commonplace
     the miracles of yesterday.

     Machine-vision has emerged from the laboratory to find real applications in areas
     which include vehicle guidance, robot control and agriculture. Low-cost cameras have
     been developed for multimedia applications - but with their ease of interfacing they
     offer a whole new field of low-cost vision-based control.

     Like its eight predecessors, M2VIP 2002 will provide a forum for international experts
     and researchers to present and review advances in mechatronics and machine vision
     which have culminated in practical applications, or which promise practical
     implementation in the very near future.
    Presentations are encouraged to include video material of experimental systems.
 

Registration

Please click here to load the form
 

From the first fifty papers received in final, amended form, a selection has been made for inclusion in a hard-back book, to be published by Research Studies Press and made available before the conference.
(The material of the 2000 version can be seen here)

All presented papers will be written on a CD-ROM, given to delegates as the conference proceedings.

A deadline of August 10th will apply to  papers which will appear on the conference CD of proceedings, to allow more time for improvement and inclusion of results.  The required format for this is a .pdf file (unlike the .doc requirements for the associated book).

Authors should view the detailed instructions and download the template here.
 

Getting there

Most overseas delegates will fly to Bangkok International airport and change there for a flight to Chiang Mai, about an hour's flight to the north.  (It is still a long way from the border, so there need be no concerns there!)
There are a dozen flights each day.   The one-way air fare from Bangkok to Chiang Mai is under US$60.
(See  www.thaiairways.com  and www.bangkokair.com)

A few additional international flights fly direct to Chiang Mai Airport:.

- SilkAir, from Singapore:  www.silkair.com.sg
- Air Mandaley, from Yangon, Myanma:  www.air-mandalay.com
- Mandarin Airline, from Taipei: www.mandarin-airlines.com
- Bangkok Airways, from Xian, China:  www.bangkokair.com
- Thai Airways, from Kunming : www.thaiairways.com

If we know when you are arriving, we can arrange to pick you up from the airport - though it is not far from town.
 

Entrance VISA information

From many countries you can enter for tourist purposes for thirty days without a visa.
The list of countries from which you can obtain a visa on arrival seems unusual.
To be on the safe side you should look at the official data at

http://www.thaiembdc.org/consular/visa/visa.htm

where you can download any application forms you might need.

Click here  to link to last year's (2001) Hong Kong home page

For more information, contact:  John Billingsley or Robin Bradbeer
 

You will find some more hotel information at http://www.chiangmaihoteltravel.com/
   - click the 'sort by price' button and you will see that most are very reasonable.

21 October July 2002