Authored by a team of acknowledged experts, this book presents a multidisciplinary view of the state of the art in the field of actuators. The goal of the book is to provide a comprehensive  overview of the properties, applications, and potential applications of traditional and unconventional actuators, together with their corresponding power electronics. Special attention is paid to the objective assessment of competing actuator principles. The book is written primarily for designers and engineers in research and  development, but will also be valuable as a textbook for students of automation engineering, mechatronics and adaptronics.