<DIV><P> The food industry is in a position to greatly invest in robotics and automation due to a significant decrease in the cost of electronics over recent years.  These technologies have great potential to improve safety, quality and profitability by optimizing process monitoring and control and reducing manual labor. This book reviews current and emerging robotics and automation technologies and their applications in different industry sectors. The editor and contributors introduce robotics and automation in the food industry and discuss instrumentation and techniques for automated process control in the first half of the book, then focus on applications of robotics and automated process control in various unit operations and in different food industry sectors in the second half.<BR></p></div>