Prof. Ning Xi (IEEE Fellow)
Emerging Technologies Institutes
The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Biography: Ning Xi received his D.Sc. degree in Systems Science and Mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA in December 1993. Currently, he is the head of Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, the Director of Advanced Technologies Institute and Chair professor of Robotics and Automation at the University of Hong Kong. He was a University Distinguished Professor, the John D. Ryder Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of Robotics and Automation Laboratory at Michigan State University. Dr. Xi was awarded SPIE Nano Engineering Award in 2007. In addition, he is a recipient of US National Science Foundation CAREER Award. Dr. Xi is a fellow of IEEE. He also served as the President of IEEE Nanotechnology Council (2010-2011) and the President of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (2018). His research interests include robotics, manufacturing automation, micro/nano manufacturing, nano sensors and devices, nano bio system applications, and intelligent control and systems.
Speech Title: Wearable Assistive Robots for Aging Society
Abstract: A rapidly aging population is one of the grand challenges facing the society. The number of people aged 65 or older worldwide is estimated to reach 1.6 billion by 2050. A major difficulty that many older people experience is severe limitation in mobility and manipulability in their daily life, resulting in tremendous social and economic challenges. This talk will discuss a User-Centric Co-Creation (UC³) approach to develop intelligent robotic systems to assist mobility and manipulability and prevent falls. The UC³ methodology lays down a theoretical foundation for multi-disciplinary approach to develop personalized wearable assistive systems. It will pave a new avenue to advance the ergonomics and gerontechnology beyond current horizons.
Prof. Dan Halperin (IEEE Fellow, ACM Fellow)
Tel Aviv University, Israel
Biography: Dan Halperin received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Tel Aviv University, after which he spent three years at the Computer Science Robotics Laboratory at Stanford University. He then joined the Department of Computer Science at Tel Aviv University, where he is currently a full professor and for two years was the department chair. Halperin’s main field of research is Computational Geometry and Its Applications. Application areas he is interested in include robotics, automated manufacturing, algorithmic motion planning, and 3D printing. A major focus of Halperin’s work has been in research and development of robust geometric software, in collaboration with a group of European universities and research institutes: the CGAL project and library. Halperin was the program-committee chair/co-chair of several conferences in computational geometry, algorithms and robotics, including SoCG, WAFR, ESA, and ALENEX. Halperin is an ACM Fellow and an IEEE Fellow. Halperin's home page: http://acg.cs.tau.ac.il/danhalperin.
Speech Title：From snapping fixtures to multi-robot coordination: Geometry at the service of robotics
Abstract: Robots sense, move and act in the physical world. It is therefore natural that understanding the geometry of the problem at hand will be key to
devising an effective robotic solution, often as part of interdisciplinary
solution methods. I will review several problems in robotics and automation
in whose solution geometry plays a major role. These include designing
optimized 3D printable fixtures, object rearrangement by robot arm
manipulators, and efficient coordination of the motion of large teams
of robots. As we shall see, exploiting geometric structure can lead to reducing
the dimensionality of the search space and results in efficient solutions.
Prof. Guilin Yang
Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, China
Biography: Guilin YANG is currently a professor, a PhD supervisor, and the deputy president of Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received his B. Eng degree and M. Eng degree from Jilin University in 1985 and 1988 respectively, and Ph.D. degree from Nanyang Technological University in 1999, all in Mechanical Engineering. From 1998 to 2013, he was with the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, Singapore, as a scientist, a senior scientist, and then the manager of the Mechatronics Group. He has long been engaged in the research areas of precision mechatronics, industrial robotics, and manufacturing automation. He has been the principal investigators for a number of major research projects in precision actuators, modular robots, parallel robots, cable-driven robots, and industrial robot applications. He has published over 300 technical papers in referred journals and conferences, authored two books, and filed 100 more patents. He received the R&D 100 Award in 2014 and the golden award of “Good Design” of China in 2020. He has also served as associate editors and guest editors for a number of scientific journals.
Speech Title：Advanced Industrial Robotics and Applications
Abstract: This talk will present the latest R&D progress on both applied industrial robotics and collaborative robots, which are critical and enabling technologies for intelligent manufacturing. The applied industrial robotics mainly includes intuitive teaching and rapid programming，calibration and error compensation, and contact force control technologies, which makes the existing industrial robots easy to use, much more accurate, and suitable for contact-type operations. Collaborative robots are a new class of industrial robots that are able to safely interact with human and environments., while their key technologies mainly include high torque-density motor, integrated joint module, and compliant motion control. Carrying out R&D on such advanced technologies are of great significance for the function expansion, performance improvement, and application extension of industrial robots.