Dr. Kouhei Ohnishi

Keynote Address
Soft Robotics-- A Key Concept of Mechatronics

 

Abstract
We can immediately know what the object is when we touch it.
If the object is soft, it must be a sponge(or similar thing).
If it is rigid, it may be a metal block. That sensation is an ability of the human being called “haptic sense”.
“Real-haptics” is a technology to reconstruct haptic sense by acquiring dynamic physical information that is transferred bi-directionally between the surrounding environment and the human. An abandonment of haptics causes difficulty in further advance in mechatronics area, or may even result in threatening the safety and security of the process.
In fact, the area of mechatronics has lacked this concept for long time. Soft robotics is a realization of new concept coming from real haptics. This gives not only compliant motion but also skillful motion to the robot and/or mechatronics.
In the presentation the structure of soft robotics using a newly developed “haptic core-chip”. Also the talk will introduce various applications by visual demonstrations.

Biography
Dr. Kouhei Ohnishi B.E. (1975), M.E.(1977) and Ph.D.(1980) all in electrical engineering from the University of Tokyo. Since 1980, he has been with Keio University, and is Professor at Dept. of System Design Engineering. He has been active in the IEEE IES for long time. He served as a President (2008- 2009) for IES. He also served as a President at the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan (IEEJ 2015-2016). He has been a fellow of IEEE since 2001, a fellow of IEEJ since 2011 and a fellow of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineering since 2002. He received numerous awards including the IEEE IES Eugene Mittelman Achievement Award.

 

 

 

Dr. Ren C. Luo

Keynote Address
Industry 4.0 as the Best Practice of Intelligent mechatronics:
From the Vision to Realization towards Innovation Economy

 

Abstract
Germany has established sustainable leading Industry 4.0 vision with cyber physical system (CPS) as the core technology which integrate computation, communication and control technologies along with intelligent robotics, internet of things, big dada and cloud computing.

It intends to solve problems for industrial production needs on exceeded orders，excess inventory or less as well as not timed production. It is expected to enhance their international competitiveness, and create high added value of high pay job opportunities. In this talk, issues and approaches of the core spirits of the fourth industrial revolution and its relevance with intelligent mechatronics will be addressed. The impact to the future of design innovation and service innovation resulting from CPS system and robot-integrated manufacturing automation will also be presented.

 

Biography
Dr. Ren C. Luo received both Dipl.-Ing, and Dr.-Ing. Degree in EE from the Technische Universitaet Berlin, Germany. He is currently a Chief Technology Officer of ASUS COMPUTER INC. and Chair and Life Distinguished Professor at National Taiwan University. He served two terms as President of National Chung Cheng University in Taiwan and Founding President of Robotics Society of Taiwan. He was an Assistant, Associate Professor and tenure Full Professor of Department of Elec and Computer Eng. and University of North Carolina System Director of Robotics and Intelligent Machines Research Center at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA and Toshiba Chair Professor at University of Tokyo, Japan.

His research interests are include, sensors and control systems for intelligent robotics, multi-sensor fusion and integration, computer vision, 3D printing manufacturing technologies. He has authored more than 450 papers on these topics, which have been published in refereed international journals and refereed conference proceedings. He also holds more than 25 international patents. Dr. Luo received IEEE Eugean Mittleman Outstanding Research Achievement Award, IEEE IROS Harashima Innovative Technologies Award; ALCOA Company Foundation Outstanding Engineering Research Award, USA; Ministry of Science and Technology Outstanding Research Awards, and Ministry of Science and Technology Distinguished Research Awards; TECO Company Outstanding Science and Technology Research Achievement Award in Taiwan. Dr. Luo is currently served as Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics (Impact Factor 4.70), he was also Co-Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics (Impact Factor 6.50) and served 5 years as Editor-in-Chief of IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics (Impact Factor 3.75). From 2000-2001 he served as President of IEEE Industrial Electronics Society. He also served as President of Chinese Institute of Automation Engineers, Program Director of Automation Technology Division, Ministry of Science and Technology; Adviser of Ministry of Economics Affairs and Science and Technology Adviser for the Prime Minister in Taiwan.

In addition to the contributions to various academic, industrial and governmental professional services in Taiwan, Dr. Luo also served as referee and final review panel member for numerous international organizations and countries, such as USA, European Union, Austria, Swiss, Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong etc. for the evaluation and assessment of national competitive grants program in major cross-disciplinary research project in the field of intelligent robotics and automation ,mechatronics and advanced manufacturing systems,  Dr. Luo is a Fellow of IEEE and a Fellow of IET.

 

 

 

 

Professor John Hung

Keynote Address
Mechatronics as Platforms for Sensor Systems

 

Abstract
Sensor systems have long been key enablers for high performance mechatronic systems. Advances in transducers and signal processing have made possible high precision, high accuracy, high dynamic, and even nature-mimicing motions by mechatronic systems. We are now seeing a growing role reversal, however, as mechatronics are becoming platforms for sensor systems whose primary purpose may not be control of the mechatronic system itself. Rather, modern mechatronic systems are now carrying, manipulating, and moving sensors that measure, probe, and characterize the world around us.  In this presentation, several recent examples where mechatronics and their sensor payloads demonstrate an increasingly symbiotic relationship.  In each case, a mechatronic system enables the sensor system to be moved in such a way that the environment can be measured more accurately. At the same time, measurement of the environment is helping the mechatronic system improve its own motion control.  The first example will involve electromagnetic pulse sensors for geophysical surveys, and the second example involves the use of radio frequency identification tags for retail merchandise surveys.

Biography
John Y. Hung is Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Auburn University, USA, where he engages people with general concepts from nonlinear systems and control. Recent applications include navigation and control of autonomous vehicles, robotics, power electronics, and electric machines.  A Fellow of IEEE and past-President of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, he also serves on the IEEE Board of Directors (2017-2018), representing the seven technical societies in Division VI. Prior to his academic career, John worked in the motion control and building automation control fields.  He earned is B.S. (1979, University of Tennessee), M.E.E. (1981, Princeton University), and Ph.D (1989, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) all in electrical engineering.  He has numerous hobbies, but his inabilities to either sing or dance continue to be personal frustrations. John and his wife Diana are the happy parents of three grown children, all married.