Keynote Speaker Ⅰ

Dan Zhang

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China

Brief Introduction: Professor Dan Zhang is a Chair Professor of Intelligent Robotics and Automation, and Director of PolyU-Nanjing Technology and Innovation Research Institute, Director of Consortium for Intelligent Robotics Research at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Laval University, Canada in 2000.  He joined Ontario Tech University (OTU), Canada, as Assistant Professor in 2004 and was promoted to Associate Professor and Professor in 2006 and 2011 respectively.  During the appointment period in OTU, he also served as Founding Chair in the Department of Automotive, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering (2012 – 2014) and was awarded the Canada Research Chair in Advanced Robotics and Automation (2009 – 2015).  Since 2016, he transferred to York University, Canada as a Kaneff Professor and also took up the role of Department Chair in the Department of Mechanical Engineering from 2016 to 2018.  Thereafter, he was awarded the Tier 1 York Research Chair in Advanced Robotics and Mechatronics in 2017.  
Professor Zhang's research interests include synthesis and optimization of parallel and hybrid mechanisms; generalized parallel mechanisms research; reconfigurable robots; innovation design of parallel robots: parallelization of serial robots; micro/nano manipulation and mems devices (e.g., sensors); rescue robots; smart biomedical instruments (e.g., exoskeleton robots and rehabilitation robotics); AI/robotics/autonomous systems; Aerial and Underwater Robotics; Artificial Intelligence for Robotics; intelligent reconfigurable adaptive landing gear and manipulator (manipulander).
His accomplishments have been recognized by many honors and awards including Canada Research Chair, Research Excellence Awards, Tier 1 York Research Chair, Lassonde Innovation Awards --- Established Researcher, Early Researcher Award by Ministry of Research and Innovation, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC), Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and Fellow of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME).

Speech Title: Research on Embodied Intelligence for Multimodal Aerial Manipulation Robots

Abstract: Driven by the rapid advancements in computer science and artificial intelligence, technology for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in maritime operations has emerged as a major research hotspot. In recent years, rotary-wing UAVs have been widely adopted in diverse fields—including marine dynamic monitoring, maritime emergency rescue, and naval warfare—owing to their minimal takeoff/landing requirements and exceptional hovering capabilities. However, wave-induced motions subject maritime platforms (e.g., ships) to continuous rocking, significantly escalating the difficulty of UAV landings. To address the operational requirements of rotary-wing UAVs during platform takeoff, landing, and aerial operations at sea, this presentation proposes a design and optimization framework for a dual-mode aerial variable-structure robot based on a generalized parallel mechanism (GPM). Two universal performance indices—terrain adaptability and landing stability—are established to evaluate the landing performance of the adaptive landing gear. Furthermore, a general methodology for constructing a virtual parallel model is formulated to describe the dynamic landing process of the multi-legged landing gear on maritime platforms, alongside an adaptive buffer landing control algorithm. To achieve superior shock absorption, a non-rebound damping parameter search method is developed to determine the optimal system damping based on the instantaneous landing state of the landing gear. Finally, an adaptive buffer landing control system is established on the optimized 4-DOF variable-structure robot, and prototype experiments are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy and the advantages of the non-rebound damping parameters.

Keynote Speaker Ⅱ

Zhimin Chen

Shanghai Dianji University, China

Brief Introduction: TBD

Speech Title: TBD

Abstract: TBD