DESIGN OF MECHANISMS AND ROBOTIC SYSTEMS

Hongyi X

Hongyi Xu is an Associate Professor in the School of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Connecticut (UConn). He received his B.S. from Northeastern University (China), M.S. from Tsinghua University (China), and PhD from Northwestern University (USA). His research lies at the intersection of generative AI, architectured material design, digital/cyber manufacturing, and uncertainty quantification. Before joining UConn, Dr. Xu worked at Ford Motor Company and pioneered computational methods for Integrated Computational Materials Engineering and structure optimization for vehicle safety and lightweighting. His research has been recognized with an NSF CAREER Award, the ASME Design Automation Young Investigator Award, selection for the National Academy of Engineering EU-US Frontiers of Engineering symposium, multiple Best Paper/Editor’s Choice Awards from ASME and the Tire Society, and multiple ASME Reviewers’ Awards

Anurag Purwar

Anurag Purwar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and an affiliate faculty of Institute for Advanced Computational Sciences (IACS) at Stony Brook University. His research lies at the intersection of machine learning and kinematics in service of mechanical design of robots and mechanisms. He is a co-founder of Mechanismic Inc, which brought an educational robotics product called SnappyXO to the market for K-12 and college students and created MotionGen, an AI-driven mechanism design software that has 100,000+ users in more than 150 countries. He is a recipient of several awards including best paper awards at ASME- IDETC conference, ASEE Distinguished Teaching award, Margaret Ashida STEM Leadership Award by The New York State STEM Education Collaborative, ASME Outstanding Student Section Advisor, and three Technology Accelerator Fund Awards from SUNY Research Foundation. He has been a PI and Co- PI of several projects sponsored by NSF, ONR, SUNY Research Foundation, and industry. He received his Ph.D from State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook and B.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, both in Mechanical Engineering. Anurag Purwar is a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors.

Dr. Xin-Jun Liu

Dr. Xin-Jun Liu is a Full Professor with Tenure in Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. He is currently the MO Chair of IFToMM China-Beijing and the Director of the Beijing Key Laboratory of Transformative High-end Manufacturing Equipment and Technology. His research interest focuses on Parallel Mechanism and Robotic Manufacturing.

Bin Zi

Bin Zi is currently the Dean and Professor of School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering in Xidian University, China. He received his Ph.D. in Mechatronic Engineering from Xidian University, China, in 2007. He was a visiting scholar with the Chair of Mechanics and Robotics, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, from 2011 to 2012, and a visiting professor with the Robotics and Automation Laboratory, Institute of Technology, University of Ontario, Canada, in 2015. Dr. Zi has received the 2019 National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of China and presided over more than 20 research projects including the NSFC Key Program and National Key R&D Program of China on Intelligent Robots. He has published four monographs, more than 100 papers and more than 100 authorized invention patents. He is the associate editor of ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters and IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement. He has been invited as the keynote/plenary speaker in several academic symposiums and conferences. He also served on the technical program or organization committees of several ASME and IEEE conferences.

Dan Zhang

Dr. Dan Zhang is a Chair Professor of Intelligent Robotics and Automation 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 and was awarded the Canada Research Chair in Advanced Robotics and Automation in 2009 and Early Researcher Award by Province of Ontario in 2010. 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. He was awarded the Tier 1 York Research Chair in Advanced Robotics and Mechatronics in 2017. His research interests include synthesis and optimization of parallel and hybrid mechanisms; generalized parallel mechanisms research; smart biomedical instruments (e.g., exoskeleton robots and rehabilitation robotics); AI/robotics/autonomous systems. He is a 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).

Chenkun Qi

Chenkun Qi is an Associate Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. He received his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the City University of Hong Kong, in 2009. He received his B.E. degree in power mechanical engineering and the M.E. degree in control engineering from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, in 2001 and 2004 respectively. His research interests include design and control of parallel robots, design and control of multi-legged robots, design of parallel robotic mechanisms, micro-nano parallel manipulators, space docking simulation robot, distributed parameter system, system identification, and robot control.

Yan Chen

Dr. Yan Chen is a Chair Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, China. She received her Ph.D. in structural engineering from University of Oxford, M.S. and B. Sc. in applied mechanics from Jilin University of Technology. Her research focuses on the kinematics of mechanisms. In the interdisciplinary area among kinematics, mechanics, and structural engineering, she has set up a research field including fundamentals of kinematic theory, deployable structures, and metamaterials, as well as their applications.

Ketao Zhang

Dr. Ketao Zhang is currently an Assistant Professor in Robotics, Director of the Robotic Systems Research (RSR) group within the Centre for Advanced Robotics (ARQ) and Deputy for Industry Engagement of the Centre for Intelligent Transport in the School of Engineering and Materials Science at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). His research focuses on the design theory of reconfigurable mechanisms and the development of origami- and bio-inspired robotic systems. He is the author of over 70 articles that have been published in major journals, including Nature, ASME and IEEE Transactions. Dr Zhang is recognised as a leading researcher in his field as evidenced by a host of national/international formal honours received, including the Howard Medal presented by the Institution of Civil Engineers in 2021 and the Best Paper award in ReMAR 2015. Before joining QMUL, he was a post-doctoral researcher at the Aerial Robotics Lab of Imperial College London. He obtained his PhD in Machinery Design and Theory through a joint PhD programme at King’s College London and Beijing Jiaotong University, and his BSc in Mechanical Engineering and Automation with honours from Beijing Jiaotong University.

Leila Notash

Dr. Leila Notash is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering of Queen’s University, a Fellow of Engineers Canada and a licensed member of the Professional Engineers Ontario. She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey. She obtained her Master of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toronto, and received her Ph.D. degree in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Victoria. Prior to joining Queen’s University, from 1995 to 1996, Dr. Notash was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering, University of Windsor. Her current research interest is the investigation and development of serial, parallel and wire-actuated manipulator designs; kinematic, stiffness and force solutions; and calibration methodologies allowing effective and failure safe implementation of the devices; and robotics.

Girish Krishnan

Girish Krishnan is an associate professor in the department of industrial and enterprise systems engineering and an affiliate faculty at Mechanical Sciences and Engineering and Carle-Illinois College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research lies in the intersection of compliant mechanism design and soft robotics with applications in healthcare and agriculture. He is a recipient of several awards including best paper awards at ASME- IDETC conference, Freudenstein young investigator award, NSF CAREER award, and UIUC award for excellence in advising. he has been a Pi and Co- Pi of several projects sponsored through NSF, USDA- NIFA, Center for compact and efficient fluid power research, and General Motors Corp. He received his Ph.D from University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and MS from Indian Institute of Science, India.

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