Jian S. Dai received a BEng and an MSc from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and received a PhD in Advanced Kinematics and Robotics from the University of Salford in the UK. Professor Dai, IEEE Fellow, ASME Fellow, IMechE Fellow, CEng, is Chair of Mechanisms and Robotics, King’s College London, and established the field of reconfigurable mechanisms and the sub-field of metamorphic mechanisms in robotics, a concept that could bridge the gap between versatile but expensive robots, and efficient but non-flexible machines, and their applications to health, home and manufacture.

He is also founder of the conference series ASME/IEEE International Conference on Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots (ReMAR) and organizer of a series of conferences, workshops and symposia with major scientific relevance (e.g., ASME M&R, IEEE ICRA). Professor Dai received 2010 King’s Overall Supervisory Excellence Award, 2012 ASME Outstanding Service Award, 2012 Mechanisms Innovation Award, 2015 ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Award for lifelong contribution in mechanisms and robotics, together with 1998 Best Paper Award, 2009 and 2011 SAGE Best Journal Paper Awards, 2018 Crossley Award, and 2019 AT Yang Award in Theoretical Kinematics and other best paper awards.