(2) Robotics: Aiguo Song, Southeast University, China (Chair)

Wei He, University of Science and Technology Beijing, China (Chair)

2.1. Speaker: Prof. Bingzhao Gao, Jilin University, China

Talk Title: Calibration-Free Control System Development and Application in Automotive

Abstract: Various time-varying parameters, such as road slope, vehicle mass and ambient temperature, exist in the automotive powertrain system. In order to achieve high-level smoothness and comfort under the premise of ensuring high transmission efficiency, complicated control system needs to be developed and the parameter calibration workload is heavy. Thus, it is necessary to develop calibration-free control system with high efficiency. The optimal controller being able to reject fast time-varying disturbance for automatic transmission system and the eco-driving cruise controller with the prediction of road traffic information are presented, and the principle of calibration-free development process of advanced control system are illustrated,  which are also verified by real-car tests under various traffic scenes.

Biography：Prof. Bingzhao Gao received the Ph.D. degree in Control Theory and Control Engineering from Jilin University, in 2009, and received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from Jilin University of Technology and Jilin University in 1998 and 2002 respectively. He is currently a professor of State Key Laboratory of Automotive Simulation and Control, Jilin University. He is the recipient of the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars, and served as the secretary of Technical Committee on Vehicle Control and Intelligence of Chinese Association of Automation. He has published 2 books and more than 40 international journal papers. He has been authorized for 26 invention patents, including 2 US patents. His research achievements of electric vehicle powertrain system have been industrialized and mass-produced.  

2.2. Speaker: Prof. Long Cheng, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Talk Title: Intelligent Control for Piezoelectric Actuators

Abstract:The piezoelectric actuator is one key component in the nano-positioning applications. However, there are several nonlinear characteristics (e.g., hysteresis, creeping and variation) in the dynamics of piezoelectric actuators, how to achieve the high performance control of piezoelectric actuators is a great challenge. This talk introduces several neural network or fuzzy logic based modelling approaches for the hysteresis nonlinearity, then the model-predictive based controllers have been proposed, which are experimentally verified to have the satisfactory control performance. Meanwhile, by using the stick-slip principle, the long-range high-accuracy positioning control of the piezoelectric actuator has been achieved as well. Finally, an automatic collection device for brain slices has been designed by the piezoelectric actuator and its working principle and verification experiment are to be introduced.

Biography：Prof. Long Cheng received the B.S. (Hons.) degree in control engineering from Nankai University, Tianjin, China, in 2004, and the Ph.D. (Hons.) degree in control theory and control engineering from the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, in 2009. He is currently a Full Professor with the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is also an Adjunct Professor with the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. He has authored and co-authored more than 100 technical papers in peer-refereed journals and prestigious conference proceedings. His current research interests include the rehabilitation robot, intelligent control, and neural networks. Prof. Cheng was the recipient of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NEURAL NETWORKS Outstanding Paper Award from the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, the Aharon Katzir Young Investigator Award from the International Neural Networks Society, and the Young Researcher Award from the Asian Pacific Neural Networks Society. He is currently serving as an Associate Editor/Editorial Board Member for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CYBERNETICS, Neural Processing Letters, Neurocomputing, International Journal of Systems Science, and Acta Automatica Sinica.

2.3. Speaker: Prof. Huayan Pu, Shanghai University, China

Talk Title: Unmanned System Acoustic Stealth Control Technology and Application

Abstract: Complex vibration suppression is an important guarantee for the service performance and service safety of intelligent unmanned equipment. Airflow and surges lead to complex and unhealthy operating environments, and there is an urgent requirement for wide-field, near-zero, and ultra-stable vibration suppression technologies. A nonlinear negative stiffness generation method is proposed to achieve effective attenuation of ultra-low frequency vibration under large load capacity and shock stability. A passive frequency-variable damping technique is proposed, which makes a breakthrough in passive frequency variation of low frequency large damping and high frequency small damping. It has broken through the anti-vibration-positioning synergistic active control technology, passed the most stringent tri-band line spectrum jump test of Benchmark platform of European Automatic Control Federation; prepared giant electro-rheological fluid intelligent material, developed high energy density Low power consumption giant current variable liquid intelligent damping generator. The research results have been successfully applied to many kinds of advanced equipment, such as sky, air, land and sea.

Biography: Prof. Huayan Pureceived the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in mechatronics engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, in 2007 and 2011, respectively. She is a Professor in the School of Mechatronics Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China. Her current research interests include modeling, control, and simulation of field robotics and locomotion system. Professor Pu was awarded the best paper in biomimetics at the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics. She was also nominated as the best conference paper finalist at the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics.

2.4. Speaker: Prof. Xuebo Zhang, Nankai University, China

Talk Title: Real-time and Complete Algorithms for Time-optimal motion planning of robots

Abstract: Time-optimal motion planning is important to increase the work efficiency of autonomous robots while ensuring safety. However, it is very challenging because real-time performance and algorithm completeness are required and many complex constraints also need to be satisfied. In this talk, we divide the motion planning problem into path planning and trajectory planning along a known path. On the basis of such a decoupled framework, we further propose a real-time, complete, and time-optimal trajectory planning algorithm in the presence of torque, acceleration and velocity constraints. Furthermore, a flexible tradability mechanism between the motion efficiency and cruise motion ratio are proposed with guarantee of algorithm completeness.

Biography：Dr. Xuebo Zhang received the B.Eng. degree in Automation from Tianjin University in 2002, China, and the Ph. D. degree in Control Theory and Control Engineering from Nankai University in 2011, China. From July 2011, he joined the Institute of Robotics and Automatic Information Systems (IRAIS), Nankai University. He is currently an Associate Professor, the deputy head of IRAIS and also the deputy head of Tianjin Key Laboratory of Intelligent Robotics (TJKLIR), Nankai University, China. His research interests include planning and control of autonomous robotic and mechatronic systems; intelligent perception including robot vision, visual sensor networks, SLAM, etc. He received some research and teaching awards such as First-class and Second-class Natural Science Award of Tianjin City and First-class Award for Teaching Achievements in Higher Education of Tianjin City. He received Nomination of Best Paper Awards in IEEE/ASME AIM 2017, IEEE ARM 2018 and IEEE RCAR 2018. He received the General Chairs’ Recognition Award for Interactive papers in IEEE CDC 2009. He is currently an Associate Editor for ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control. He served as the organization chair of IEEE-CYBER 2018 and the program chair of IEEE RCAR 2019.

2.5. Speaker: Prof. Qing Shi, Beijing Institute of Technology, China

Talk Title:  System Design and Motion Control of Miniature Robotic Rats

Abstract:Rats have the characteristics of small size, diverse postures, strong adaptability and complex social behavior, which provides a good innovative idea for the research of biomimetic robots. This report focuses on the biomimetic modeling, optimization and evaluation, the biomimetic micro-sensing unit and the interaction modeling of the robotic rat. First, based on the biomimetic behavior mechanism, the parametric modeling and optimization of the robotic rat are carried out; second, an evaluation model for quantifying the similarity of motion is set up; third, a multi-dimensional perception system based on micro binocular vision and tentacle sensor is built; finally, a motor-behavioral model with multi-source stimulus and the interaction model between the robotic rat and experimental rats are established. At the same time, the report will show the results of the exploration from morphological and functional bionics to interactive bionics, and discuss how to design robotic robots from shape to spirit.

Biography：Prof. Qing Shi received the Ph.D. degree from Waseda University, Japan, in 2012. He had been a Research Associate at GCOE Global Robot Academia of Waseda University from 2009 to 2013. Since 2013 he has been a Full-time Lecturer, and now an Associate Professor at Beijing Institute of Technology. His research interests are focused on bio-inspired robotics, mechatronic systems, computer vision. Dr. Shi has published more than 40 international journal papers, and has received Best Journal Paper Award of Advanced Robotics (2015), and Best Cognitive Robotics Paper Finalist of ICRA 2014. He is currently the Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics and ROBOMECH Journal, and the Secretary of IEEE Beijing Section Robotics and Automation Society Chapter. Additionally, he has served as Associate Editor of IROS2016, ICRA2017 and ICRA 2018, Guest Editor of IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology and Applied Sciences, committee chairs (e.g., Program Co-Chair) for 10 international conferences like IEEE CBS 2017, HUMANOIDS 2018.

2.6. Speaker: Prof. Wei He, University of Science and Technology Beijing, China

Talk Title:  Intelligent Control of Bionic Flapping-Wing Robotic Aircraft

Abstract: The bionic flapping-wing robotic aircraft is inspired by the flying ways of birds, which is regarded as a rigid-flexible coupling system. Our research focuses on the control system design of the aircraft, which makes the aircraft have great advantages such as high flexibility, low energy consumption and so on. However, flexible wings might produce the unexpected vibration and deformation under the influence of air flow. The vibration will degrade the flight performance, even shorten the lifespan of the aircraft. Therefore, designing an effective control method for suppressing vibrations of flexible wings is significant in practice. We have made several flapping-wing robotic aircraft for experiments. The control system is designed for vibration control and autonomous flying of the flapping-wing robotic aircraft.

Biography：Prof. Wei He received his PhD from Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, the National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore, in 2011, both his M.Eng. and B.Eng. degrees from South China University of Technology (SCUT), Guangzhou, China, in 2008 and 2006 respectively. He is currently working as the Full Professor at School of Automation and Electric Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB), China. He has co-authored 3 books published in Springer and published over 100 international journal and conference papers. He was awarded a Newton Advanced Fellowship from the Royal Society, UK in 2017. He was a recipient of the IEEE SMC Society Andrew P. Sage Best Transactions Paper Award in 2017. He is serving the Chair of IEEE SMC Society Beijing Capital Region Chapter. From 2018, he has been the chair of Technical Committee on Autonomous Bionic Robotic Aircraft (TC-ABRA), IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society.He is serving as the Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Robotics, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems, and IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica, and Editor of Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems. His current research interests include robotics, distributed parameter systems and intelligent control systems.