ROBIO 2024 Workshop
We are thrilled to organize a workshop at IEEE ROBIO 2024 (link). The information of this workshop is as follows.
Title: Actuation, Control, Fabrication, and Application of Miniature Robots in Biomedical Engineering
Outline: Miniature robots play an increasingly important role in biomedical engineering. These centimeter, millimeter, and even submillimeter size scale devices could bring paradigm-shifting improvement to a variety of clinic tasks, such as targeted drug delivery, biopsy, minimally invasive surgery, and personalized healthcare. The small sizes of these robots are their most prominent advantages, enabling them to access hard-to-reach constrained ducts, cavities, vessels and other space in human body. But at the same time, the extremely scarce onboard space limits their adoption of mature and conventional robotic components and paradigms. Thus, the design, fabrication, control, and application of these tiny devices are intriguing scientific questions that have genuine real-world socioeconomic impacts. Recent advancement in this emerging scientific field sheds light on the promising possibilities and grand challenges of applying these novel robotic systems to biomedical engineering.
This special session aims to provide a forum to bring together interested researchers to exchange ideas and engage in discussions. Distinguished early-career speakers who have helped shape the landscape of this field are invited to present their recent work in this special session, together with submitted paper presentations from students.
Time and location: Dec. 11 afternoon session at Meeting Room 5 (7/F)
Invited speakers
Prof. REN, HONGLIANG
Professor Hongliang Ren received his Ph.D. in Electronic Engineering (Specialized in Biomedical Engineering) from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 2008. He has been navigating his academic journey through Chinese University of Hong Kong, UC Berkeley, Johns Hopkins University, Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Children’s National Medical Center, United States, and National University of Singapore. He has served as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Automation Science & Engineering (T-ASE) and Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing (MBEC). He has served as an active organizer and contributor on the committees of numerous robotics conferences, including a variety of roles in the flagship IEEE Conf. on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), IEEE Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), as well as other domain conferences such as MICCAI/ROBIO/BIOROB/ICIA/CVPR. He served as publicity chair for ICRA 2017, concurrently as Organizing Chair for ICRA 2017 workshop on Surgical Robots, and video chair for ICRA 2021. He has delivered numerous invited keynotes/talks at flagship conferences/workshops at ICRA/IROS/ROBIO/MICCAI/CVPR/ICIA. He is the recipient of IFMBE/IAMBE Early Career Award 2018, Interstellar Early Career Investigator Award 2018, Health Longevity Catalyst Award (2022 by NAM & RGC), NUS Engineering Young Researcher Award (2019), Interstellar Early Career Investigator Award (2018), ICBHI (Biomedical and Health Informatics) Young Investigator Award (2019), NUS Young Investigator Award (2013), EMedic Global Gold Medal (2017) and Silver Medal (2021), Best Paper Awards in IEEE-ROBIO (2019 & 2013), IEEE-RCAR2016, IEEE-CCECE2015, IEEE-Cyber2014 among 30+ others awards..
Prof. Ren will deliver a talk titled: Compliant endoscopic motion generation and perception towards intelligent minimally invasive robotic procedures
Here is the link to Prof. REN’s profile page.
Prof. Pakpong CHIRARATTANANON
Pakpong Chirarattananon is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at the City University of Hong Kong. He received his Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University in 2014 and B.A. in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge. His research is primarily centered on biologically-inspired robotic systems, micro aerial vehicles, and hybrid locomotion. Pakpong has developed a highly efficient revolving-wing drones, flapping-wing robots, and multimodal multirotors, with publications in prestigious journals such as Science, Nature, and Science Robotics. His approach involves the use of intelligent mechanisms to address the complexities of power, dynamics, and control, as he seeks to enhance the capabilities of small robotic devices through a deeper understanding of the synergy between mechanical design, actuation, dynamics, control strategies, and environmental conditions. Pakpong serves as an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR) and IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L). His contributions to the field have been recognized with numerous accolades, including the 2021 IEEE Transactions on Robotics King-Sun Fu Memorial Best Paper Award.
Prof. Chirarattananon will deliver a talk titled: Aerial-Terrestrial Locomotion: From Locust to Hopcopter
Here is a link to Prof. Chirarattananon’s profile page.
Prof. HE, QIGUANG
Qiguang He is an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical and Automation Engineering Department at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Before joining CUHK in 2023, Prof. He received his bachelor’s degree at Tsinghua University in 2015. He obtained his master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 2016 and 2021, respectively. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania from 2021 to 2023. His current research focuses on the design and fabrication of soft robotics, actuating materials, mechanical metamaterials, and mechanical intelligence.
Prof. He will deliver a talk titled: Liquid Crystal Elastomers based Soft Actuators and Robots
Here is a link to Prof. He’s profile page.
Prof. YANG, LIDONG
Dr. Lidong YANG is currently an Assistant Professor of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Prior to that, He conducted Postdoctoral research at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Dr. Yang obtained the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical and Automation Engineering from CUHK in 2020, and he received the B. Eng degree from Hornor School (英才学院) of Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) in 2014. His major research interests include micro-/nanorobot design & fabrication, microrobotic system develop & control, and biomedical applications of micro-/nanorobots. Dr. Yang has over 50 publications in journals, international conferences, and US Patents in the field of robotics and automation, including Nature Machine Intelligence, Science Robotics, IEEE Trans. Robotics (TRO), IJRR, and Annual Review of Control, Robotics, and Autonomous Systems. Dr. Yang also won several Best Paper Awards from IEEE conferences, such CASE 2020, ICARM 2020, and MARSS 2022. Dr. Yang’s PhD thesis received the Excellent PhD Dissertation Nomination Award from the Chinese Association of Automation (CAA). He also received the 2022 Hong Kong Young Scientist Finalist Award from the Hong Kong Institution of Science.
Prof. Yang will deliver a talk titled: Machine learning for micro- and nanorobots
Here is a link to Prof. Yang’s profile page.
Prof. CHU, XIANGYU
Xiangyu Chu is a Research Assistant Professor in the Mechanical and Automation Engineering Department at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Dr. Chu received the B.Eng. degree in automation, the M.Eng. degree in control science and engineering from the Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in mechanical and automation engineering from CUHK. He was a Visiting Student with Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, in 2020. Besides, he was visiting the Chair for Computer Aided Medical Procedures & Augmented Reality (CAMP) at Technical University of Munich, Germany, from July 2023 to Jan 2024. Before joining CUHK in 2024, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Multi-Scale Medical Robotics Center, InnoHK. His research interests are developments of robotic surgical and medical systems and related algorithms, developments of nuanced manipulation skills on (deformable) objects and their applications in surgery and service, and developments of agile locomotion systems and related algorithms / their applications on biomechanics.
Prof. Chu will deliver a talk titled: Enhancing Agility for Terrestrial Robots: From Inertial Appendage to Propeller Assistance
Here is a link to Prof. Chu’s profile page.
Dr. CHEN, QINKAI (representing Prof. FAN, Xinjian)
Qinkai Chen is a doctoral student in the School of Future Science and Technology at the Soochow University. He received his Master degree in Energy Engineering from the University of Hong Kong in 2023 and B.A. in Energy and Power Engineering from the Shanghai Maritime University. His current research interests include magnetic control micro-nanorobot and computer vision. He is mainly researching the design of magnetic control devices and magnetic control systems, as well as the preparation and motion control of magnetic miniature swimming robots.
Dr. Chen will deliver a talk titled: Multifunctional Ferrofluidic Robot with Posture Decoupling Control and Inactive Body Empowerment Ability
Prof. ZHANG, JIACHEN
Jiachen Zhang obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering under the supervision of Prof. Eric Diller from University of Toronto in 2018. Before joining CityU, he worked as a postdoc fellow in the group of Prof. Metin Sitti at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, where he conducted research in soft milli-robotics, smart materials, and advanced manufacturing. During his stay in Germany, he was awarded the Humboldt research fellowship. Dr. Zhang started his own research group at CityUHK in the summer of 2021. His current research interests include milli/micro robotics, soft and medical robotics, and biomedical instrumentation.
Prof. Zhang will deliver a talk titled: Miniature medical robots as a new healthcare paradigm
Here is a link to Prof. Zhang’s profile page.