Plenary and Keynote Speakers

Dr. Dan Zhang
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Plenary Speaker

Professor 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 was a Kaneff Professor and Tier 1 York Research Chair in Advanced Robotics and Mechatronics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at York University. Dr. Zhang was a Canada Research Chair in Advanced Robotics and Automation, was a founding Chair of the Department of Automotive, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering with the Faculty of Engineering & Applied Science at Ontario Tech University. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Laval University, Canada, in June 2000.

Dr. Zhang’s research interests include: synthesis and optimization of parallel and hybrid mechanisms; generalized parallel mechanisms research; reconfigurable 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 and Artificial Intelligence for Robotics.

Dr. Zhang has published 254 journal papers and 190 conference papers, 12 books, 9 book chapters and numerous other technical publications. Dr. Zhang has served as a General Chair for 67 International Conferences and delivered 117 keynote speeches. Dr. Zhang is listed as the World’s Top Two Percent Researchers by Stanford’s Standardized Citation Indicators in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Dr. Zhang is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC), a Fellow of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and a Fellow of Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME), a Senior Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and a Senior Member of SME.

Topic of plenary: Innovation Design and Applications of Robotic Manipulators in Intelligent Manufacturing System
Plenary Abstract

Dr. Kaan Erkorkmaz
University of Waterloo, Canada
Keynote Speaker

Kaan Erkorkmaz obtained his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia in 2004. The same year, he joined the University of Waterloo as an Assistant Professor, where he subsequently received promotion to the rank of Associate Professor (2009) and Professor (2015).
At Waterloo, Prof. Erkorkmaz established the Precision Controls Laboratory (UW/PCL) which conducts research on cutting mechanics, machine tool dynamics, virtual manufacturing, and high-performance Computer Numerical Controls (CNC). His lab holds successful collaborations with, and performs technology transfer to, companies in the aerospace, automotive, and machine tool industries. Parallel to his research interests, Prof. Erkorkmaz’ teaches undergraduate and graduate-level courses at the University of Waterloo, in the areas of manufacturing, precision engineering, and automatic controls.
Prof. Erkorkmaz is recipient of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award (2007), Government of Ontario Early Researcher Award (2008), InnoLecture visiting Professorship at the University of Stuttgart (2011), August-Wilhelm Scheer Visiting Professorship at the Technical University of Munich (2019) and the Sandford Fleming Foundation Teaching Excellence Award (2016). In 2022, he was granted the honorary title ‘TUM Ambassador’ by the Technical University of Munich.
Erkorkmaz is a registered Professional Engineer in the province of Ontario. He is a Fellow of the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP), where he currently serves as the Technical Secretary of the Academy, and as Secretary of CIRP’s Scientific and Technical Committee on Machines (STC-M).

Topic of Keynote: High Performance Motion Controls for Production Machines

Dr. Michael Greenspan
Queen’s University, Canada
Keynote Speaker

Michael Greenspan is a professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the School of Computing, at Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada. Dr. Greenspan’s research investigates problems of computer vision and robotics, with a focus on the development of machine learning-based pose estimation methods for industrial applications, including manufacturing and mining. Dr. Greenspan has over 150 refereed publications, including five patents, and he has served on the technical and program committees of over 200 international conferences in the fields of computer vision and robotics. He is a founding member of Ingenuity Labs Research Institute, was an Academic Resident at Seiko Epson Corporation, and has served as Visiting Professor at University of Coimbra, Portugal. Dr. Greenspan holds membership in the Professional Engineers of Ontario, the IEEE Computer Society, and the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. He has been the recipient of the Premier’s Research Excellence Award, the Canadian Image Processing and Pattern Recognition Society Young Investigator’s Award, and a number of Best Paper and Favorite Professor Awards.

Topic of Keynote: The “Key” to Robot Vision: Learned Keypoints for 6DoF Pose Estimation
Keynote Abstract

Dr. Farrokh Janabi-Sharifi
Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada
Keynote Speaker

Farrokh Janabi-Sharifi is a Professor of Mechanical, Industrial, and Mechatronics Engineering and the Director of Robotics, Mechatronics and Automation Laboratory (RMAL) at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). Professor Janabi-Sharifi received a PhD degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada in 1995. He was an NSERC postdoctoral fellow and lecturer in the Center for Intelligent Machines and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of McGill University between 1995 and 1997. Later, he joined TMU’s Department of Mechanical, Industrial, and Mechatronics Engineering in 1997 where he is currently the founding director of the Mechatronics Engineering Program. He was also a founding member of graduate programs at TMU including Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering Programs.
His research interests span intelligent optomechatronic systems with the focus on image-guided control and learning of robots, medical robots, and autonomous aerial systems. He has published significantly in the above areas with more than 250 peer reviewed journal and conference articles, a few books, and several patents in his track record. He has been a visiting professor in KAIST (Daeijeon, Korea); IRISA-INRIA (Rennes, France); and Technical University of Munich (Munich, Germany). He has also been organizer and co-organizer of several international conferences on optomechatronic systems control. Dr. Janabi-Sharif has been specialty chief editor of Frontiers in Manufacturing Technology- Automated Systems, and a technical editor of several journals including IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, International Journal of Optomechatronics, Journal of Robotics, Automation.
Dr. Janabi-Sharifi is a member of the Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO), founding member of International Society for Optomechatronics (ISOM), Senior Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Senior Member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), Fellow of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME), Fellow of Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC), Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), and Fellow of Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association.

Topic of Keynote: Aerial Manipulation: Perspectives and Challenges
Keynote Abstract