Keynote Lecture: Development of the adaptive landing and aerial manipulation technology based on the generalized parallel mechanism and AI technology

Abstract:With the rapid development of technology such as computers and artificial intelligence, the technology of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in marine operations has become a current research hotspot. In recent years, rotary-wing UAVs have been widely used in many fields, such as ocean dynamic monitoring, marine disaster rescue, and maritime military confrontation, due to their low takeoff and landing requirements and hovering capabilities. However, under the effect of waves, marine platforms such as ships are constantly in a rocking state, which greatly increases the difficulty of UAV landing.

     In response to the application requirements of rotary-wing UAVs in sea platform takeoff and landing and aerial operations, a design and optimization scheme for a dual-mode aerial variable structure robot based on the generalized parallel mechanism is proposed. Two general performance indexes, terrain adaptability and landing stability, are proposed to evaluate the landing performance of adaptive landing gear.

     A general method for constructing a virtual parallel model has been proposed to describe the dynamic landing process of multi-legged landing gear on offshore platforms, and an adaptive buffering landing control algorithm is designed. To achieve better buffering effects, a search method for the non-rebound damping parameter is developed to determine the damping parameter of the system based on the landing gear state at the moment of landing. An adaptive buffering landing control system is established based on the optimized four-degree-of-freedom variable structure robot, and prototype experiments are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the control strategy and the advantages of the non-rebound damping parameter.

Biography: Professor Dan Zhang is a Chair Professor of Intelligent Robotics and Automation, and Director of Consortium for Intelligent Robotics Research 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 (2012 – 2014) and was awarded the Canada Research Chair in Advanced Robotics and Automation (2009 – 2015). 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 from 2016 to 2018. Thereafter, he was awarded the Tier 1 York Research Chair in Advanced Robotics and Mechatronics in 2017.
      Professor Zhang's research interests include synthesis and optimization of parallel and hybrid mechanisms; generalized parallel mechanisms research; reconfigurable robots; innovation design of parallel robots: parallelization of serial 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; Artificial Intelligence for Robotics; intelligent reconfigurable adaptive landing gear and manipulator (manipulander).
      Professor Zhang is a well-accomplished educator and an internationally renowned expert in the areas of parallel robotic machines and their applications in manufacturing systems. His influential scientific contributions have led to novel robotic system designs and development of new comprehensive models for better understanding of globe stiffness and robotic calibrations. His research applications have tackled some of the world's most challenging problems in high dynamic performance manufacturing robotic systems. His leadership has resulted in significant contributions to the areas of robotics, mechatronics, reconfigurable/sustainable manufacturing systems and MEMS devices. His accomplishments have been recognized by many honors and awards including Canada Research Chair, Research Excellence Awards, Tier 1 York Research Chair, Lassonde Innovation Awards --- Established Researcher, Early Researcher Award by Ministry of Research and Innovation, 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).
      Professor Zhang has published 266 journal papers and 190 conference papers, 12 books, 9 book chapters and numerous other technical publications. Professor Zhang has served as a General Chair for 69 International Conferences and delivered 122 keynote speeches. Professor Zhang is listed as the World’s Top Two Percent Researchers by Stanford’s Standardized Citation Indicators in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.