Prof. Chiharu Ishii
(Keynote Speaker)

Hosei University, Japan

Keynote Lecture: Development of Robotic Palpation System and Power Assist Suit for Underwater Work

Abstract: In this talk, first, a robotic palpation system developed in our laboratory is discussed. The robotic palpation system is teleoperated by leader-follower control method. The reaction force of the touched object is measured by 6-axis force/torque sensor and is presented to the operator’s arm through the haptic input device Omega.7. In addition, tactile stimulation is presented to operator’s fingertip by the tactile feedback device. In robotic surgery, when palpation is performed under use of the trocar, it is difficult to realize force or tactile sense of the touched object because the forceps is affected by contact with the trocar. Therefore, cancellation of the influence of the trocar on the forceps was attempted by using the neural network. In order to verify an effectiveness of the developed palpation system, location identification experiments were carried out. The results showed the effectiveness of the neural network, and identification error of location of the imitation tumor was less than 0.7mm.

        Second, an assist suit for underwater work is discussed. When constructing the foundation of a breakwater, the foundation stones that have been dropped into the sea are leveled manually by divers. This work gives diver’s body a heavy strain. Therefore, a power assist suit for elbow joint that can be used underwater was developed in our laboratory to reduce the burden on the diver’s arm. In order to verify an effectiveness of the developed power assist suit, experiments of lifting and taking down the heavy object were carried out, and surface electromyogram (SEMG) of the biceps brachii muscle was measured to evaluate muscle activity. As a result, the muscle activity in case of wearing the assist suit was smaller than that of not wearing the assist suit. Thus, effectiveness of the developed power assist suit for underwater work was verified.

Biography: Chiharu Ishii received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Sophia University, Japan in 1997. He worked at Ashikaga Institute of Technology between 1997 and 2002, at Kogakuin University between 2002 and 2009, and at Shibaura Institute of Technology between 2009 and 2010. He has been working at Hosei University since 2010, and currently working as a Professor with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering at Hosei University. Dr. Chiharu Ishii has received several awards such as The Best Paper Award in the area of Tactile and Haptic Interfaces at the 4th International Conference on Human System Interaction (IEEE HSI 2011); Best Paper Award at the 1st International Conference on Computer Science, Electronics and Instrumentation (ICCSE 2012); Best Presentation Award at the International Conference on Intelligent Mechatronics and Automation (ICIMA 2013); Excellent Oral Presentation Award at the 4th International Conference on Soft Computing & Machine Intelligence (ISCMI 2017); 3rd Prize, Excellent Paper Award at the 2021 IEEE 3rd Global Conference on Life Sciences and Technologies (LifeTech 2021). He is currently a member of IEEE, SICE, JSME, RSJ, IEEJ and JSCAS. His research interests are in medical robotics, assistive technology and robust control.

Prof. Sankar K. Pal
(Keynote Speaker)

Indian Statistical Institute, India

Keynote Lecture: TBA

Abstract: TBA

Biography: Sankar K. Pal is a Distinguished Scientist and former Director of Indian Statistical Institute (ISI). Currently, he is a National Science Chair, Govt. of India, and the President of Indian Statistical Institute as well as its Emeritus Professor. He is also an AICTE nominated AICTE-Distinguished Chair Professor, and a Scholar-in-Residence of IIT Jodhpur. He founded the Machine Intelligence Unit and the Center for Soft Computing Research: A National Facility in ISI, Calcutta. He received a Ph.D. in Radio Physics and Electronics from Indian Statistical Institute/ University of Calcutta in 1979, and another Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering along with DIC from Imperial College, University of London in 1982. He joined his Institute (ISI) in 1975 as a CSIR Senior Research Fellow where he became a Full Professor in 1987, Distinguished Scientist in 1998, the Director in 2005, and the President in 2022.

        Prof. Pal worked at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Maryland, College Park in 1986-87; the NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas in 1990-92 & 1994; and in US Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC in 2004. Since 1997 he has been a Distinguished Visitor of IEEE Computer Society (USA) for the Asia-Pacific Region, and held several visiting positions in Italy, Poland, Hong Kong and Australian universities.

        He is a co-author of twenty one books, about five hundred research publications and two US patents in the areas of Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning, Image Processing, Data Mining, Soft Computing, Neural Nets, Genetic Algorithms, Fuzzy Sets, Rough Sets, Web Intelligence, Social Networks, Cognitive Machine and Bioinformatics. He has made fundamental contributions to machine intelligence research by developing various modern approaches. He pioneered the development of fuzzy set theory, and neuro-fuzzy and rough-fuzzy computing, in general, and their applications in pattern recognition, image processing, machine learning, knowledge-based systems, and data science and analytics, in particular.(Read more)

Prof. Fumin Zhang
(Keynote Speaker)

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, China

Keynote Lecture: TBA

Abstract: TBA

Biography: Dr.‬ ‪Fumin ZHANG‬ ‪is Chair Professor and Director of the Cheng Kar-Shun Robotics Institute at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He is also Dean’s Professor adjunct in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received a PhD degree in 2004 from the University of Maryland (College Park) in Electrical Engineering and held a postdoctoral position in Princeton University from 2004 to 2007. His research interests include mobile sensor networks, maritime robotics, control systems, and theoretical foundations for cyber-physical systems. He received the NSF CAREER Award in September 2009 and the ONR Young Investigator Program Award in April 2010. He is currently serving as the co-chair for the IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Marine Robotics, associate editors for IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, and IEEE Transactions on Control of Networked Systems, IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, and International Journal of Robotics Research.‬‬‬

Prof. Toshio Fukuda

Meijo University,Japan

Prof. Dan Zhang

York University, Canada

Prof. Feng Gao

Shanghai Jiaotong University, China

Prof. Kenji Suzuki

Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan

Prof. Hujun Yin

The University of Manchester, UK

Prof. Wei Gao

University of New South Wales (Sydney), Australia

Prof. Sheng Guo

Beijing Jiaotong University, China

Prof. Hongliu Yu 

University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, China

Prof. Jinsong Bao

Donghua University, China

Dr. Haijun Shan

Zhejiang Lab, China

Prof. Songyi Dian

Sichuan University, China

Prof. Bin He 

Shanghai University, China