Keynote Speeches

Oct. 4th, 2010

• 15:30 - 15:45
  "Chemical Plume Tracing in Natural Airflow Environments"
  Qing-Hao Meng : School of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Tianjin University, China
  Asbtract
  The purpose of chemical plume tracing (CPT) is to approach an (multiple) odor source(s) via following the found plume with a (multiple) mobile robot(s). Owing to the chaotic nature of the odor transport in the natural atmosphere, tracing the resultant patchy meandering plume down to the source(s) is thus not a trivial task. Firstly, the state-of-the-art of the CPT research will be briefly introduced. Secondly, the research results of the single robot based CPT in outdoor natural airflow environments and the multi-robot based CPT in indoor natural airflow environments will be presented. Finally, a brief outlook regarding the CPT will be discussed.

• 15:45 - 16:00
  "Soft Actuator and Sensor Technologies"
  Hyouk Ryeol Choi : Sungkyunkwan University, Korea
  Asbtract
  Recently, as new emerging technologies for mechatronic systems, soft actuator and sensors based on ElectroActive Polymer(EAP) become a major interest among the competitive technologies. The technology covers up comprehensive ones including fundamentals such as physics, material, fabrications or manufacturing and applications. This talk mainly stays on the dielectric elastomers, which are evaluated to be one of the most promising technologies among EAPS and its applications focused on the robotic actuator and sensors are broadly explained. Examples implemented in the real system are introduced, such as robotic finger, walking robots, tactile sensors etc. and its future perspectives are addressed.

• 16:00 - 16:15
  "Underwater Robots of Korea"
  Hyun-Taek Choi : Korea Ocean Research & Development Institute, Korea
  Asbtract
  This talk is about technologies of unmanned underwater robot of Korea. We have been developing several underwater robots from small robots for experiment to a big remotely operat\ ed vehicle for very deep-ocean (6,000m) exploration. I!Gd like to announce short history \ of systems with brief description of our institute, KORDI (Korea Ocean Research & Develop\ ment Institute). Then, I!Gm going to explain current research work & trend, in particular\ , joint research work between ocean engineering and robotic engineering.

• 16:15 - 16:30
  "Useful Simulation Tool for Advanced Mechanism Research"
  Byung-Ju Yi : Hanyang University, Korea
  Asbtract
  Mechanism theory is pretty matured in these days, though there are still many fields to be investigated. Current robotics is pursuing less human interface and autonomous robot systems. Also direct physical interaction with the human-body or environment is required. The robot mechanisms that best fit for such systems require compliant & dexterous adaptation to environment with less impact, less breakage, less damage, better safety, better dexterity, and so on. Biomimetic approach learning the design principle of mechanism from nature is one way. For variety of design, a design tool that can simulate the geometry, kinematics, dynamics, and actuator sizing of the robot prior to manufacturing will be demanding. This talk introduces a systematic approach in mechanism design, which uses a digital mockup that enables easy design on demand. Several design examples using a useful simulation tool ! developed for advanced mechanism research will be demonstrated.

• 16:30 - 16:45 : Break
  

• 16:45 - 17:00
  "Physical Human-Robot Interaction for medicine"
  Jung Kim: KAIST, Korea
  Asbtract
  Haptics has been defined as manual or tactile interactions with environments, such as exploration for extraction of information or manipulation though human or machine hands for modifying the environments. Combined with the frontier of physical human robot interactions (pHRI), haptics has the potential to increase the quality and capability of human- machine interaction by integrating sense of touch. Several applications already use this idea; these include medical trainers in virtual environments, telemanipulation and assistive devices for rehabilitation. Behind this exciting research field, the modeling of biomechanical system and signal processing of biosignals should work. In this seminar, the several research activities studied in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering in KAIST will be discussed. The topics will cover from haptic applications such as surgical simulation and robotics, to the real time assistive technologies based on noninvasive biosignals.

• 17:00 - 17:15
  " Haptics Technology Applications in Mobile Devices"
  Dong-Soo Kwon : KAIST, Korea
  Asbtract
  With efforts defining tactile feeling on touched surfaces, researchers have begun to examine how to design effective tactile displays. Especially in mobile devices, numerous researches have been conducted on various tactile modules and actuators with emphasis on realizing interactions between the user and the mobile device. In this talk, the state-of-the-art in tactile actuators and modules for mobile device applications are introduced including voice coil motors (VCMs), piezoelectric actuators, electro-active polymers, ultrasonic actuators and MR fluids. The characteristics of these actuators are compared, and various tactile modules using these actuators are examined for possible application to the mobile devices.

• 17:15 - 17:45
  " Introduction of Robot-based Learning(R-Learning) Education System at Kindergarten"
  Sang-Rok Oh : Korea
  Asbtract
  The Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology(MEST) has since January !G10 been building robot-based learning(R-Learning) system as part of the child education advancement plan. The R-Learning education system is the MEST!Gs project designed to maximize the effects of education by combining education and science technologies, which consists of robots, education contents and IT infra system in order to provide an interactive and experiential education services. By the end of 2010, about 1,000 kindergartens will use the R-Learning education system as part of regular education services and all of 8,400 kindergartens by the end of 2013. In the talk, currently providing R-Learning education system will be introduced including detail robots, education contents and auxiliary functions.

• 17:45 - 18:15
  "Semantic Robotic Intelligence"
  Il Hong Suh : Hanyang University, Korea
  Asbtract
  A significant obstacle for service robots is the execution of complex tasks in real environments. For example, it is not easy for service robots to find objects that are only partially observable and are located at the place which is not identical but near the place where they saw them previously. To overcome these challenges effectively, robot knowledge represented as semantic network can be extremely useful. In this talk, the following issues are explored for practical robotic applications of semantic knowledge: (1) knowledge representation for consistent inference by integrating low-level knowledge and high-level knowledge, (2) robust knowledge instantiation even with misidentification, (3) task completion using related knowledge even with insufficient knowledge.

• 18:15 - 18:45
  "Mapping Environment with Cheap Sonar Sensors"
  Wan Kyun Chung : POSTECH, Korea
  Asbtract
  The characteristics of sonar sensor is known to be very uncertain due to specular reflection, wide beam angle. This talk introduces a method to intelligently use the uncertain data to build a clean map using cheap sonar sensors. Using the sonar pressure model and recycling strategy, we can increase the performance of the mapping capability of sonar sensors. Experimental results will be given for indoor service robot.

• 18:45 - 19:00
  "Research on Planetary Exploring Rovers and Space Deployable"
  Rongqiang Liu : Harbin Institute of Technology, China
  Asbtract
  Robotic rovers are mobile robots to perform challenging tasks in unstructured terrain. We studied the rover configuration design, the wheel-soil interaction terramechanics and dynamics simulation for rovers, and developed eight kind rover prototypes including 2-wheeled rover, gravity center adjusting rover, multi-joint wheeled-walking rover and so on. We designed the lunar rover transferring mechanism, developed the transferring mechanism prototype and implemented the rover transferring experiments from the top of lunar lander. We researched the space deployable mechanisms for the supporting of antennas and solar battery arrays and developed the deployable mast composed of truss mechanisms. The dynamics analysis and experiments indicated that the mast has high stiffness and favorable repeat deploying-folding performance.