Plenary speakers

Prof. Toshio Fukuda, Nagoya University, Japan

Director of Center for Micro and Nano Mechatronics
Region 10 Director-elect (2011-2012)
Editor-in-Chief of IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatronics (2000-2002)
President of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (1998-1999)

Toshio Fukuda graduated from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan in 1971 and received the Master of Engineering degree and the Doctor of Engineering degree both from the University of Tokyo, in 1973 and 1977, respectively. He joined the National Mechanical Engineering Laboratory in Japan in 1977, the Science University of Tokyo in 1981, and then joined Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nagoya University, Japan in 1989.

At present, he is Professor of Dept. of Micro and Nano System Engineering and Dept. of Mechano- Informatics and Systems, Nagoya University, Japan. He is director of Center for Micro and Nano Mechatronics. He is mainly engaging in the research fields of intelligent robotic system, micro and nano robotics, bio-robotic system, and technical diagnosis and error recovery system.

He was the President of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (1998-1999), Director of the IEEE Division X, Systems and Control (2001-2002), the Founding President of IEEE Nanotechnology Council (2002-2005), and Region 10 Director-elect (2011-2012). He was Editor-in-Chief of IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatronics (2000-2002).

He was the Founding General Chairman of IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) held in Tokyo (1988). He was Founding Chair of the IEEE Workshop on Advanced Robotics Technology and Social Impacts (ARSO, 2005), Founding Chair of the IEEE Workshop on System Integration Internatioal (SII, 2008), Founding Chair of the International Symposium on Micro- Nano Mechatronics and Human Science (MHS, 1990-2011).

He has received many awards such as IEEE Eugene Mittelmann Achievement Award (1997), IEEE Third Millennium Medal (2000) , IEEE Robotics and Automation Pioneer Award (2004), IEEE Transaction Automation Science and Engineering Googol Best New Application Paper Award (2007), George Saridis Leadership Award in Robotics and Automation (2009), IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Field Award (2010). IEEE Fellow (1995). SICE Fellow (1995). JSME Fellow (2002), RSJ Fellow (2004), VRSJ Fellow (2011) and member of Science Council of Japan (2008- ).

Prof. Masayoshi Tomizuka, University of California, Berkeley

Cheryl and John Neerhout, Jr. Distinguished Professor
Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Associate Dean, Faculty

Masayoshi Tomizuka received his B.S. and M.S. from Keio University in 1968 and 1970, respectively. He received his Ph. D. from MIT in 1974, after which he joined the ME Department at UC Berkeley. Here, he served as the Vice Chair of Instruction from Dec. 1989 to Dec. 1991, and as the Vice Chair of graduate studies from Jul. 1995 to Dec. 1996.

From 2009 to 2011, he was the Executive Associate Dean for the College of Engineering at UC Berkeley. He also served as Program Director of the Dynamic Systems and Control Program at the National Science Foundation from Sept. 2002 to Dec. 2004.

His research interests include adaptive control, computer-aided manufacturing, control systems and theory, digital control, dynamic systems, manufacturing, and mechanical vibrations.

Prof. Jianwei Zhang, University of Hamburg, Germany

Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Science
Department Informatics, Group TAMS

Jianwei Zhang is professor and director of TAMS, Department of Informatics, University of Hamburg, Germany. He received both his Bachelor of Engineering (1986, with distinction) and Master of Engineering (1989) at the Department of Computer Science of Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, his PhD (1994) at the Institute of Real-Time Computer Systems and Robotics, Department of Computer Science, University of Karlsruhe, Germany. Jianwei Zhang is life-long Academician of Academy of Sciences in Hamburg Germany.

Jianwei Zhang´s research interests include multimodal informatin processing; cognitive sensor fusion; fast learning algorithms; neuro-fuzzy models for sensory-motor control tasks; reinforcement learning of assembly sequences; natural human-robot interaction; self-valuing learning of robot grasping and in-hand manipulation; multimodal learning architecture; experience-based robot learning; coded structured light for 3D modelling; best view algorithm for active robot vision; bio-inspired multimodal control, modular reconfigurable robots; surgical assistant robots; mobile manipulation service robots, etc. In these areas he has published about 500 journal and conference papers, technical reports and four books. He holds 40+ patents on intelligent components and systems.

Jianwei Zhang is the coordinator of the DFG/NSFC Transregional Collaborative Research Centre SFB/TRR169 “Crossmodal Learning: Adaptivity, Prediction and Interaction” and several EU robotics projects, including the RACE (Robustness by Autonomous Competence Enhancement) Project which is the first one applying high-level learning, planning and reasoning AI methods in service robots. He has received multiple best paper awards. He is the General Chairs of IEEE MFI 2012, IEEE/RSJ IROS 2015, and the International Symposium of Human-Centered Robotics and Systems 2018.