Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, author of such futuristic works as I, Robot, would have been impressed. For here was a robot capable of crawling through cramped ventilation ducts for inspection and cleaning, a robotic petrol-filling station, a fearless robot that can scale the walls of high-rise buildings and clean windows, and a robotic muscle arm for nursing, just to name a few.

 

 

All of this and more was on display at CityU's Service Robotics Research Laboratory demo at the 2001 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics & Machine Vision In Practice, held from August 27 to 29 at the Regal Kowloon Hotel. The conference, organized by CityU and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CU), brought over a hundred local industrialists and leading local and international experts in the field of mechatronics, robotics, automation and machine vision to discuss the future of our machine-based pals.

Other demonstrations by CityU's robotics lab included a virtual operating theatre for hip surgery using robotic technologies, a service robot that is programmed by using human demonstration, and a mobile vehicle that follows and carries baggage for its master.

Dr Simon Wong, the Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Advanced Science and Technology Research Institute Ltd, Professor Roderick Wong, Dean of Faculty of Science and Engineering at CityU, and Professor Xu Yang-Shen, Acting Dean of Faculty of Engineering at CU, officiated at the opening ceremony.

The 22 sessions at the Conference covered a wide range of design and application activities in mechatronics and machine vision locally and globally. All the sessions organized at the Conference were closely related to the practical applications and latest R & D activities in their respective fields. In addition to presentations at the Conference, the organizers also offered a series of demonstrations at the Service Robotics Research Laboratory at CityU.