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Plenary Lecture
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Plenary Talk I - October 21(MON), 2013 (11:20~12:20) | |
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Dr. Dennis Hong (Department of Mechanic Engineering, Virginia Tech, U.S.A.) |
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From Odin to DARwIn: Robot Evolution by Intelligent Design |
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Most mobile robots we see today utilize wheels or treads to move around. But why don't we see such locomotion mechanisms in nature? Or a better question we should ask is: why don't we use locomotion mechanisms used in nature for creating robots? Animals move in various ways; crawling, walking, jumping, and undulating to name a few. Inspired by biology, when and how should we apply these concepts to create robots with higher mobility? Bioinspiration does not mean simply copying ideas from nature, but rather learning the mechanisms behind it and being inspired by them to create novel concepts and solutions that go even beyond what we see in nature. In this talk, we present several biologically inspired mobile robots developed at RoMeLa (Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory) between 2004 and 2012, including a unique everting robot inspired by the motility mechanisms of amoebae, a rock climbing robot that uses matching behavior, an actuated spoke wheel system for unstructured environments, a hexapod crawler with dry adhesive feet for zero gravity space applications, an autonomous wheeled vehicle that can drive itself in the urban environment, a novel three legged robot that walks more like a human, a scaffolding climbing serpentine robot that rolls up to move, and autonomous bipedal humanoid robots that can even play a game of soccer. The ability of robots created with bioinspiration can go even beyond that of animals in nature. |
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Plenary Talk II - October 22(TUE), 2013 (11:20~12:20) | |
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Prof. Mamoru Mitsuishi (The University of Tokyo, Japan) |
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Expansion of Manufacturing Technologies into Medical Fields |
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| The role of engineering, and in particular manufacturing technologies, is increasing rapidly in the medical and welfare sectors. In my talk, I introduce, at first, the biofabrication area, along with a discussion of the materials and the manufacturing methods used for artificial joints and stents. For example, microstructures and nanostructures on an artificial joint surface allows for a rapid increase in the adhesive force between the bone and the artificial joint after implantation. Next, the biomechatronics area is introduced through a discussion of technologies that are expected to improve bone cutting accuracy and reduce damage to bones during joint replacement surgery, including medical CAM and surgical registration system. Then, future trends in the medical research and industry are discussed from an engineering perspective, including supermicrosurgery, process innovation in the surgery, tele-surgery, HIFU (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound), and microrobot. | ||
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Plenary Talk III - October 23(WED), 2013 (11:20~12:20) | |
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Dr. Bradley Nelson (Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich, Switzerland) |
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MicroRobotics and NanoMedicine |
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| Abstract: While the futuristic vision of micro and nanorobotics is of intelligent machines that navigate throughout our bodies searching for and destroying disease, we have a long way to go to get there. Progress is being made, though, and the past decade has seen impressive advances in the fabrication, powering, and control of tiny motile devices. Much of our work focuses on creating systems for controlling micro and nanorobots in liquid as well as pursuing applications of these devices. Larger scale microrobots for delivering drugs to the retina to treat eye diseases such as age related macular degeneration and retinal vein and artery occlusion are moving towards clinical trials. As size decreases to the nanoscale, we have been inspired by motile bacteria, such as E. coli, and have developed nanorobots that swim with a similar technique. Applications we pursue at these scales are for the treatment of breast cancer and cerebral infarctions. As systems such as these enter clinical trials, and as commercial applications of this new technology are realized, radically new therapies and uses will result that have yet to be envisioned. | ||
