Keynotes

Keynote 1: “Digital Transformation and AIoT Enhance Robotics Integrated Resilient Manufacturing Ecosystem”

Keynote 1: “Digital Transformation and AIoT Enhance Robotics Integrated Resilient Manufacturing Ecosystem”

Presenter

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ren C. Luo

Abstract

For recent technological development, in which Digital Transformation, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Robotics Integrated Resilient Manufacturing Ecosystem are included. Digital transformation is on the basis of digital technology through innovative products, services with competitive business model for resilient and sustainable industrial growth development. As the industry encountered lack of skilled labors and increased wages, the need of AI and IoT (AIoT) enhanced autonomous mobile industrial robot (AMIR) and resilient manufacturing automation is obvious. Amazon, Google and Microsoft are investing in AIoT and intelligent robotics technology. Others are likely to follow, further to stimulate investment and innovation.

Artificial Intelligent becomes important core technology of soft power which has a wide spectrum of applications including warehousing and logistic systems, robot integrated manufacturing automation, industrial cyber-physical systems (iCPS). etc. The aforementioned issues, challenges and opportunities will be the focus of this presentation including some exemplary best practices and research results with video demo at our NTU Intelligent Robotics and Automation Research Lab.

Bio

Prof. Ren C. Luo, IEEE and IET Fellow, received Dipl-Ing. and Dr.-Ing in EE from the Technische Universitaet Berlin, Germany. He is an Irving T. Ho Chair Professor at National Taiwan University. He served two-terms as President and Dean of Engineering of National Chung Cheng University, one of the major universities in Taiwan, and Founding President of Robotics Society of Taiwan. He was President of IEEE Industrial Electronics Society.

Prof. Luo was Toshiba Chair Professor in the University of Tokyo, Japan. He has served as an Assistant Prof., tenured Associate Prof. and Full Prof. at Department of ECE in the North Carolina State University,USA. He served as CTO of FFG Inc. the world 3rd largest machine tool manufacturer and was CTO of ASUS Inc. the world 2nd largest PC manufacturer and Chief Technology Officer of FFG Inc. the world 3rd largest machine tool manufacturer.

Prof. Luo’s professional expertise includes AI enhanced robotic control systems, ulti-sensor fusion, computer vision, intelligent manufacturing automation technologies. He has authored over 530 papers, which have been published in refereed international Transactions/ Journals and refereed conference proceedings. He also holds over 25 international patents. He is current Editor- in- Chief of IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics (IF 11.648), also served 5 years Editor-in-Chief of IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.

Prof. Luo received IEEE Eugene Mittelmann Outstanding Research Achievement Award, IEEE IROS Harashima Innovative Technologies Award; ALCOA Company Outstanding Engineering Research Award, USA; He also served as referee and final review panel member for the evaluation and assessment of national competitive major research grants program for numerous international organizations and countries, such as USA, Japan, Canada, Australia, European Union, Austria, Swiss, Singapore etc

Keynote 2: “Energy Communities - empowering decentralized prosumers of renewable energy”

Keynote 2: “Energy Communities - empowering decentralized prosumers of renewable energy”

Presenter

Prof. Thilo Sauter

Abstract

It is not a new insight, but climate crisis and the apparent unreliability of oil and natural gas supplies have made it more pressing than ever: We must reduce the reliance on fossile energy and increase the use of renewables. Renewable energy has the obvious benefit of decentralized production possibilities, but the structural change from traditional hierarchical energy supply grids with centrally controlled generation to an interaction of steadily growing, decentralized, volatile producers requires novel control concepts. This becomes even more obvious when considering the contributions of individual, private prosumers on the one hand and the limitations of the distribution grid on the other hand. Energy communities are an important step towards overcoming these limitations. In contrast to simple aggregation, load management or self-consumption optimization of individual customers, cooperative bundling of different prosumers in grid segments may help to optimize the overall state of the grid. This also makes energy communities important new partners for distribution system operators. The keynote will review the background of this relatively novel concept, as well as technical and organizational issues and challenges around its implementation.

Bio

Thilo Sauter (M’93–SM’09–F’14) received the Dipl.-Ing. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from TU Wien, Vienna, Austria, in 1992 and 1999, respectively. Until 2003, he led the Factory Communication Group at the Institute of Computer Technology. From 2004 to 2013, he was the Founding Director of the Institute for Integrated Sensor Systems at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Since 2013, he has been with the Department of Integrated Sensor Systems at the Danube University Krems, Austria, and a tenured Associate Professor for automation technology at TU Wien since 2014. His expertise and research interests include embedded systems and integrated circuit design, smart sensors, and automation and sensor networks with a focus on real-time, security, interconnection, and integration issues relevant to cyberphysical systems and the Internet of Things in various application domains such as industrial and building automation, smart manufacturing, or smart grids.

Prof. Luo was Toshiba Chair Professor in the University of Tokyo, Japan. He has served as an Assistant Prof., tenured Associate Prof. and Full Prof. at Department of ECE in the North Carolina State University,USA. He served as CTO of FFG Inc. the world 3rd largest machine tool manufacturer and was CTO of ASUS Inc. the world 2nd largest PC manufacturer and Chief Technology Officer of FFG Inc. the world 3rd largest machine tool manufacturer.

Dr. Sauter is the Vice President of the Austrian Association for Instrumentation, Automation, and Robotics, member of the Board of the Austrian Electrotechnical Association, Senior AdCom Member of the IES, and Treasurer of the IEEE Austria Section. He was chair of the IEEE IES Technical Committee on Factory Automation from 2010-2011. He is author or co-author of more than 350 scientific publications and has held leading positions in renowned IEEE conferences, such as Program Co-Chair of WFCS 2004, ETFA 2005 and 2014, ISIE 2010, INDIN 2019, and General Co-Chair of ISPCS 2007, WFCS 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, ETFA 2020, and INDIN 2021. He is currently Vice-President for Publications of the IES, past Editor-in-Chief of IEM, and AE for TII and IEEE Sensors Journal, and has been Guest Editor for a number of Special Sections in various IEEE journals. Moreover, he has been involved in the standardization of industrial communication systems for more than 20 years.

Keynote 3: “UniversalAutomation.Org : the missing link to Industry 4.0”

Keynote 3: “UniversalAutomation.Org : the missing link to Industry 4.0”

Presenter

Dr. John Conway

Abstract

An always changing environment imposes more flexibility for the manufacturing which impacts automation. In order to answer those challenges, machines and processes need to have more integration with IT applications such as Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Predictive Maintenance. This IT integration requires getting access to the process data and more investment in software. But how to do it when the automation application is dependent from the vendor’s hardware?

Bio

More than 40 years of experience in the automation industry working for different supplier. Managed multiple merger and acquisitions projects in the industrial automation area. Now working as President of the newly formed independent non-profit association UniversalAutomation.org