Keynote speakers
Keynote № 4
Development of Skiing and Curling 6-Legged Robots
for Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games
Abstract：
The research on the skiing and curling robots has attracted the attention of the international robot field. In 2019, the relevant articles were published in the Science Robotics to explain that the research for the skiing and curling robots was the preface of International robot science. The speech will introduce the skiing and curling robots. The first was a six-legged skiing robot. With this robot, the front and hind legs were fixed on the skis and each of the two middle legs was holding a ski stick. Each ski had five degrees-of-freedom, through which the height, body pitch-roll angles, center of gravity in relation to the four fixing legs, the edge angle of each ski, and the relative position/ orientation of the skis could be adjusted, allowing full speed and steering control of the robot. The robot could be controlled either by a joystick or operate autonomously and it was tested on both beginner and intermediate slopes to assess its performance and obstacle avoidance capabilities. The second was a six-legged curling robot. It also had six legs and the front two were used as ‘hands’ to control the delivering direction and rotational speed of a curling stone. The two middle legs and the bottom of the body were combined to use as the sliding foot of the robot player, whereas the two rear legs were used as the ‘hack foot’ to push against the hack when starting the delivery of the curling stone. The robot was integrated with both visual and force perception, allowing accurate directional control and delivery of each shot as determined by game plans and team tactics. The robot was demonstrated at the Ice Cube for the Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. One exciting prospect of this new curling robot is that it can also be controlled remotely, online. With high level decision support, real-time dynamic modelling and shot planning, one can orchestrate defensive or offensive strategies, making this game of ‘chess on ice’ truly exciting. It is expected that the robot can also become a trainer for curling athletes or enthusiasts, making the sport more accessible to the general public.
Resume:
Feng Gao earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1991, and his Master in Mechanical Engineering at Northeast Heavy Machinery Institute in 1982. From 1995 to 1997, he was a postdoctoral research associate in the School of Engineering Science at Simon Fraser University. He was a full professor at Yanshan University from 1995 to 1999. He served first as Vice President and then as President of Hebei University of Technology from 2000 to 2004. From 2009 to 2013, he served as the director of the State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Systems and Vibration at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Since 2004, he has been the Chair Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He won the 2013 China National Natural Science Award because of his contributions in parallel mechanism design and the 8 items of awards from the provincial science and technology invention prizes in China. And he won the ASME Leonardo Da Vinci Award in USA in 2014. He has been granted 126 patents and has published 3 research books on mechanisms and robotics, as well as 210 papers in international journals and conference proceedings. He served as the General Member of the ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Committee, the Associate Editors of Mechanism and Machine Theory, ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, Robotica, Engineering, and Deputy Editor in Chief for the Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering (in English). He gave Keynote Speeches in36th ASME Mechanisms and Robotics International Conference(2012) and in IFToMM2015, respectively.
The research on the skiing and curling robots has attracted the attention of the international robot field. In 2019, the relevant articles were published in the Science Robotics to explain that the research for the skiing and curling robots was the preface of International robot science. The speech will introduce the skiing and curling robots. The first was a six-legged skiing robot. With this robot, the front and hind legs were fixed on the skis and each of the two middle legs was holding a ski stick. Each ski had five degrees-of-freedom, through which the height, body pitch-roll angles, center of gravity in relation to the four fixing legs, the edge angle of each ski, and the relative position/ orientation of the skis could be adjusted, allowing full speed and steering control of the robot. The robot could be controlled either by a joystick or operate autonomously and it was tested on both beginner and intermediate slopes to assess its performance and obstacle avoidance capabilities. The second was a six-legged curling robot. It also had six legs and the front two were used as ‘hands’ to control the delivering direction and rotational speed of a curling stone. The two middle legs and the bottom of the body were combined to use as the sliding foot of the robot player, whereas the two rear legs were used as the ‘hack foot’ to push against the hack when starting the delivery of the curling stone. The robot was integrated with both visual and force perception, allowing accurate directional control and delivery of each shot as determined by game plans and team tactics. The robot was demonstrated at the Ice Cube for the Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. One exciting prospect of this new curling robot is that it can also be controlled remotely, online. With high level decision support, real-time dynamic modelling and shot planning, one can orchestrate defensive or offensive strategies, making this game of ‘chess on ice’ truly exciting. It is expected that the robot can also become a trainer for curling athletes or enthusiasts, making the sport more accessible to the general public.
Resume:
Feng Gao earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1991, and his Master in Mechanical Engineering at Northeast Heavy Machinery Institute in 1982. From 1995 to 1997, he was a postdoctoral research associate in the School of Engineering Science at Simon Fraser University. He was a full professor at Yanshan University from 1995 to 1999. He served first as Vice President and then as President of Hebei University of Technology from 2000 to 2004. From 2009 to 2013, he served as the director of the State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Systems and Vibration at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Since 2004, he has been the Chair Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He won the 2013 China National Natural Science Award because of his contributions in parallel mechanism design and the 8 items of awards from the provincial science and technology invention prizes in China. And he won the ASME Leonardo Da Vinci Award in USA in 2014. He has been granted 126 patents and has published 3 research books on mechanisms and robotics, as well as 210 papers in international journals and conference proceedings. He served as the General Member of the ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Committee, the Associate Editors of Mechanism and Machine Theory, ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, Robotica, Engineering, and Deputy Editor in Chief for the Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering (in English). He gave Keynote Speeches in36th ASME Mechanisms and Robotics International Conference(2012) and in IFToMM2015, respectively.
Prof. Feng Gao
State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Systems and Vibration,
School of Mechanical Engineering
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
No.800, Dongchuan Road, Minhang District
Shanghai 200240, China
Email: fengg@sjtu.edu.cn
School of Mechanical Engineering
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
No.800, Dongchuan Road, Minhang District
Shanghai 200240, China
Email: fengg@sjtu.edu.cn
