Speaker：Prof. Dr. Teresa Zielinska, Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering,
Warsaw University of Technology, Poland
 
Time：9:00 - 11:30am
Date：Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
 
Place： Room F201, Building A, School of Mechanical Engineering
 
Topic:  FUNDAMENTALS OF MOBILE ROBOTS DEVELOPMENT: locomotion mechanisms in humanoids and multi-legged   walking robots
 
ABSTRACT: The presentation  gives the introductory knowledge in the area of  legged robots. The author has considerable experience in prototyping walking machines,  including control systems development, motion synthesis and   mechanical system design.

 Outline of the presentation is as following:
 - basic facts and definitions (what stimulates progress in  walking and mobile robots), - historical outline (starting from the first ,,robotics’’ ideas in ancient times), - selected   terms and definitions (robot types), - robot classification by locomotion method, - design approaches (comparison of the new and classic approaches), - methods of postural stabilization (static and dynamic  postural stability), - synthesis of  motion: fundamentals and gait synthesis methods in multi-legged  machines  and  bipeds (gait types, criteria used for motion synthesis, current research problems), -  new approaches to motion synthesis (what is promising concerning the needed increase of robot autonomy). Further reading material for deeper study will be suggested.
 
This seminar is a part of SJTU – Europe collaboration within the framework of European Master of Advanced Robotics (EMARO) supported by EU.
 
About Professor Teresa Zielinska 
Professor Teresa Zielinska obtained the M.Eng. in electronics with specialisation in automatic control with Electronic Department at Warsaw University of Technology. First  she was employed by Institute of System Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, as a research assistant. She was dealing with problems of transport networks. Next  she took a job of programmer in the Computer Center of the Agricultural Academy in Warsaw writing programs and consulting in the field of identification methods.  Several  years she was a regular contributor to the INFORMATYKA (Computer Science) magazine. Since 1987  she have been working in Warsaw University of Technology - Power and Aerospace Engineering Faculty, Institute of Aeronautics and Applied Mechanics. In 1987 she received the  Ph.D in robotics. In the years 1989-90 she was the secretary of the Team of Experts advising the Ministry of National Education in the matters of Automatic Control and Robotics. In 1990 she obtained from the Polish Ministry of National Education and Italian Ministry of Education a research stipend. She spent four months in  Politecnico di Torino, Mechanical Engineering Department, where she investigated the control of a flexible-arm robot. In 1992 on the basis of individual research grant from the Science and Engineering Research Council in Great Britain she worked on novel tactile sensors to be utilised in robots (Loughborough University of Technology) United Kingdom. She elaborated and produced polymer tactile sensor for normal and shear measurement and evaluation of forces distribution. Since 1993 she  has been working on utilisation of biological patterns in planning walking machine motion (synthesis of their control systems), on control systems design, synthesis implementation and navigation  of mobile robots. Together with a team from Institute of Automatic Control of Warsaw University of Technology, she designed and produced a research-oriented controller for the industrial robot.  She participated in the NSF  grant on biped robots conducted by Warsaw University of Technology and  Ohio State University, USA. 
During  several  years she managed  bilateral scientific co operation  in the area of robotics between Poland and Germany.
In 1995 she  got the D.Sc. (dr.habil.) from Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1998-2001 she was employed by Nanyang Technological University  Singapore. At that time she designed and implemented the quadruped walking machine control system and control systems for motion control and navigation of six-legged  machines. She was also the advisaor of mechanical design. Since 2005 she is full professor. She conducts research work in the area of: - design and control of manipulators, walking machines, - methods of recognising  the surroundings by using diverse sensors, principles governing the co-operation between mobile robots. Her research interest focuses in the autonomous devices with enhanced mobility and autonomy. She is interested in the new design solutions, in the utilisation of the new materials, control methods and sensors. In years 2001-2008 she headed the Division of Theory of Machines and Robots and supervised  Automatics & Robotics studies at the Faculty. She also headed the commission for staff evaluation at the Institute. She is  the author and co-author of more than 200 scientific publications in conference proceedings, books and journals. 
She edited, co-authored or authored several books. For the Monograph: Walking Machines: Fundamentals, Design, Control and Biological Patterns (National Scientific Publisher - 2003) she awarded  Minister of Education Price (2004).  Recently she issued Walking: Biological and Technological Aspects (ed. F.Pfeiffer, T.Zielinska), CISM Courses and Lectures no.467, Springer 2004. 

She was secretary of book series on Basics Technical Problems and is a member of scientific committees of several periodic conferences. For her research and educational work awarded several University prices. She is nominated member of:  History of Machines and  Mechanisms Committee by IFToMM  and  Technical Committee Robotics by IFToMM. (International Federation on Theory of Machines and Mechanisms) and senior member of  IEEE.
 She is associate editor of Mechanism and Machine Theory (by Elsevier). She acts in Steering Committee of CISM IFToMM Symposia on Robotics, and is a main organizer of the  event  held in year 2006 (RoManSy).