Waitian

Robotics technology has served humans in numerous application fields, especially product assembly in manufacturing contexts. Global competitors and technological advancements result in great challenges and much more complicated working environments for manufacturing. Human-robot collaboration (HRC) has numerous vital and outstanding advantages to substantially lessen the amount of fixed production costs in comparison to variable costs. HRC provides a great solution to complex hybrid manufacturing tasks. The cooperation of humans and robots in collaborative tasks can take advantage of the differing strengths from both sides. In this talk, I will give a brief introduction to robotics research and education at Montclair State University. Then I will share some of my research projects focusing on human-robot collaboration in smart manufacturing contexts including current challenges, the needs of HRC, robot learning from human demonstrations, human factors in human-robot collaboration, and new robot system development. Experimental results and discussions in real-world human-robot collaborative contexts will be presented.

Biography:

Dr. Weitian Wang is an associate professor in the School of Computing at Montclair State University and the Director of Montclair Collaborative Robotics and Smart Systems Laboratory (CRoSS Lab) and NSF MRI MCROS Site. His research focuses on collaborative robotics, smart systems, and their synergistic CRoSS-disciplinary applications in smart manufacturing, healthcare, aerospace, intelligent transportation, sustainable energy, smart agriculture, daily assistance, and interactive learning. Dr. Wang is the recipient of NSF CRII, MRI, ERI, and REU Awards. The results of his work have been published in multiple peer-reviewed international journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings. He received several IEEE/ASME Best Paper/Presentation/Mentor Awards. He is the recipient of Montclair State University Advising Excellence Faculty Advisor Award. Dr. Wang is an IEEE STEM Champion. He is enthusiastic about STEM education and develops numerous education and outreach programs for K-12, undergraduate, and graduate students.

Address:United States