KU Affairs

Khalifa University to Organize First-Ever MBZIRC Symposium Soon After MBZIRC 2020 in Abu Dhabi Next Month

February 5, 2020

Elite Business Networking Event Will Gather 30 MBZIRC 2020 Teams, Attendees and Industry Representatives for Exploring Technology Innovation and Cutting Edge Research in Robotics

Khalifa University of Science and Technology, organizers of the Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge (MBZIRC), today announced it will host the first-ever MBZIRC Symposium that will bring together the 30 teams and other international experts in robotics from the US$5-million MBZIRC 2020 for an unprecedented opportunity to present their innovations and review their role in the competition. MBZIRC 2020 is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

The Challenge will be co-located with the 4th edition of Unmanned System Exhibition (UMEX) and the Simulation and Training Exhibition and Conference (SimTEX) from 26-27 February 2020 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center (ADNEC). The symposium will feature leading experts in robotics and autonomous vehicles from 30 MBZIRC 2020 teams, other international robotics experts, and industry representatives, sharing their insights. The MBZIRC teams will be given the opportunity to showcase their projects directly to industry representatives, in order to further increase interest and raise awareness, while facilitating opportunities for research collaborations.

Dr Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, Executive Vice-President, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, said: “The first-ever MBZIRC Symposium will bring together some of the most creative robotics experts from across the world as well as industry representatives and other guests. Through the symposium, we not only facilitate the meeting of minds from the academia and the industry, but also pave the way for industry funding to flow towards some of the most fascinating new technologies in robotics and artificial intelligence.”

The leading robotics experts giving talks at the symposium include Prof Pedro Lima, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) – University of Lisbon; Prof Marcello Ang, Associate Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering National University of Singapore; Prof Ronald Arkin (Robotic Colonies), Regents’ Professor, Director of Mobile Robot Laboratory, Georgia Tech; Prof Rainer Bischoff (Robotic Industry), Chair of the Department of Analytical Biochemistry, University of Groningen; Prof Paolo Dario, Professor of Biomedical Robotics and Director of The BioRobotics Institute of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (SSSA); Prof Jianwei Zhang, professor and head of Technical Aspects of Multimodal Systems (TAMS), Department of Informatics, University of Hamburg; Dr Rachid Alami, Senior Scientist (Directeur de Recherche) at French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Prof Tamim Asfour, Institute for Anthropomatics and Robotics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany.

Participating teams and other robotics experts will also submit papers for presenting at the symposium, subject to acceptance after a peer review. The symposium agenda will include an engaging, and informative lineup of invited talks, presentations, and workshops that aim to foster innovation and research excellence in robotics.

The symposium will immediately follow MBZIRC 2020 (www.mbzirc.com) which is based on autonomous aerial and ground robots performing three iconic challenges and a triathlon type Grand Challenge. MBZIRC is a US$5-million biennial international robotics competition that provides an ambitious and technologically demanding set of challenges, and is open to teams from all countries. The main aim of MBZIRC is to inspire future robotics through innovative solutions and technological excellence.

Clarence Michael
News Writer
29 January 2020