Biography
Dr. Darwin Lau
Dr. Darwin Lau
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China
Title: Recent Advances in the Fundamentals and Applications of Cable-Driven Robots
Abstract: 
Cable-driven robots have been studied in recent years due to its unique characteristics and advantages. From modelling, dynamics, control and workspace analysis, there exists many difficult challenges due to the characteristic that cables can only pull and not push. This presentation introduces the recent developments of a generalised platform for cable-driven robots, not only with respect to fundamental analysis, but also the software and hardware implementations. Different applications of the use of cable-driven robots, such as bio-mechatronics and building construction, will also be presented.
Biography: 
Darwin Lau received Bachelor of Engineering (mechatronics) and Bachelor of Computer Science degrees from the University of Melbourne, Australia, in 2008, and the Ph.D degree in robotics from the University of Melbourne, in 2014, on the modelling and analysis of anthropomorphic musculoskeletal cable-driven robots. From 2014 to 2015, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at ISIR, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France, on the ROMEO2 project working on predictive control walking algorithms. Currently, he is an assistant professor at the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research interests include: the study of kinematics, dynamics and control of complex robotic mechanisms, such as redundantly actuated and cable-driven manipulators. The applications of the work focus on bio-inspired robots, biomechatronics and robotic architecture and construction.