The IEEE ICMA 2023 International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation Took Place

 To advance the high-quality development of Harbin Engineering University (HEU) in mechatronics and automation, harness the university’s unique disciplinary advantages and foster international exchanges and collaboration, the 2023 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation (referred to as IEEE ICMA 2023) was held in Harbin from August 6th to 9th. This event, as a crucial component of the celebrations for HEU’s 70th anniversary, attracted over 500 experts and scholars from countries and regions, including China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Japan, South Korea, etc. Participants engaged in discussions and shared insights on academic and technical aspects related to mechatronics and automation. The conference featured presentations by internationally renowned scholars in the field. 

The conference, hosted by the American Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and organized by HEU’s College of Intelligent Systems Science and Engineering, had Professor Darwin G. Caldwell, a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, IEEE Fellow, and a professor at the Italian Institute of Technology, and Professor ZHANG Yonggang of our university, serving as the chairman. 

YAN Rujian, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Vice President of Harbin Engineering University, delivered a welcome speech. Emphasizing HEU’s significance as a talent training and research base in shipbuilding and maritime industry in China, he highlighted the distinctive characteristics of its control discipline in ship and sea navigation. YAN expressed hope that IEEE ICMA 2023 would provide a platform for researchers, educators, engineers, and managers in mechatronics, robotics, sensors, and automation to showcase research results and foster academic exchanges on future research directions.

GUO Shuxiang, academician of the Japanese Academy of Engineering and founding chairman of the conference, delivered a speech expressing gratitude for the support received. He encouraged young scholars to actively exchange ideas, expand international perspectives, and laid the foundation for creating new achievements in mechatronics and automation technology.

During the event, notable figures such as Professor Darwin G. Caldwell at the Italian Institute of Technology, Professor Toshio Fukuda, academician of the Japanese Academy of Engineering, Professor Kazuhiro Kosuge of the University of Hong Kong, and Professor ZHANG Tao of Tsinghua University delivered speeches respectively. Subsequently, the conference held a 20th-anniversary celebration of IEEE ICMA.

Keynote speeches were given by Professor Kazuhiro Kosuge from the University of Hong Kong, Professor Danilo P. Mandic from Imperial College London, and Professor Darwin G. Caldwell from the Italian Institute of Technology. The topics covered robotics, artificial intelligence, national health, and smart healthcare, as well as worker health and industrial efficiency improvement.

Parallel to the conference, the World Advanced Forum on Medical Robotics, the Doctoral Forum on Artificial Intelligence and Complex System Control, and seven sub-forums were held. These forums provided a platform for experts and scholars to exchange ideas on key issues in mechatronics and automation, offer unique insights and further the discipline’s high-level development. During the conference award ceremony, the collaborative paper by HEU doctoral students, ZHU Fengchi, ZHANG Siqing, and Professor HUANG Yulong, won the Best Student Thesis Award.

The IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation holds significant influence in the international robotics and automation field, having successfully conducted 19 sessions worldwide. The conference received a total of 625 submitted papers from 28 countries and regions, with 412 accepted. All published conference papers are indexed by EI and stored in the technical database of the American Society of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The National Library of the United States collects all published papers and CDs, and some outstanding papers will be accepted by international academic journals indexed by SCI/EI or published as book sections.