Personal statement
Dr Erfu Yang is a Senior Lecturer in Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) Group within the Department of Design, Manufacturing and Engineering Management (DMEM) at the University of Strathclyde. In 2008, he received his Ph.D. degree in robotics from the University of Essex, Colchester, UK, within the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering.
Before joining the DMEM, he was a research fellow in the Cognitive Signal Image and Control Processing Research (COSIPRA) Laboratory at the University of Stirling, UK. Previously, as a research fellow he also worked in the Department of Mechanical and Control Systems Engineering (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan) and School of Engineering (University of Edinburgh, UK). His main research interests include robotics, autonomous systems, computer vision, image/signal processing, mechatronics, data analytics, manufacturing automation, multi-objective optimizations, and applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence including multi-agent reinforcement learning, fuzzy logic, neural networks, bio-inspired algorithms, and cognitive computation, etc. He has over 160 publications in these areas, including more than 80 journal papers and 10 book chapters.
Dr Yang has been awarded over 15 research grants as PI (principal investigator) or CI (co-investigator). He is the Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy, Member of the UK Engineering Professors’ Council, Senior Member of the IEEE Society of Robotics and Automation, IEEE Control Systems Society, Publicity Co-Chair of the IEEE UK and Ireland Industry Applications Chapter, Committee Member of the Chinese Automation and Computing Society in the UK (CACSUK), and the IET SCOTLAND Manufacturing Technical Network. Dr Yang has been a Scientific/Technical Programme Committee member or organizer for a series of international conferences and workshops. He is an associate editor for the Cognitive Computation journal published by Springer.
Professional activities
- IEEE (External organisation)
- Member
- 29/6/2022
- Clean Growth Fund
- Presenter
- 16/6/2022
- Host industry visitor and meeting
- Host
- 8/6/2022
- Host industry visitor and meeting
- Host
- 6/6/2022
- Information Sciences (Journal)
- Peer reviewer
- 29/5/2022
- Host industry visitor and meeting
- Host
- 16/5/2022
More professional activities
Projects
- Flexible Human-Robot Collaborative Inspection for In-Process Quality Control in Smart Manufacturing
- Yang, Erfu (Principal Investigator) Luo, Xichun (Co-investigator) Othman, Uqba (Researcher)
- The overall research aim of this project is to fundamentally investigate the novel flexible human-robot collaborative inspection strategies by enabling holistic control and interactions of collaborative robots in complex human-robot collaborative manufacturing environments such that safety and interaction of nearby humans/operators can be maintained while the in-process inspection and quality control are being done. At the same time, the efficiency and flexibility of the manufacturing process is also achieved when process variations or environmental changes occur in advanced manufacturing systems.
To achieve this aim, the proposed project will be focusing on the following three research objectives: 1) A comprehensive review of the state of the art in collaborative robotics and human-robot interactions towards smarter manufacturing in the digital age. 2) Investigation of novel concepts and algorithms for intelligent control, motion planning, and machine learning. 3) Development and testing of prototype sensing, Inspection with machine vision and NDT, path planning, and control system in the complex human-robot collaborative manufacturing environments. - 01-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2024
- Pilot Research for Cobot Solution Development
- Yang, Erfu (Principal Investigator) Stasse, Florian (Researcher) Moonnamthodiyil Mohandas, Aravind (Researcher)
- A Cobot (Collaborative Robot) pilot research project funded by an internationally leading industry.
- 16-Jan-2021 - 15-Jan-2022
- Autonomous and Interactive Station Rover for Next-Generation Passenger Information System
- Yang, Erfu (Principal Investigator) Luo, Xichun (Co-investigator) Corney, Jonathan (Co-investigator) Alcantara de la Cruz, Daniel (Researcher)
- KTP project with TrainFX Limited. In total £190,122, funded by the Innovate UK.
- 01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2023
- Autonomous Manufacturing of Composite Products with Multiple Flexible and Intelligent Robots
- Yang, Erfu (Principal Investigator) Bomphray, Iain (Co-investigator) Loeliger, Andrew (Researcher)
- The ambition of this project is to fundamentally investigate the novel adaptive control algorithms and smart path planning strategies for developing a feasible solution to the autonomous manufacturing of composite products through the use of a MAR system. A highly-efficient vision system is also to be investigated by utilising advanced machine learning algorithms to detect the tools and materials, which is more intelligent and can significantly reduce human’s work. The proposed adaptive control algorithms and smart path planning strategies consist of an intelligent MAR controller and in-process path planner that determines an optimal path in a collaborative manner of multiple robots in the flexible manufacturing environment has raised the significant challenges in both academic and industrial domains It is also proposed that the MAR will have obstacle avoidance capabilities to avoid collision with other machines and humans in the shared workfloor
- 01-Jan-2020 - 30-Jan-2023
- KTP - TrainFX Resubmission
- Yang, Erfu (Principal Investigator) Corney, Jonathan (Co-investigator) Luo, Xichun (Co-investigator)
- 07-Jan-2020 - 06-Jan-2022
- Development of Thickness Control Technology using AI Controls for Blown Film Air Ring
- Yang, Erfu (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2019 - 31-Jan-2021
More projects
Address
Design, Manufacturing and Engineering Management
James Weir Building
James Weir Building
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