Growing applications of robotics, automation and mechatronics in non-traditional industries (such as agricultural, food-processing, structural health monitoring, surgical robotics, and healthcare) present new opportunities as well as challenges. Unlike dealing with engineering objects, developing application-oriented automation systems (working with human-subjects and/or handling live-products and natural-objects) require well-thought designs to minimize the number of experiments. Often, such systems require fusing the knowledge and techniques beyond traditional engineering fields. Along with several practical and emerging applications to help illustrate the impacts, this talk will focus on simulation-based engineering science (SES) which offers the scientific and mathematical basis to develop new approaches to synergistically design, model, algorithm, real-time computation, communication and control of systems for automation in the era of information technology (AeIT).

Dr. Kok-Meng Lee received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982 and 1985, respectively. He has been with the Georgia Institute of Technology since 1985. As a Professor of mechanical engineering, his research interests include system dynamics and control, robotics, automation and optomechatronics. He holds seven U.S. patents. Dr. Lee is a Fellow of ASME and IEEE. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE/ASME Transactions of Mechatronics for which he served as an Editor from 1995 to 1999. He has held representative positions within the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society: he founded and chaired the Technical Committees on Manufacturing Automation (1996 to 1998) and on Prototyping for Robotics and Automation; and served as Chair or Co-Chair for numerous international conferences and on the AIM Conference Advisory Committee since 2000. His awards include Presidential Young Investigator (PYI) Award, Sigma Xi Junior Faculty Award, International Hall of Fame New Technology Award, and the Woodruff Faculty Fellow. He was also recognized as an advisor for seven Best Student Paper Awards and a Best Thesis Award.