IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2016 - 113

and local maker spaces. The total number of RAS-GD members has reached
50 since the beginning of 2015.
RAS-GD's first activity was an Intelligent Robot Forum held at Harbin Institute of Technology at Shenzhen on 15
May 2015 (Figures 1 and 2). More than
20 prestigious scholars from Shenzhen
Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong
University were invited to attend this
forum. Senior representatives from the
industry, Huawei and Goer Tech, also
attended the forum, while national tech
media (www.leiphone.com) and Shenzhen Evening News were attracted by the
event as well.
Six senior professors in different subbranches of robotics shared recent developments of their research groups. Prof.
Fuchun Sun from Tsinghua University
gave a speech about the next generation
of cognitive robotic technologies. He
reviewed theoretical foundations and key
technologies in the field of cognitive
robotics and showed the latest research
results of his team in bionic hands for
precise manipulation. Prof. Weidong
Chen from Shanghai Jiao Tong University has long been concerned with how
robotics could help improve the problems
of an aging society. His presentation was
"Autonomous and Safety in Assistive
Robotics," which introduced interesting
demos of an intelligent wheelchair
equipped with an assistive manipulator
achieved by his research team. Prof. Bin
Xian from Tianjin University gave a
report on nonlinear flight control of
microdrones. Prof. Li Liu from Tsinghua
University focused on new methodologies for fast navigation of humanoids.
Prof. Yisheng Guan from the Guangdong
University of Technology introduced his
research on modular climbing robots and
their applications. Dr. Jinhui Zhu from
the South China University of Technology gave a comprehensive review of
robot operating systems.
RAS NUCES Lahore Student
Chapter, Pakistan
The RAS NUCES Lahore Student Chapter, established in 2015, is located at the
National University of Computer and

Figure 3. The RAS NUCES Lahore Student Chapter.

Figure 4. The Elementary Robotics Workshop.

Emerging Sciences (NUCES), Lahore
Campus, in Pakistan. The first activity of
the RAS NUCES Lahore Student Chapter, Elementary Robotics Workshop, was
held on 17 October 2015 at FAST-NU
Lahore Campus (Figures 3 and 4). The
main focus of the workshop was to provide hands-on experience to the students,
enabling them to build their own mobile
robots. Ten groups from the university,
totaling 35 participants, took part in this
workshop, including both male and
female students from the electrical engineering and computer science fields.
At the beginning of the session, Chapter advisor Omar Saleem Bhatti briefly
described the targets of the workshop and
explained the basic components to make
sure that the students were familiar with
the electronics portion of the task at hand.
Next, Awais Khan, a recent graduate engineer from FAST-NU, gave a lecture on
sensors and their functionality. Partici-

pants were provided with hardware components so that they could get acquainted
with the sensors and modules. Under the
guidance of mentors, students assembled
the components on chassis. Chapter Chair
Faisal Abbas explained how to interface
sensors with Arduino. The next lecture
helped the participants learn to connect
the Bluetooth module on their robot with
their smartphones and to interface ultrasonic sensor with the Arduino. Each sensor was to be programmed to make the
robot perform a particular function. Mentors were present to guide and assist the
students. At the end of session, the participants were given a set of tasks. They were
given two days to program their robots to
be controlled by a smartphone, follow a
white track, and avoid obstacles. In the
end, each group was evaluated based on
how quickly and efficiently its robot was
able to complete each task.

march 2016

IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

113

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