Guest lecture: From Geometry to Startups and to …Incubators

“From Geometry to Startups and to …Incubators” presented by Professor Zexiang Li, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Abstract:
Many problems in robotics, mechanism design and manufacturing research are geometric in nature: Rigid body motion, modeling, analysis and synthesis of both open-chain and closed-chain manipulators, grasping and manipulation with multi-fingered robotic hands, tolerance formulation and verification, design and control of five-axis machines, etc. In this talk, I will present an effort, which was initiated by R. Brockett of Harvard about 30 years ago, and continued by the Berkeley group and then my own group at HKUST  for the last 20  years to develop a unified theory, using tools from differentiable manifolds and Lie groups, for robotics,  mechanism design and manufacturing research.  First, using intuitive examples, I will recollect some of the basic concepts of differentiable manifolds and their “engineering” classifications. Then, I will show how problems in robotics, mechanism design and manufacturing research can be modeled using various types of manifolds as their model spaces. Finally, I will highlight how geometric properties of these spaces are being exploited to provide more efficient solutions for optimization problems defined on these spaces.

I will describe how results from this research program are being used as basis for founding of Googoltech, a leading motion control company in China, DJI, a global leader in UAV and flycam products, and Lie Group Automation (or QKM), a provider of  robot system solutions to the fastest-growing and now the  largest industry robot market  in the world. Burrowing from L. Page’s words, I credit this effort to “Geometry as inspiration”. 

There are grand opportunities for robotic research in China. However, the biggest challenge lies in the creation of an eco-system that foster growth of many more startups from our research and teaching programs. A new robotics institute has been established at HKUST for such a purpose. We also recently established a robotic startup center at Songshan Lake to complement this effort. Leavaging on the amazing manufacturing eco-system in Southern China, the Songshan Lake (SSL) Robotic Startup Center (RSC) provides a unique   program for robotic startup teams. I will highlight some key features of the SSL RSC and hope that more robotic entrepreneurs can benefit from this program.

About the speaker:
Prof. Zexiang Li received his BS degree in electrical engineering and economics (with honors) from Carnegie Mellon University, MA degree in mathematics and PhD degree in electrical engineering and computer science from UC Berkeley. He worked as a research scientist in the AI Lab of MIT and as an assistant professor in the Robotics Lab of NYU before returning to China. He is now a professor at the ECE Dept. of HKUST, and the director of the Automation Technology Center. He co-founded several robotic companies with his students, including Googol Tech, DJI, QKM Tech and ePropulsion.