Program

Branislav Borovac received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad in 1982 and 1986 respectively. In both theses supervisor was Professor Miomir Vukobratović. He became Assistant Professor of Engineering Design in 1987, Assistant Professor of Robotics in 1988, Associate Professor of Robotics in 1993 and since 1998 he has been Professor of Robotics. He retired in 2020, and in 2022 he was elected professor emeritus, all at the Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad. From the beginning his research was closely tied to Professor Vukobratović and (besides “fundamental general robotics”) concerned with humanoids, particularly, biped locomotion. On the basis of this collaboration were published research monographs, book chapters, papers in international journals, as well as presented papers at international conferences and congresses. According to Google scholar his citation index is over 6000. He was visiting professor at Versailles Engineering System Laboratory - LISV, University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Versailles in 2009 and Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Thailand, in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. 2017. and 2018. He is Associate editor of International Journal of Humanoid Robotics. His research interest includes robot modeling and control, industrial robotics, sensors and sensor information integration, humanoids, biped locomotion, mechatronics.

Professor Vukobratović - personality and work that inspire

Prof. Vukobratović initiated research not only in this region, but it is safe to say all over the world. We will also mention his work that preceded robotics, but in the presentation we will try to shed light on his character and work as a pioneer of robotics who left his mark in many areas of robotics, such as: ZMP concept and semi-inverse method, active rehabilitation exoskeletons, recursive formulation of robot dynamics, robot dynamic control, centralized and decentralized control, force feedback in dynamic control of robots, robot interacting with dynamic environment, control of multi-arm cooperating robots, application of connectionist algorithms for advanced learning control of robot interacting with dynamic environment, fuzzy logic robot control with model-based dynamic compensation, integrated dynamic control of robotized road vehicles.
In this presentation, I will try to show that the appearance of the first fundamental results of the Belgrade School of Robotics has, to a great extent, coincided with the foundation of robotics as a scientific discipline in the field of technical sciences.
Before reviewing our most important contributions in the domain of robotics I would like to emphasize that this presentation is an homage to professor Vukobratović work, within which I have acted in the course of thirty five years, practically the whole my working life. It appeared that the milestones in this development represent at the same time the fundamental results of robotics in general.
We will also refer to his relationship with his collaborators, which is an example of extraordinary cooperation.

Giuseppe Carbone is with University of Calabria, Italy, since 2018. He currently chairs the IFToMM TC on Robotics and Mechatronics, and he is elected Vice-President of the Italian Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines (I-RIM), which represents most of robotics-related disciplines and academic institutions across Italy.
He is scientific director of the laboratory of innovative biomedical robotics. His research interests include Manipulation and Grasp, Assistive Robotics, Mechatronics. His work has led to over 500 research publications, 20 patents, 16 PhD completions (12 ongoing) and impactful teaching and research periods across Germany, Japan, Spain, UK, and other nations.
Carbone serves in the editorial boards of several reputed journals such as IEEE RA-L, IEEE/ASME Transaction on Mechatronics, Journal of Bionic Engineering, as well as he serves as Editor-in-Chief for ROBOTICA (Cambridge University Press). He has received numerous awards, including two Honoris Causa Doctoral Degrees.

Italian Distinguished IFToMMist Figures in Mechanism and Machine Science and Their Links with RAAD

This presentation examines the contributions of Italian pioneers in the field of Mechanism and Machine Science within the framework of IFToMM (International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science).
Special emphasis is placed on their connections with the RAAD (International Conference on Robotics in Alpe Adria-Danube Region), highlighting the pivotal role these individuals have played in shaping the RAAD scientific community, fostering its collaborative spirit, and building its enduring legacy over the years.

Prof. Lenarčič is one of the pioneers of robotics in the country. He was employed at the Institute Jožef Stefan. He was also its director for fifteen years. He has been involved in various national and international boards, committees, and advisory bodies. He is a robotics lecturer at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of Ljubljana.
His basic research interests are in robotics, robot kinematics, and humanoid robotics. His contributions are in the modelling and simulation of robots, evaluation and optimization of robot mechanisms, modelling of human upper extremities and control of redundancy.
Prof. Lenarčič is a recipient of the National Medal of Work with Silver Wreath, the Italian Cavaliere nell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana and the French Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérit. Lenarčič is a Full Member of the Slovenian Academy of Engineering and served as President. He is a Corresponding Member of the Accademia Delle Scienze di Bologna, Italy.

Institute Jožef Stefan – Between Research, Development and use of Robots

Slovenia is one of the countries with the highest density of robots per employee globally. This is certainly the result of the fairly early start of robotics development in Slovenia, which dates back to the late 1970s and especially to the early 1980s. The main industrial carriers were initially successful export companies such as Gorenje and Iskra, and a little later also Riko. All three also intended to become manufacturers of robotic technology. Specialized robot integrators also appeared. Scientific research in Slovenia was also well coordinated between the University of Ljubljana, the University of Maribor and the Institute Jožef Stefan. The majority of research at the IJS was focused on robot kinematics and dynamics, dynamic control, modern programming languages and computer vision, and research of human motion with an emphasis on the shoulder. The ARK conference, which IJS has led from 1988 to the present, is also recognized worldwide.

Imre J. Rudas graduated in Budapest in 1971 in Mechanical Engineering, received the Master Degree in Mathematics from the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, the Ph.D. in Robotics from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1987, while the Doctor of Science degree from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2004.
He is Rudolf Kalman Distinguished Professor, Rector Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Óbuda University.
He is a Life Fellow of IEEE and the Senior Past President of IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society. He is a Fellow of International Fuzzy systems Association.
He has been involved in RAAD since the mid-90s and was the General Chair of RAAD 2002, 2006 and 2010.
His present areas of research activities are Computational Cybernetics, Robotics. He has edited and/or published 22 books, published more than 910 papers in international scientific journal, conference proceedings and book chapters, and received more than 9200 citations.

A Brief History of Robotics Development Efforts in Hungary

In Hungary the first efforts in robotics development started in the early 70s. The presentation starts with the brief summary of the institutions, companies those were involved in robotics in the early stages and their achievements.
The more organized robotic community was born in the mid-80s with establishment of Hungarian Robotics Association. The Association started to launch international relations; with International Federation of Robotics and especially with the surrounding countries.
Hungarian researchers (partly with government support) started to attend regional Robotics Workshops and Conferences, for example JUROB, RAAD, and other robotics events organized by the Technical University of Vienna and Mihajlo Pupin Institute. Hungarian representatives joined to the RAAD community in the mid-90s and organized RAAD 1996, 2002, 2006, 2010 in Hungary. The presentation will contain the personal involvement of the author in these events and his memories about the distinguished pioneers of robotics in our region and RAAD founders.

Uwe Haass studied Electrical Engineering in Karlsruhe and received his PhD in the US in 1980 for his work on tracking clouds in satellite pictures. After returning to Germany, he continued research in Computer Vision for robotics at the IITB Fraunhofer Institute. Several positions of research management followed, in 1985 at the EU Commission in Brussels as Project Officer with the ESPRIT programme, in 1990 General Manager of the first Bavarian Research Institute on AI, and in 2007 General Manager of the Center of Excellence for cognitive robotics in Munich. In the wake of the robotics initiative of the EU Commission, he became the first Secretary General of the European Robotics Association euRobotics in Brussels. Since his retirement in 2016, he is working as a freelancing consultant in aspects of innovation management and regional development with robotics.