The 2nd Israeli Conference on Robotics

Guest Speakers

Professor Steven Dubowsky, MIT, USA

Dr. Steven Dubowsky is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT and is the director of the MIT Field and Space Robotics Laboratory. His research interests are in the area of the design and control of mechatronic and robotic systems, including those for medical and space applications. He founded the ASME Journal of Mechanisms, Transmissions and Automation in Design, and served as its first Technical Editor. Professor Dubowsky has authored or coauthored over 300 papers. He has held visiting positions at Stanford University, Cambridge University, England, Caltech and the Universit? Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris. He serves as an advisor to a number of government agencies and corporations, including the US DOD, DOE, NASA, the US Army and US Navy. He is the recipient of numerous best paper awards, the ASME Machine Design Award (2001), a fellow of the ASME and IEEE, a Distinguished NATO Fellow (Paris France) and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow of the United Kingdom Scientific and Engineering Research Council.

Professor Ken Goldberg, UC Berkeley, USA

Ken Goldberg is Professor of IEOR, EECS, and the iSchool at UC Berkeley and Director of the Berkeley Center for New Media. He is Vice-President of Technical Activities for the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. His research addresses robot manipulation, geometric algorithms for automation, and networked robots. He develops algorithms for feeding, sorting, and fixturing industrial parts, with an emphasis on mathematically rigorous solutions that require a minimum of sensing and actuation so as to reduce costs and increase reliability. In the area of Networked Robots, Goldberg and colleagues developed the first robot publically operable via the Internet (in 1994). In 2004, Goldberg co-founded the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering and is Founding Chair of its Advisory Board. Goldberg was named National Science Foundation Young Investigator in 1994 and NSF Presidential Faculty Fellow in 1995. He is the recipient of the Joseph Engelberger Award (2000), the IEEE Major Educational Innovation Award (2001) and was elected IEEE Fellow in 2005.

Professor Lee, Sukhan, Sungkyunkwan University, Korea

Dr. Lee is a Distinguished Professor of Information and Communication Engineering and the Director of the Intelligent Systems Research Center at the SungKyunKwan University (SKKU) since March 2003. Prior to his tenure with SKKU, he has been an Executive Vice President and Chief Research Officer (CRO) of the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), managing Micro & Nano Systems as well as Intelligent Systems Sectors for over 5 years (1998-2003). Dr. Lee has been a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Southern California (1983-1997) and jointly held a Senior Research Staff Position with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology (1990-1997). Dr. Lee is a Fellow of IEEE and a Fellow of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology. He served as a Vice President of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society in charge of the Industrial Activities Board (2003-2007). He is the Founding Editor-in-Chief for the Springer-Verlag Journal of Intelligent Service Robotics.

Dr. Lee has been chairing numerous National Committees for developing the S&T policies and R&D plans for Korea, including the National Technology Roadmap (2002), the National R&D Thrusts for Future Economic Growth of Korea (2003), the National Strategy for International R&D Collaboration (2003), and the National Strategy for Intelligent Robot Standardization (2004). Currently, he is the President of the National S&T Strategy Forum as well as the President of the National Intelligent Robot Standards Forum.


Professor Andrew Goldenberg, University of Toronto, Canada

Dr. Goldenberg is a Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto with joint appointments in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering. He is the founder and President of Engineering Services Inc. (ESI), a high-technology company involved in the development of robotics-based automation. In addition, Dr. Goldenberg is President of Anviv Mechatronics Inc. (AMI), which he founded in 2006. Anviv, also a high-technology company, is involved in the development of mechatronics products.

Dr. Goldenberg has authored and co-authored over 33 patents, more than 130 peer-reviewed journal papers, over 350 conference proceedings papers, 12 chapters in books, and has made numerous presentations at scientific and engineering conferences. He is currently involved in research projects related to robotics and automation and mechatronics. These include mobile, modular, and medical surgery robots, robots for hazardous environments, smart materials, and expert systems. Dr. Goldenberg is an Adjunct Professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario, and a Guest Professor at Nanjing University of Science and Technology in P.R. China.

Dr. Goldenberg is a former Editor of the archival international journal IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation. He also serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Robotics, Robotica, and Robotics in Japan. He is a Fellow of IEEE, a Fellow of ASME, a Member of Professional Engineers of Ontario, and a Designated Consulting Engineer in Ontario.