Queen's University Belfast

Academic Member

Seán McLoone

(Director of i-AMS)

Prof Seán McLoone is Director of the Energy Power and Intelligent Control (EPIC) Research Cluster, and Principal Investigator for the Pioneer Research Programme on Intelligent Autonomous Manufacturing Systems (i-AMS) at Queen’s University Belfast. His research interests are in computational intelligence techniques and data analytics with applications in smart-grid and advanced manufacturing informatics. Specialist areas include predictive modelling, unsupervised sparse feature selection, clustering and blind identification. Prof McLoone is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering Technology (IET), and a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). He serves on the editorial boards of the international peer reviewed journals ‘Engineering Applicators of Artificial Intelligence’ and ‘Transactions of the Institute of Measurement and Control’.

ADRIAN MURPHY

(Deputy director of i-AMS)

Adrian Murphy is Professor of Aeronautical Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast. He has published over one hundred and twenty journal and conference articles, including a significant number on design and analysis methods for aircraft structures and manufacturing processes. Professor Murphy’s research interests are focused on predictive modelling, in particular developing methods to understand the influence of individual component and process parameters on product in-service performance and cost. His key research interests can be divided into: Structural design and manufacturing, Cost modelling, Multi-physics simulations. A winner of the Thomas Hawksley medal in 2006 and the Kenneth Harris James Prize (2006) and SAGE Best Paper Award 2012 (Journal of Materials: Design and Applications). He sits on the Royal Aeronautical Society Structures and Materials Specialist committee, ESDU Aerospace Structures Committee, IMechE Aerospace Materials & Structures Technical Activity Committee and is a member of the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Structures Specialist Advisory Group.

KANG LI

‌Prof Li’s research interests include nonlinear system modelling, identification, and control, and bio-inspired computational intelligence, with applications to energy reduction in energy intensive manufacturing industries. He has published over 200 papers in his field, and has been invited to give over 30 research seminars worldwide He has developed a new generation of minimally-invasive energy monitoring system and an intelligent control platform, which are being trialled in several local and international manufacturing plants. He won an INVENT 2016 award for this innovative technology.

KAREN RAFFERTY

Dr Rafferty is Deputy Head of School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Queens University Belfast (QUB). She has over fifteen years’ experience working within the fields of sensor fusion and real time algorithmic development and over ten years’ experience working within the areas of virtual and augmented reality and multi sensorial systems. Dr Rafferty has experience in developing physical prototypes for her research. HaptiLap was selected as a finalist in the IET Innovation Awards, Software In Design category and one of her associated research papers was awarded the (London) Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers’ Prize for the best paper published by the Institute of Measurement and Control in 2011 on ‘the development or application of scientific instrumentation’. She has authored over 70 publications and two books, one on virtual reality and one on engineering innovation. In i-AMS her role is to deliver the transformative research in VR, VR and haptics associated with Industry 4.0.

STUART FERGUSON

Dr Stuart Ferguson: has over 25 years experience in algorithm development and software engineering He led the team building the software toolkit for the EU Framework 7 research project Haptimap. He wrote the Haptilap virtual reality sysem for traiing surgeons in laparoscopic techniques. He has authored two books on Comptuer Graphics and Virtual Reality, and was the principal software architect of two commercial 3D computer animation products: Envisage3D and SoftFX.

WASIF NAEEM

Dr. Wasif Naeem’s is a Senior Lecturer in the EPIC cluster and is involved in research related to autonomous systems and robotics. In the context of i-AMS, Wasif’s expertise is in the area of cooperative control with recent applications to unmanned marine and aerial vehicles. Additionally, indoor and outdoor robot navigation including mapping and collision avoidance are some of his active areas of research with direct relevance to autonomous manufacturing using cooperative techniques. Other relevant research domains he is involved with include optimal control, system identification and modelling, control of batch processes and power systems. Wasif is a member of IFAC Technical Committee on Marine Systems and EPSRC College. He is the author of over 60 peer-reviewed publications. Two of his journal papers in the area of guidance and navigation systems were awarded the Michael Richey and Denny Medals by the Institute of Navigation and Institute of Marine Engineering Science and Technology in 2008 and 2010.

Amy Liu

Dr Xueqin (Amy) Liu is a Lecturer in the EPIC cluster. Her broad research interests include fault detection and diagnosis, machine learning techniques, data-driven based Multivariate Statistical Process Monitoring, nonlinear modelling and control for industrial processes. Her PhD work on adaptive Kernel Principle Component Analysis for online fault detection is ranked in the top three most cited Chemometrics & Intelligent Laboratory Systems journal articles published since 2009.

JOE BUTTERFIELD

Joe is a senior lecturer in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He is currently working on a range of research programs spanning digital manufacturing, virtual engineering and simulation methods for the design and manufacture of advanced aerospace structures. Joe received his Honours degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1991 from Queen’s University Belfast where he also completed a Masters degree in Computer Aided Mechanical Engineering Design in 1992. He received his PhD from Queen’s in 1996 having carried out a program of research looking at the design of rotationally moulded, plastic articles using computer aided techniques (composite materials, polymer material characterisation, structural design & optimisation).

YAN JIN

Dr Jin’s research interest is in parallel kinematic machines, robotics automation, smart manufacturing, scheduling, high performance machining, and digital lean manufacturing. Dr Jin has been a principal investigator or co-investigator for a number of research programmes, funded by DTI, EPSRC, Royal Academy of Engineering, EU H2020, Invest Northern Ireland and industry (e.g. EADS/Airbus and Bombardier Aerospace Belfast). He is a member of editorial board of International Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics and Journal of Robotic and Mechatronic Systems. He has been an organising chair or committee member for a number of international conferences such as ReMAR2012, ICIEA2013 and ICRA2014. Dr Jin has published over 70 high quality technical papers. He is a chartered engineer, chair in Robotics cluster in UK IFToMM, and a member of IMechE and IEEE.

DANIELLE SOBAN

Dani is a lecturer in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast, and is a member of the Future Aircraft Research Group and the Simulation Technologies Research Group. Her current research core competencies include advanced decision-making for complex systems, value driven design for complex systems, visual analytics and Big Data, multi-physics multi-scale modelling and optimization, energy optimization, and advanced aircraft design and manufacturing methods. Prior to moving to Queen’s in 2010, Dani spent 13 years at the Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory at Georgia Tech where, as a Senior Research Engineer, she led cutting edge research in the areas of aircraft and complex system design methodology, system of systems design and analysis, and technology infusion techniques.

Beatrice Smyth

Beatrice is a lecturer in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and is part of the Clean Energies Research Group. Specific areas of work include analysis and optimisation of energy pathways, supply chain energy and carbon impacts, resource quantification and mapping, life cycle analyses, land use change and economic assessment. Prior to moving to Queen’s in 2013, Beatrice worked in both the public and private sectors, mainly in energy/carbon management and in geotechnical and environmental engineering.

BAO KHA NGUYEN

Dr Nguyen’s research interests are in industrial automation, instrumentation, mechatronic and robotic systems, Design and implementation of intelligent real-time control Systems. He has particular expertise in software and hardware development for new industrial applications including system integration, industrial networks, PLC (Programmable Logic Controller), HMI (Human Machine Interface) and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems.

ADELAIDE MARZANO

Dr Marzano’s research interests over the last ten years focus on the development of a simulation environment for manufacturing systems in Virtual Reality and particularly on industrial design and engineering. She is currently carrying out research activity focused on three topics, the development of methodologies and software tools for systems and assembly line simulation in a virtual environment, Human-Robot Interaction, cognitive ergonomics and development of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies for examination of interaction with innovative technologies in complex systems.

Research Member

JING DENG

Dr. Deng's research interests lie in the area of internet of things, industry 4.0 and control engineering, specifically in the field of intelligent control, system modelling, and meta-heuristic optimization with applications to smart grid, energy system, electrical vehicle, sustainable manufacturing, and polymer processing for reducing energy consumption and building a low carbon future.

DANIEL BRICE

(DEL PhD student, Mar 2016, Supervisor: Karen) – Robotics/VR

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Research Project
Haptics in a Virtual Environment

Project Background
The project is to create and develop haptic systems for users inside a virtual environment.
Providing the additional sense of touch through the use of room scale robots allows us to research into the usefulness of haptics in Virtual Reality (VR). The applications of successful real time haptics will allow improved immersion and training for professionals in military and surgical fields.