October 2024

HKAE TechTalk – Vision-driven Robots: Challenges, Technologies and Applications

Innovation Wing Two, TechTalk / By

November 19 2024 (Tuesday) 4:00-5:00pm
Robotics and AI technologies are rapidly advancing in recent years, but intelligence levels of robots are still far below humans’ expectations. One of the major reasons is that a robot is not good at coordinating visual information captured by its vision systems, i.e. eyes, with motions of its arms, hands, and legs or wheels. Accurate, robust and efficient perception and effective use of the visual information is crucial for robots to successfully perform tasks in natural environments. This talk presents technical challenges in vision-driven robotics, our on-going work and latest results in vision-driven robot manipulation and vision-guided robot navigation, and applications of the technologies in manufacturing, logistics and robotic surgery.

TechTalk – Lifecycle Wake Mitigation Strategies of Wind Farms using Machine Learning Techniques: Layout Optimization and Cooperative Yaw Control

Innovation Wing Two, TechTalk / By

November 7, 2024 (Thursday) 4:30-5:30pm
The turbine wake refers to the trail left by the upstream turbines with the decreased wind speed and the increased turbulence intensity. The adverse wake effect correspondingly results in less energy production and triggers earlier fatigue failure of downstream turbines. The talk aims to propose solutions to lifecycle wake mitigation strategies, i.e., layout optimization in the design stage and cooperative yaw control in the operation stage, through advanced machine learning techniques and optimization methods. A machine learning wake model accurately predicts wake characteristics and demonstrates its advantages when applied to the freeform optimization and renovation of wind farms. A novel double-layer machine learning framework involving Bayesian optimization for cooperative wind farm control is established to improve the overall power output in the maintenance stage. Overall, these proposed solutions offer a promising path forward for the robust development of offshore wind farms in the long term.