The 2016 IEEE National Symposium of New Technologies [Chapter News]
March 2017 • IEEE rOBOTIcS & aUTOMaTION MaGaZINE • was to provide New Zealand re ­ searchers, scientists, and engineers with a forum to present their latest research findings and participate in discussions in an informal setting. The one­day workshop featured speakers from both industry and ac­ ademia and live demonstrations and exhibits of various mobile robotic systems and devices. The workshop was cochaired by Prof. XiaoQi Chen (Chapter chair) and Dr. Khaled Goher. Ten invited speakers covered a broad range of topics, including agricultural robots, autonomous ground mapping, bio­ mimetic robots, micro robots, prod­ uct design, cloud computing, and assistive robotics. Among the exhib­ its and live demonstrations, a wall­ climbing robot ( Figure 2), a snake robot, and an unmanned aerial vehi­ cle drew keen interest from the attendees and stimulated the discus­ sion between academic researchers and industry experts. Chapter members met during the lunch break and elect­ ed Prof. Peter Xu as their new Chapter chair (2017–2018). Figure 2. A demonstration of a wall-climbing robot by Invert Robotics.