Prof. Burkhard Corves

Why Mechanism Theory and Dynamics are Essential for Robotics Research

Prof. Burkhard CORVES
RWTH Aachen University
Institute of Mechanism Theory, Machine Dynamics and Robotics

Keywords: Robotics Research, Kinematics, Dynamics, Industrial Applications, Human Robot Interaction, Motion Planning, Energy Efficiency.

Abstract: Robotics Research is closely related to kinematics and dynamics. In order to prepare robotic systems for their destinated tasks it is essential to properly plan their motion not only in industrial applications but even more so in applications that require human robot interaction. Such motion planning, which possibly should also be done in an autonomous way, requires knowledge about kinematics with special emphasis on singularities, redundancies, and force transmission characteristics, but also knowledge about dynamics with special focus on energy efficiency. In my plenary talk I will relate to specific research projects that underline this hypothesis.

Burkhard Corves is a University Professor and Director of the Institute of Mechanism Theory, Machine Dynamics and Robotics at RWTH Aachen University, where he teaches and conducts research in mechanism theory, machine dynamics, and robotics. He received his Diploma in Mechanical Engineering in 1984 and his Ph.D. (magna cum laude) in 1989 from RWTH Aachen University, with a doctoral dissertation on the simulation of the kinematic and dynamic behaviour of manipulators with partially closed kinematic chains, for which he was awarded the Borchers Medal. From 1991 to 2000, he worked in industry as a research and development engineer at Emhart Glass Germany GmbH in Neuss and as a project leader at Emhart Glass SA in Cham, Switzerland, while concurrently holding a university teaching assignment at RWTH Aachen on the kinematics and dynamics of spatial mechanisms, robots and manipulators. In 2000, he was appointed University Professor and Director of the Department of Mechanism Theory and Machine Dynamics at RWTH Aachen, which was renamed in 2017 to include Robotics. He has been Adjunct Professor at Beijing Jiaotong University since 2010, was awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa from Universitatea Politehnica Timișoara in 2013, and served as Visiting Professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2019. He serves as Chairman of the VDI-Scientific Board on “Mechanism and Machine Theory” and as National Chair of the German section of IFToMM (International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science), a role he previously held from 2000 to 2011 and resumed in 2020. He is also Chairman of the VDI-Committee “Mechanisms for Handling and Manipulation” and of the Scientific Committee of the bi-annual VDI/VDE Mechatronics Conference. He was a Member of the Executive Council of IFToMM from 2012 to 2019 and previously chaired its Technical Committee on “Linkages & Mechanical Controls” (2006–2011). His research interests include industrial and mobile robotics, linkages, cam mechanisms, glass machinery, pneumatic mechanisms, computer-aided graphical analysis and synthesis in mechanism theory, mechatronic development, and machine design strategy, with more than 600 published books, journal and conference papers. He has received numerous distinctions, including the Borchers Medal of RWTH Aachen (1989), the Badge of Honor (2007), Plaque of Honor (2008), and Medal of Honor (2016) of the VDI, and an Honorary Doctorate from the Polytechnic University of Timișoara (2013)