NEPTUN Summer School
- intelligent manufacturing,
- human-robot collaboration,
- automation and digitization of production,
- additive technologies.
Prof. Lihui Wang - KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Presentation topic:An Overview of Smart Manufacturing Research at KTH
Lihui Wang is a Professor and Chair of Sustainable Manufacturing at KTH, Sweden. He is also the Director of Centre of Excellence in Production Research (XPRES) — one of the five national strategic research centres at KTH. He has served as the President (2020-2021) of North American Manufacturing Research Institution (NAMRI) of Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), and the Chairman (2018-2020) of Swedish Production Academy. Professor Wang was elected one of the 20 Most Influential Professors in Smart Manufacturing in 2020, and the Gold Medal recipient from Society of Manufacturing Engineers in 2024.
Prof. Youssef AGREBI ZORGANI - Higher Institute of Technological Studies in Sfax
Presentation topic:Sensorless Field-Oriented Control for Induction Motor With Parameters Estimation
Dr. Youssef AGREBI ZORGANI is a full-time Professor in the electronics and power drive at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and at the Higher Institute of Technological Studies of Sfax, TUNISIA. Dr. Youssef AGREBI ZORGANI received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the National School of Engineering of Sfax (ENIS)- Tunisia and Ph.D. degree in Automatic from the Faculty of Science, University of d'Aix-Marseille – France. Dr. Youssef AGREBI ZORGANI has published 40+ papers and 1 book in the field of power Electronics and Motor Drive. He is a Member of Laboratory of Sciences and Techniques of Automatic control & computer engineering Lab-STA (ENIS, Sfax, Tunisia).
Laura Screpanti, PhD - Università Politecnica delle Marche
Presentation topic:Automation Processes and Systems for Education 5.0
Laura Screpanti is a research fellow at the University of Macerata, specializing in AI-based tools for educational feedback. With experience in mechatronic design and educational robotics, she has contributed to numerous national and international projects, including RoboPisces (2019-1-IT02-KA201-063073) and ETECH (2020-1-PL01- KA226-HE-096375). Laura is also a contract professor at Università Politecnica delle Marche, teaching courses in industrial process optimization and communication aids. She has a PhD in Information Engineering and has been recognized for her innovative approaches to STEM education and teacher training. Laura's work bridges scientific research, educational innovation, and instructional design.
Emmanuel Odozi, MSc - Hochschule Bremen
Leveraging IoT & Machine Learning for Condition Monitoring/Predictive Maintenance of Wind Turbines
I am a Doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Bremen University of Applied Sciences, with a Master's in Process Engineering and Energy Technology. My current research focuses on the application of IoT, Data Science, and Machine Learning for condition monitoring within the context of predictive maintenance of wind turbines. This work aims to enhance the operational efficiency and reliability of renewable energy systems. I have significant experience in analyzing SCADA data, predictive analytics, modeling, and process design in renewable energy systems.
Prof. Dusan Sormaz - Ohio University
Presentation topic:Intelligent Manufacturing Planning in the Era of Digital Twins, Industry 4.0/5.0, and Industrial Internet of Things
Dr. Dušan N. Šormaz is a Professor Emeritus of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Ohio University, Athens, USA. Dr. Dušan N. Šormaz’s principal research interests are in Ontologies, Simulation, Additive Manufacturing, Process Planning, Semantic Data Integration, and application of knowledge based systems in manufacturing. He has worked on research projects sponsored by NIST, Delphi Automotive, GE, MVESC, and major oil companies in the areas of manufacturing process planning, cost estimation, bus scheduling, and corrosion modeling and prediction software. Dr. Šormaz has published over 40 refereed papers in scholarly journals and more than 160 conference papers and book chapters and delivered 15 keynotes, workshops and tutorials and more than 50 contributed presentations at international research events. He is a member of The International Foundation for Production Research (IFPR) Board, member of FAIM board, and senior member of IISE, senior member of SME, member of ASEE and member of Alpha Pi Mu – industrial engineering honor society.
Prof. Gokula Vijaykumar Annamalai Vasantha - Edinburgh Napier University
Presentation topic:Smart Factory Applications for Motion Tracking
Dr Gokula Vasantha is an Associate Professor and sub-group leader in Engineering Design and CAD in the School of Engineering and the Built Environment. Dr Gokula Vasantha is a senior academic with 15 years of teaching and research experience, and worked at two major UK universities (Cranfield University and the University of Strathclyde) before joining the Edinburgh Napier University. He completed his PhD from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India (One of the best research institutes in India) in Engineering Design Informatics. He is a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), a Member of the Design Society, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Dr Vasantha's research interests include Predictive Engineering Design modelling, Smart Factory, Analysis of Engineering Design Informatics, Designing Integrated Product-Service Systems, Developing Collaborative Product Development Environment, Modelling and Management of Engineering Design, and Crowdsourcing Design and Manufacturing Processes. He is interested in developing new methods and tools for helping designers and industries to design novel and sustainable products and services. He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed journals and conferences, and the research papers are well cited within the academic community.
Helena Anacka, MSc - Gdańsk University of Technology, Faculty of Management of Economics
Presentation topic:Digitalization process and its impact on economic growth. A panel data study for developing countries
Helena is a PhD candidate at the Department of Economics, discipline of Economics and Finance. She graduated with honors from the Gdańsk University of Technology with an MSc in Economic Analysis. In her research, she focuses on digitalization, digital skills and their impact on economic development in Europe. Helena works with the Stata and R econometric tools and she is very interested in deepening her knowledge in mathematical techniques and new methods to master her research work. Therefore, participating in the Neptun Summer School'24 is an ideal opportunity to share, exchange and deepen her knowledge, as well as network and broaden research horizons.
Wiktor Sieklicki, PhD - Gdańsk University of Technology
Presentation topic:Physical interaction between human and robot in exoskeletons
An adiunct in Gdansk University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Enginering and Ship Technology), Institute of Mechanics and Machine Design. In years 2011-2013 working as an Experienced Researcher position in Telerobot S.R.L, Genova, Italy and Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genova, Italy within Marie Curie Fellowship Program "RobotDoC". Lecturer in Robotics, Mechatronics and Biomechanics, Engineering in Physical Rehabilitation.
Jakob Köntopf, MSc - Technische Universität Berlin
Presentation topic:Additive manufacturing with cold spray
Was born in Hamburg, Germany. Studied mechanical engineering at the TU Hamburg (bachelors degree) as well as the TU Berlin (masters degree). Now, researches for the Institute of Machine Tools and Factory Management in the field of additive and ablative manufacturing technologies.
Daniel Hinzmann, MSc - Technische Universität Berlin
Presentation topic:Artificial intelligence in manufacturing
Daniel Hinzmann studied mechanical engineering at the Leipzig Universität in Hannover, Germany. Since 2016 he has been working at the Institute of Machine Tools and Factory Management reaching the position of chief engineer. His research field is strongly connected with the use of artificial intelligence in manufacturing for automization and optimization.
Genevieve Bakam, PhD - Tshwane University of Technology
Presentation topic:Digital Practices and Smart Factories for Sustainable Manufacturing Companies
Dr Genevieve Bakam is a senior associate researcher in the Department of Industrial Engineering at Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa. She worked as a research specialist at the postgraduate school at the University of Johannesburg. Her industrial expertise covers digitalisation of SMEs and multinationals in mining, energy, manufacturing, and logistics using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) business systems. She obtained her MTech and Doctorate in operations management at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. She holds Microsoft and SAGE certifications applied in IT project management and participates in community development in Southern Africa.
Paolo Roberto Massenio, PhD - Polytechnic University of Bari
Presentation topic:Optimal Control of Dynamical Systems using Reinforcement Learning - The Adaptive Dynamic Programming Approach
Paolo R. Massenio received his M.Sc (Hons.) and Ph.D. degrees in Control Engineering from Polytechnic University of Bari, Italy, in 2017 and 2021, respectively. In 2019 and 2020, he was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Texas at Arlington, TX. He received best paper awards from the IEEE Power and Energy Society in 2021 and 2022. In 2023, he was awarded as Mercator Fellow by the German Research Foundation (DFG) to work at the Department of Systems Engineering at Saarland University, Saarbrucken, Germany. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Automatic Control at Polytechnic University of Bari, where he also serves as the Scientific Coordinator of several projects funded at European and national levels. His research interests include control of electrically driven smart material devices, soft robotics, distributed control of microgrids, and reinforcement learning-based control algorithms.
Maja Trstenjak, PhD - University of Zagreb, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture.
Presentation topic: Industry 5.0, smart manufacturing, human factors and ergonomics.
Multidisciplinary mechanical engineer with eight years experience in the field of industrial engineering - digitalization and improvement of the manufacturing industry, but also strategic manufacturing management based on the principle of continuous improvement. Currently working as head of the Laboratory for Logistics, a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture at the University of Zagreb. My research areas also include design of technological processes, multi-criteria decision-making and optimization, human factors and ergonomics, logistics and sustainable production. I have been an active member of several EU funded projects, author or co-author of more than 40 publications in refereed journals and conference proceedings. I am a vice coordinator of EIT Manufacturing Hub Croatia.
Prof. Nikola Vitković - University of Niš, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Presentation topic:Smart manufacturing for biomedical engineering with XR support
Assoc. prof. Dr. Nikola Vitković (ORCID: 0000-0001-6956-8540) is an Associate professor and Head of Information System at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Engineering, University of Nis, Serbia. His research includes Biomedical engineering, Manufacturing, eLearning, Programming, Information systems and technologies, CAD/CAM systems, Reverse engineering, and Computer graphics. He has also participated in scientific and professional team projects supported by the Serbian government and industry. He is the author of more than 100 scientific-technical papers. He participated as a researcher in FP6, FP7, TEMPUS, ERASMUS+ and H2020 projects.
Prof. Miodrag Manic - University of Niš, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Presentation topic:Smart manufacturing for biomedical engineering and smart implant
Prof. dr Miodrag Manić is a professor at the Mechanical Engineering Faculty of the University of Niš, Serbia. He is head of the Department for Production and Information Systems. He was vice dean and dean. His scientific work is in the application of ICT in product and manufacturing technology design. His research includes CAD/CAM systems, Reverse engineering, Computer graphics, Biomedical Engineering especially integrated CAD/CAM, and programming of CNC machine tools and Robots.
Prof. Xi (Vincent Wang) - KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Presentation topic:Fundementals of Cyber Manufacturing, Cloud manufacturing and Human-robot collaboration
Xi (Vincent) Wang is an Associate Professor in the IPU Department of Production Engineering, KTH Sweden. He is working as the division head of Industrial Production Systems (IPS). Vincent’s main research focus includes Cloud-based manufacturing, sustainable manufacturing, robotics, digital twin, computer-aided design, and manufacturing systems. He also serves as the Managing Editor of the International Journal of Manufacturing Research (IJMR), Associate Editor of SME Journal of Manufacturing Systems (JMS), and Array – Open Access Journal by Elsevier, and Editorial Board Member of other 3 international journals.
Prof. George-C. Vosniakos - National Technical University of Athens
Presentation topic:Prototyping Manufacturing systems and Operations using Extended Reality
George-Christopher Vosniakos studied Mechanical Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens and obtained an MSc in Advanced Manufacturing Technology in 1987 and a PhD in Intelligent CAD-CAM interfaces in 1991 from UMIST-Britain. He has worked in the software industry in Germany and as a Lecturer at UMIST. In 1999 he joined NTUA, where he is currently Professor of Manufacturing Systems and director of the Manufacturing Technology Laboratory. He has authored 115 Journal and over 118 Conference papers obtaining 3500 Scopus citations. He is editorial board member of 6 major International Journals.
Moizuddin Shadab Khaja, MSc - Gdańsk University of Technology
Presentation topic:Integrating AI with Additive Manufacturing
Second-year PhD candidate at Gdańsk University of Technology, working on an AI model to numerically optimize heat exchanger designs and subsequently 3D print the optimized geometries. My research focuses on integrating advanced computational techniques with practical engineering applications to enhance thermal systems' efficiency. The key technologies in my research relevant to this training are Additive Manufacturing, Numerical Simulation of products made through additive manufacturing, and integrating these with Artificial Intelligence (Robotics, Machine Learning).
Prof. Oleksii Nosko - Gdańsk University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Ship Technology
Presentation topic:Research concept for wear particle emissions from a car brake aimed at increasing the environmental friendliness of road transport according to the EURO 7 standard
Main research directions include: airborne particle emissions from sliding contacts; temperature measurements at sliding contacts; heat conduction problems of sliding friction.
Dawid Zieliński, PhD - Gdańsk University of Technology
Presentation topic:On the effect of process parameters on the wear characteristics and lapping performance of additively fabricated tools
Currently, I'm working as an assistant professor at the Department of Manufacturing and Production Engineering of Mechanical Engineering and Ship Technology Faculty, Gdańsk University of Technology in Poland. Didactic activity concerns mainly teaching in Polish and English in the field of computer aided manufacturing CAD/CAM systems and additive manufacturing. My current research interests and works include Additive Manufacturing, as well as abrasive finishing processes, especially the application of 3D printed tools in abrasive processes
Prof. Panorios Benardos - National Technical University of Athens
Presentation topic:Dynamic task assignment during human-robot collaboration
Dr Panorios Benardos currently serves as Associate Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in the field of “Intelligent Manufacturing”. He received his Diploma in Mechanical Engineering in 2001 and his PhD in 2009 from NTUA. He has worked as Lecturer and Assistant Professor in the University of Nottingham from 2014 to 2018. He has participated in 21 Nationally (GSRT, EPSRC, InnovateUK) and EU funded researchprojects (FP7, H2020, HE, Erasmus+). He has published 47 papers in international scientific journals and conferences (26 and 21 respectively) and co-authored 3 book chapters. His current research interests involve the application of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning methods in modelling and optimization of Manufacturing Processes and Systems.
Sisay Workineh Agebo, MSc – Gdańsk University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Ship Technology
Presentation topic:Additively fabricated tools during flat lapping of Al2O3 ceramic materials (45 min)
Sisay Workineh Agebo holds a Master's degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Wolaita Sodo University, Ethiopia, earned with very great distinction. Currently pursuing a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Gdańsk University of Technology, Poland, focusing on additive manufacturing for tool production in abrasive machining and studying its wear characteristics.
Prof. Kyoung-Yun Kim - Wayne State University
Presentation topic:Series of Lectures in Manufacturing Analytics and Smart Manufacturing
Dr. Kyoung-Yun Kim is a professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Wayne State University, where he directs the Computational Intelligence and Design Informatics (CInDI) Laboratory. Dr. Kim is a leading researcher in assembly modeling with formal ontology theory and data-driven weldability prediction that improves product design efficiency. Currently, Dr. Kim is the Director of the Smart Manufacturing Demonstration Center (SMDC) and a Site Director for the NSF Industry and University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) for e-Design. Dr. Kim is a Fellow of the Society for Design and Process Science. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Integrated Design and Process Science.
Yurii Tsybrii, PhD - Gdańsk University of Technology
Presentation topic:Scientific researches in the TriboLab at the Gdansk University of Technology
The topics of scientific research in the last 5 years relate to the measurement of the temperature in the sliding contact and the investigation of the emission of wear particles from the brake sliding contact into the environment. The research on temperature measurement in a sliding contact is related to the application of a new technique using acicular grindable thermocouples. Investigation of the emission of wear particles from the brake sliding contact into the environment includes the development of new methods to assess the environmental performance of vehicle friction materials and the development of new test stands. Principal investigator of the scientific projects: "Study of the correlation between the emission intensity of the airborne wear particles from the friction materials and the brake disc surface roughness", "Study of airborne wear particle emissions from an airplane brake towards a new methodology to evaluate its ecological friendliness", "Efficient measurement of airborne wear particle emission from sliding contact", "Toxicological study of the airborne wear particles emitted from car brake materials".
Prof. Khumbulani Mpofu - Tshwane University of Technology
Presentation topic:Future Transport Manufacturing Technology
Prof Mpofu is a global leader with vast experience as a Board Member, Technology Commercialisation Incubator Founder, Research Chair, Industrial Engineering Professor, Academic Leader, and Industrial Consultant. His knowledge is anchored in the principles of the fourth industrial revolution applied in manufacturing, Advanced Manufacturing, Expert Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics in Manufacturing, and Mechatronics.