Control System

Biography

Prof Virk is Professor of Robotics at University of Gävle, Gävle and KTH, Stockholm, Sweden. Prior to moving to Sweden in March 2011, he was at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand and before that at University of Leeds, UK. He is a technical expert in control theory and its applications with particular experience in service robotics and the use of advanced model-based control to a variety of applications. His current interests are in physical assistant exoskeletons for elderly persons (medical and non-medical applications), olfactory navigation for mobile robots, CLAWAR robots as well as integration of ICT into the built environment. He has extensive experience of project management and leading international R&D and standardisation projects. He has held several grants from national and European sources (total value of over 18 M€), as well as industry. He has produced over 300 papers in these areas and 11 books, 16 PhDs successfully completed and he is currently supervising 3 PhD students. Prof Virk is a leading actor in robot standardisation; he Convenor of three international robot standardisation work groups, namely: • ISO TC184/SC2/WG7 Personal care robot safety, and • IEC TC62/SC62A & ISO TC184/SC2/ JWG9 Medical electrical equipment and systems using robotic technology (medical robots) • ISO TC184/SC2/WG10 Modularity for service robots which are developing the important standards for the new emerging robots. He is also Director of the euRobotics’ Topic Group in Standardisation for Europe’s Horizon 2020 programme and Chairman of UK’s National committee on Robot standardisation. He is Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (FIET) and Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (FCIBSE) and a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (FIMA); he is a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Mathematician. He is Chairman and Trustee of the UK charity CLAWAR whose mission is “the advancement of education and science for the public benefit in the field of robotics and associated technologies” (see www.clawar.org). He has been awarded, the Freedom of the City of London for his work in promoting Information Technology.

Research Interest