People
LAU Darwin Tat Ming 劉達銘
Associate Professor, Assistant Dean (Student Affairs)
darwinlau@cuhk.edu.hk
TEL: 852 - 3943 8523
Room 319, William M.W. Mong Engineering Building
C3 Robotics Laboratory

Dr. Darwin Tat Ming LAU received his B.Eng (1st Hons) and B.CS degrees from the University of Melbourne, Australia, in 2008. He received his Ph.D. degree in the area of robotics in 2014 from the University of Melbourne, Australia. From 2014 to 2015, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics, University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, France. He joined the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), in October 2015, where he is now currently an associate professor.

His research focuses on topics in bio-inspired and novel robot manipulators including musculoskeletal and humanoid robots, cable-driven robots, biomechatronic systems and building construction robots. These studies involve the development, kinematic and dynamic analysis, design, optimisation and control of these systems. His work has been published in leading journals within his research field, including IEEE Transactions on Robotics, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics and Mechanisms and Machine Theory. He is currently an Associate Editor for the ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics and the Mechatronics specialty section of the journal Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering.

In relation to his teaching activities, Dr. LAU believes that hands-on and experiential learning are important elements within the education of engineering students. Through the teaching through “hands-on robotic lectures”, student robotics competitions, final year projects and development of prosthetics for those in needs, the goal is to increase the students’ interest, motivation, relevance to the real world and eventually to improve their learning outcomes.

Noticeable awards received by Dr. LAU include the 2014 University of Melbourne Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in the Ph.D. Thesis, 2019 CUHK University Education Award (Early Career Faculty Member) and 2019 University Grants Council Teaching Award (Early Career Faculty Member).

Research Interests
  • Robotics
  • Dynamics and Control
  • Biomechatronics
  • Building Construction and Maintenance Robotics
Projects
  • Cable Robot Software
  • Large-Scale Cable Robots
  • Bio-Robotics
Teaching
2020/2021
MAEG2050 Robot Development in Practice: From Design to Prototyping
2019/2020
MAEG3060 Introduction to Robotics
MAEG5090 Topics in Robotics
2018/2019
MAEG3060 Introduction to Robotics
MAEG5090 Topics in Robotics
Publications

Journal Papers (in the recent five years)

  1. Y. Wang, C. Song, T. Zheng, D. Lau, and G. Yang, “Cable Routing Design and Performance Evaluation for Multi-link Cable-Driven Robots with Minimal Number of Actuating Cables”, IEEE Access, accepted, 2019
  2. J. Eden, D. Lau, Y. Tan, and D. Oetomo, “Unilateral Dexterity: A Generalised Dexterity Measure for Grasping and Cable-Driven Parallel Robots”, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, accepted, 2019
  3. G. Abbasnejad, J. Eden, and D. Lau, “Generalised Ray-Based Lattice Generation and Graph Representation of Wrench-Closure Workspace for Arbitrary Cable-Driven Robots”, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 147-161, 2018
  4. J. Eden, D. Lau, Y. Tan, and D. Oetomo, “Available Acceleration Set for the Study of Motion Capabilities for Cable-Driven Robots”, Mechanisms and Machine Theory, Vol. 105, pp. 320-336, 2016
  5. J. Eden, Y. Tan, D. Lau, and D. Oetomo, “On the Positive Output Controllability of Linear Time Invariant Systems”, Automatica, Vol. 71, pp. 202-209, 2016
  6. D. Lau and D. Oetomo, “Conditions on the Cable-Routing Matrix for the Wrench-Closure Validity of Multilink Cable-Driven Manipulators”, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, Vol. 138, 032303, 2016
  7. D. Lau, J. Eden, and D. Oetomo, “Fluid Motion Planner for Non-Holonomic 3-D Mobile Robots with Kinematic Constraints”, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Vol. 31, No. 6, pp. 1537-1547, 2015
  8. D. Lau, D. Oetomo, and S. K Halgamuge, “Inverse Dynamics of Multilink Cable-Driven Manipulators with Consideration of Joint Interaction Forces and Moments”, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 479-488, 2015
  9. D. Lau, J. Eden, D. Oetomo, and S. K. Halgamuge, “Musculoskeletal Static Workspace Analysis of the Human Shoulder as a Cable-Driven Robot”, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 978-984, 2015
  10. D. Lau, D. Oetomo, and S. K. Halgamuge, “Generalised Formulation and Analysis of Multilink Parallel Cable-Driven Manipulators with Arbitrary Routing using Cable-Routing Matrix”, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Vol. 29, No. 5, pp. 1102-1113, 2013
  11. D. Lau, D. Oetomo, and S. K. Halgamuge, “Wrench-Closure Workspace Generation for Cable Driven Parallel Manipulators using a Hybrid Analytical-Numerical Approach”, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, Vol. 133, 071004, 2011

Conference Publications

  • K. W. Ng, R. Mahony, and D. Lau, “A Dual Joystick-Trackball Interface for Accurate and Time-Efficient Teleoperation of Cable-Driven Parallel Robots within Large Workspaces”, Cable-Driven Parallel Robots, Mechanisms and Machine Science, Vol. 74, pp. 391-402, 2019
  • A. Fingrut, K Crolla and D. Lau, “Automation Complexity – Brick by Brick”, in Proc. 24th International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia, pp. 93-102, 2019
  • S. Trendel, Y. P. Chan, A. Kharchenko, R. Hostettler, A. Knoll and D. Lau, “CARDSFlow: An End-to-End Open-Source Physics Environment for the Design, Simulation and Control of Musculoskeletal”, in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Humanoids Robots, 2018
  • S. Chan, J. Geng, M. Jong and D. Lau, “Addressing the Challenges in Engineering Classes: Harnessing Active Learning in a Robotics Course”, in Proc. International Symposium on Educational Technology (ISET), pp. 162-164, 2018
  • Y. Wang, G. Yang, T. Zheng, K. Yang, and D. Lau, “Force-Closure Workspace Analysis for Modular Cable-driven Manipulators with Co-shared Driving Cables”, in Proc. IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA), pp. 1504-1509, 2018
  • Y. P. Chan, G. Abbasnejad, J. Eden, and D. Lau, “Improved Computational Speed of System Dynamics for Cable-Driven Robots through Generalised Model Compilation”, in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Real-Time Computing and Robotics (RCAR), pp. 230-235, 2018
  • Y. Wu, H. H. Cheng, A. Fingrut, K. Crolla, Y. Yam, and D. Lau, “CU-Brick Cable-Driven Robot for Automated Construction of Complex Brick Structures: From Simulation to Hardware Realisation”, in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Simulation, Modelling, and Programming for Autonomous Robots (SIMPAR), pp. 166-173, 2018
  • K. Crolla, H. H. Cheng, Y. S. Chan, N. F. Chan, and D. Lau, “Inflatable Architecture Production with Large-Scale Cable-Driven Robots”, in Proc. 23rd International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), pp. 166-173, 2018
  • J. Eden, Y. Tan, D. Lau, and D. Oetomo, “Reference State Trajectory Generation for Output Tracking with Constraints using Search Trees”, in Proc. 2018 American Control Conference (ACC), pp. 4682-4687, 2018
  • D. Lau, “Initial Length and Pose Calibration for Cable-Driven Parallel Robots with Relative Length Feedback”, Cable-Driven Parallel Robots (CableCon 2017), Mechanisms and Machine Science, Vol. 53, pp. 140-151, 2017
  • J. Eden, C. Song, Y. Tan, D. Oetomo and D. Lau, “CASPR-ROS: A Generalised Cable Robot Software in ROS for Hardware”, Cable-Driven Parallel Robots (CableCon 2017), Mechanisms and Machine Science, Vol. 53, pp. 50-61, 2017
  • Y. P. Chan, J. Eden, D. Lau, and D. Oetomo, “A Survey on Inverse Dynamics Solvers for Cable-Driven Parallel Robots”, Proceedings Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation (ACRA), pp. 1-9, 2017
  • D. Lau, J. Eden. Y. Tan, and D. Oetomo, “CASPR: A Comprehensive Cable-Robot Analysis and Simulation Platform for the Research of Cable-Driven Parallel Robots”, in Proc. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp. 3004 – 3011, 2016
  • Y. Tang, D. Lau, M. Liu, P. Bidaud, and V. Padois, “Minimization of the Rate of Change in Torques During Contact Transitions for Humanoids”, in Proc. 2016 European Control Conference (ECC), pp. 401-406, 2016
  • Y. Tang, D. Lau, M. Liu, and V. Padois, “Minimization of the Rate of Change in Torques during Motion and Force Control Under Discontinuous Constraints”, in Proc. IEEE Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), pp. 2621 – 2628, 2015
  • J. Eden, D. Lau, Y. Tan, and D. Oetomo, “On Positive Output Controllability and Cable Driven Parallel Manipulators”, in Proc. Australian Control Conference (AuCC), pp. 27-32, 2015
  • N. Perrin, D. Lau, and V. Padois, “Effective Generation of Dynamically Balanced Locomotion with Multiple Non-coplanar Contacts”,  in International Symposium on Robotics Research (ISRR), 2015
  • D. Lau, J. Eden, S. K. Halgamuge, and D. Oetomo, “Cable Function Analysis for the Musculoskeletal Static Workspace of a Human Shoulder”, Cable-Driven Parallel Robots, Mechanisms and Machine Science (CableCon 2014), vol. 32, pp. 263-274, 2015
  • R. Mohamad, J. Eden, N. Cook, D. Lau, and D. Oetomo, “A Motion Planner Allowing Ball Dribbling for Soccer Playing Robots”, in Proc. Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation (ACRA), pp. 1-8, 2013
  • H. Sugianto, D. Lau, C. Burvil, P. Lee, and D. Oetomo, “Trajectory Generation for Underactuated Bipedal Mechanisms with Kinematic Constraints”, in Proc. International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR), pp. 1-6, 2013
  • D. Lau, K. Bhalerao, D. Oetomo, and S. K. Halgamuge, “On the Task Specific Evaluation and Optimisation of Cable-Driven Manipulators”, Advances in Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots I : Part 6, pp. 707-716, 2012
  • T. Owen, R. Hillier, and D. Lau, “Smooth Path Planning Around Elliptical Obstacles using Potential Flow for Non-Holonomic Robots”, RoboCup 2011: Robot Soccer World Cup XV, pp. 329-240, 2012 (research gate; publisher)