The IFToMM EC Meeting & the International Workshop on Advanced Mechanism and Machine Science were successfully held on March 29 – April 1, 2025 in Beijing, China. The workshop was initiated by the IFToMM and the MO China-Beijing, and was hosted by the School of Mechanical, Electronic and Control Engineering (MECE) at Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU). It was featured by 19 keynote speeches[*]. More than 200 renowned scholars, young professors and students from over 50 universities in 14 countries attended this great event. The invited keynote speakers included the IFToMM President and the EC members, the Chair of IFToMM China-Beijing, and Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Academia Europaea, and the Canadian Academy of Engineering. During the workshop, professors and students shared the latest research achievements in the fields of innovative design in robotics and intelligent manufacturing.
(Group photograph)
The opening ceremony was chaired by Professor Sheng Guo, the Conference Chair and the Dean of MECE at BJTU. Professor Liang Gao, the Vice President of BJTU, and Professor Fei Song, the Director of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange, attended the opening ceremony. Welcome remarks were delivered by Professor Liang Gao on behalf of BJTU. Professor Gao extended a warm welcome to all the guests attending this workshop. He pointed out that the IFToMM is one of the most authoritative and influential international academic organizations in the field of mechanical engineering. This workshop aims to provide a platform for scholars to exchange ideas, share achievements, deepen cooperation, and further promote the development of mechanism and machine science. It would also benefit the high-quality construction of the mechanical engineering discipline at BJTU.
Professor Andrés Kecskeméthy at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, the IFToMM President, expressed gratitude to BJTU for the generous support and excellent organization of this event. He also gave a brief introduction to the IFToMM and encouraged involvement of Chinese researchers in the IFToMM community.
Professor Xinjun Liu at Tsinghua University, the Chair of IFToMM China-Beijing, delivered a welcome speech on behalf of MO China-Beijing and the Organizing Committee of the workshop. He briefly reviewed the mission of IFToMM China-Beijing and expressed the commitment to fostering international connections within the IFToMM community.
Professor Sheng Guo stated that BJTU hosted this workshop with the aim of providing a platform for experts and scholars in the field of mechanism and machine science to communicate and exchange ideas, and jointly explore the academic frontiers, latest achievements and developing trends. The MECE at BJTU would provide services to facilitate high-quality academic communication for all the participants.
The closing speech was delivered by Professor Wangqiang Wei, the secretary of the CPC MECE Committee at BJTU. He introduced the development of MECE at BJTU and expressed sincere gratitude to all the guests and experts who contributed to the success of this event. He also thanked the sister universities and all the experts and scholars for their long-term concern and support for MECE. He hoped that everyone take this workshop as an opportunity to deepen the international cooperation and promote the development in the mechanical discipline and other related fields as well. Through all the individual efforts, a glorious new chapter could start thereafter!
(Opening ceremony)
(Professor Liang Gao delivering welcome remarks.)
(Professor Andrés Kecskeméthy presenting an introduction to the IFToMM.)
(Professor Xinjun Liu delivering a welcome speech.)
(Professor Sheng Guo delivering a welcome speech.)
(Professor Wangqiang Wei delivering a closing speech.)
(Keynote speakers)
[*] List of keynote speeches.
| No. | Title | Speaker |
| 1 | A novel and simple Quaternion extraction method for objective identification of finite parasitic/planar rotations – Theory, comparison and applications in biomechanics | Andrés Kecskeméthy University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany |
| 2 | Metamorphosis, Reconfiguration and Intelligence in Mechanisms and Robotics | Jian S Dai King’s College London, UK Southern University of Science and Technology, China |
| 3 | CraftsRobot: One Solution for Manufacturing of Large-scale Complex Structures | Xin-Jun Liu Tsinghua University, China |
| 4 | Research Progress on Cross-Domain Bionic Robots | Xilun Ding Beihang University, China |
| 5 | Implementation of Embodied Intelligence in Multifunctional Aerial Operation Robots | Dan Zhang Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China |
| 6 | Kinematic Metamaterials | Yan Chen Tianjin University, China |
| 7 | Mechanism Design for Robotic Applications | Erwin-Christian Lovasz University Politehnica of Timișoara, Romania |
| 8 | Design and Control of Soft Robotic Systems | Guoying Gu Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China |
| 9 | Maintenance oriented to Industry 4.0 | Cristina Castejón Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain |
| 10 | Closed Form Solution of the Forward Kinematics of Continuum Robots | Andreas Müller Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria |
| 11 | Multistable Compliant Mechanisms and Multistable Robots | Guiming Chen Xi’an Jiaotong University, China |
| 12 | Compliant mechanisms and actuation for human-robot interaction applications | Shaoping Bai Aalborg University, Denmark |
| 13 | Motion Planning in Robotics | Alessandro Gasparetto University of Udine, Italy |
| 14 | Towards Smarter Robot Bodies: Incorporating Innovations in Mechanical Intelligence | Ketao Zhang Queen Mary University of London, UK |
| 15 | New trends in Condition Monitoring of Rotating Machinery | Juan Carlos Jáuregui Correa Autonomous University of Querétaro, Mexico |
| 16 | New Crank Presses Based on High-Class Mechanisms | Assylbek Jomartov Joldasbekov Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Kazakhstan |
| 17 | Robot design in medical and service robotics | Med Amine Laribi University of Poitiers, France |
| 18 | New trends in enumeration of mechanisms and robots: a faith testimony | Daniel Martins Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil |
| 19 | Advances in High-Power-Density Dielectric Elastomer Artificial Muscles and their Applications | Huichan Zhao Tsinghua University, China |
The first on-site physical meeting of the IFToMM Executive Council EC 2024-2027 was successfully held at the School of Mechanical Engineering at Beijing Jiaotong University under the kind auspices of the Dean Prof. Sheng Guo. The EC meeting successfully took place on Sunday March 30, 2025 from early morning to the evening with all EC members present, reaching all the goals set by the agenda.
Main outcomes of the meeting were, among several procedural optimizations and boosting of communication between the EC and the working groups, a new initiative for providing virtual lab tours through the IFToMM webpage under the leadership of Prof. Yan Shen from Tianjin University, the intensification of activities in the Cross Disciplinary Groups (CDG) CDG 3: IFToMM Women’s Group: under the leadership of Prof. Shengnan Lyu of Beihang University and CDG 2: “IFToMM Young Faculty Group” under the leadership of Prof. Claudio Villegas from Bio Bio University Chile, the start of preparations for the Student’s Olympiad in Mechanism and Machine Science SIOMMS 2025 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the start of the Individual Member Organization Subscriber (IMOS) system of direct personal access of restricted IFToMM webpage area with free access to Springer Proceedings of the Series MMS, and the start of preparations for a renewal of the PC Terminology towards the new fields of Artificial Intelligence and Digitalization.
The EC meeting on Sunday was followed by an International Workshop on Advanced Mechanism and Machine Science attended by a great number of leading scientists of China in the areas of IFToMM with contributions from the members of the EC as well as several distinguished Chinese professors.
The IFToMM EC through its President thanks in the name of the whole IFToMM Community Prof. Sheng Guo for his immeasurable and kind hospitality, as well as for the excellent organization he offered together with his team, which made the great success of this meeting and the creation of new and everlasting bonds of friendship and scientific cooperation possible.
Thanks Prof. Guo and all of his team !
Andres Kecskemethy
IFToMM President
The 11th IFToMM D-A-CH Conference, organized by the German-speaking member organizations of IFToMM from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, took place in February at the University of Applied Sciences in Villach, Austria. The event was excellently hosted by Prof. Mathias Brandstötter and his team, providing an outstanding platform for young scientists to present and discuss their research projects while fostering connections in a collegial atmosphere.
The conference featured a diverse range of engaging presentations covering topics such as biomechanical engineering, robotics, mechatronics, multibody dynamics, vibrations, linkages, mechanical controls, computational kinematics, and transportation machinery.
A highlight of the event was a guided tour of the ADMiRE research center, offering participants insights into cutting-edge research activities.
For more information about the conference, please visit:
IFToMM D-A-CH Conference Website
The conference proceedings (in German) are available at:
IFToMM D-A-CH Proceedings
At the 2025 IFToMM-DACH held in FH-Kärnten, Villach on the February 20-21, 2025, members of the BIROMED-Lab at the University of Basel presented an educational platform to enable students to gain experience with real-world robotic hardware used in robotics research.
The platform leverages a simulated environment and a dedicated code structure that enables students to work independently in simulation and seamlessly transition into the real-world setup. In this way, the platform seeks to facilitate the shared use of hardware between students and researchers.
The platform was used for a group project in the Medical Robotics course of the Joint Degree Master in Biomedical Engineering of the University of Basel and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW). The successful completion of the project by the students, with only 8 hours of access to the hardware throughout the semester, demonstrated the feasibility of the project to train the next generation of medical roboticists.
The code for the simulator of the platform is already available on GitHub. More details on the implementation of the platform and the teaching framework can be found in the conference abstract.
E-mail: ruben.martinrodriguez@unibas.ch
Website: https://biromed.dbe.unibas.ch
The first IFToMM Young Faculty Group Symposium entitled “Emerging Fields in Mechanism and Machine Science” is about to launch and will be held online from 19th to 21th November 2024, each day from 12:00 to 15:00 CET. Each session will consist of 4 to 5 talks on different topics, followed by 15-minute parallel discussions in break-out rooms, allowing for the delegates to choose which discussion to attend.
The IFToMM Young Faculty Group Symposium on Emerging Fields in Mechanism and Machine Science (IFToMM YFG-MMS) is a single-track, peer-reviewed, symposium designed to foster international networking among young faculty members via a novel format. Each talk is structured in two parts: (1) 5 minutes to introduce the main author, strengths and interests, and (2) 10 to 15 minutes to present the topic covered in the abstract.
The International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science (IFToMM) is one of the largest international scientific communities dedicated to the field of mechanism and machine science and its applications. Since its foundation in 1965, its mission has been to bring people from all nationalities and systems together to exchange science and technology as well as to strengthen their international bonds. IFToMM’s Young Faculty Group is a cross-disciplinary group pursuing IFToMM’s mission from within the working core of academia. By summoning young professors and lecturers from all over the world, the group aims at figuring out how to use mechanism and machine science to tackle the academic and technological challenges of the future.
The IFToMM YFG-MMS welcomes talks that address topics on mechanism and machine science and engineering, including biomechanical engineering, computational kinematics, engines and power trains, gearing and transmissions, linkages and mechanical controls, micromachines, multibody dynamics, reliability, robotics and mechatronics, rotor dynamics, sustainable energy systems, transportation machinery, tribology, vibrations, education, standardization of terminology, history of mechanism and machine science, and sustainability.
More details can be found in the symposium website
https://saja8.github.io/IFToMM_YFG-MMS/
The 7th Asian Conference on Mechanisms and Mechanical Engineering (Asian MMS – 2024), supported by the International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science (IFToMM), opened on August 28, 2024, in Almaty. The prestigious event, hosted by the Joldasbekov Institute of Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering, the al-Farabi Kazakh National University, and the National Engineering Academy of Kazakhstan, saw the participation of over 110 attendees from 10 countries, including notable representatives from China, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Ukraine, and others.
The conference was highlighted by an opening address from Prof. Amandyk Tuleshov, Scientific Director of the Joldasbekov IME, who emphasized the significance of IFToMM and its influence on global science. The plenary session featured keynote speeches by several distinguished figures, including Vice-Minister of Science and Higher Education of Kazakhstan Darkhan Akhmed-Zaki, who discussed the new Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Science and Technology Policy” and its implications for scientific development.
The event also included technical sessions and a round table on “Science and Technology: Cooperation and Transfer,” where key issues in technical sciences were discussed, and foreign scientists were recognized with honorary memberships and awards.
Prominent keynote speeches during the event included:
“Design, Control and Ground Verification Test of Space Manipulating Robots” by Prof. Zhong He (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)
“Development of Theory of Mechanisms and Machine Science in Kazakhstan: Theory and Practice of Synthesizing New Innovative Mechanisms and Biomechanical Robotic Systems” by Prof. Amandyk Tuleshov and Prof. Sayat Ibrayev
“Development of Skiing and Curling 6-Legged Robots for Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games” by Prof. Feng Gao
The conference concluded with the recognition of active scientists and organizers, marking a significant milestone for Kazakhstan’s role in the global scientific community in mechanics, mechanical engineering, and robotics.
More photos are available under
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12oDwOhT611rv3roOdvnUy_wOlvAnFO67?usp=sharing
Almaty
August 30, 2024
During the MMT (Mechanism and Machine Theory Journal) Symposium “Celebrating 60 years of the journal’s foundation” in Guimarães, Portugal on June 26-28, 2024, Prof. Feng Gao from the Intelligent Legged Robot Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Systems and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, gave an enthralling keynote on the developments on the Beijing Winter Olympics Journey for Curling and Skiing Six-Legged Robots.
Check out this fascinating keynote as an inspiration for current and further developments in robotics under
https://my.hidrive.com/lnk/XNDs93rJb
The Mechanical Engineering Laboratory (LIM) at the Center for Research in Marine and Industrial Technologies (CITENI), part of the Industrial Campus of Ferrol at the University of A Coruña, has partnered with GKN Driveline Zumaia to revolutionize ePowertrain motor testing. Using advanced multibody dynamics simulation, they have developed a methodology to conduct essential motor tests without physical full-vehicle prototypes.
Overheating is a critical issue for ePowertrain motors, as excessive temperatures can cause irreversible damage. The traditional characterization of their response and their thermal dynamics when they are mounted on a particular vehicle would require extensive and costly test campaigns, which are time-consuming and expensive.
Together, LIM and GKN have created an innovative setup that interfaces the eMotor with a model-based multibody dynamics simulation of the vehicle. This can be driven by a human or an automatic driver, replicating a wide range of driving conditions. The key benefits of this solution are:
• Cost and time efficiency: Lab-based tests decrease the need for expensive and lengthy circuit campaigns.
• Safety and replicability: Controlled lab environments reduce risks and ensure precise, repeatable conditions.
• Versatility: Easily replaceable vehicle models allow for varied scenarios without multiple full-system prototypes.
• Advanced sensor integration: Enables the use of sensors that are difficult to deploy in physical vehicles.
• Integration with digital twins and visualization: The test bench can be combined with a digital twin of the tested motor to determine the thermal operation point of the device. An intuitive visualization tool provides real-time feedback to the test bench users.
This approach promises to streamline testing processes and set new standards for safety, efficiency, and precision in ePowertrain motor evaluation, potentially serving as a model for future electric vehicle technology research and development.
For more information, please contact the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory at CITENI, University of A Coruña:
E-mail: f.gonzalez@udc.es
www: https://lim.ii.udc.es/contact.es.html
The Multibody System Dynamics Outstanding PhD Thesis Prize, also denominated Lagrange Award to the best PhD research on Multibody Dynamics, was established in 2017 by the IFToMM Technical Committee for Multibody Dynamics with the aim of recognizing the outstanding achievements of a young researcher (under 35 years old) at the early stage of their scientific career..
The Lagrange Award is presented annually to recognize the most successful PhD thesis on Multibody Dynamics over the prior year as judged by the evaluation committee. The winner will receive a certificate and Springer books to the value of € 250, plus a 1-year subscription to Multibody System Dynamics. This year, the decision will be announced during MULTIBODY 2023, the 11th ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics, which will be held in Lisbon on July 24-28, 2023.
The Lagrange Award – Multibody System Dynamics Outstanding PhD Thesis Prize 2023 is now open for applications. This award is presented annually by IFToMM’s Technical Committee for Multibody Dynamics and Springer’s journal Multibody System Dynamics to recognize successful PhD theses on Multibody Dynamics.
The current edition of the Award accepts applications from doctors who defended their theses during 2023. The call for applications will be open until January 15, 2024. Please note that this is earlier than in previous editions.
Applicants must submit
- a copy of their PhD thesis (in English),
- a curriculum vitae, and
- a maximum of three publications related to the thesis content.to the award coordinator, Prof. Francisco J. Gonzalez (f.gonzalez@udc.es).
The award coordinator will be happy to answer any questions that you may have regarding the Award.
Additional information can be found on the website:
http://lim.ii.udc.es/events/lagrangeAward/
Closing date for applications: January 15, 2024
Decision on the winner: tba
Teun Koetsier, A History of Kinematics from Zeno to Einstein, On the role of motion in the development of mathematics, Springer Science Publishers, 2024
The word kinematics was introduced in the 19th century by the French physicist Ampère. For him, it was a sub-discipline of mechanics in which movement is studied independently of forces and masses.
The movements studied in kinematics are usually geometric structures consisting of collections of positions of, for example, a point or a line in a Euclidean plane or space. Such structures play an important role not only in mechanics but also in geometry and in the theory of machines.
In the first half of this book, the author shows that movement played a crucial role in the development of mathematics in Classical Antiquity and in the 17th century. This often concerned kinematic definitions of curves.
At first, the movement was only supportive, but gradually in the 17th and 18th centuries the movement itself became the subject of research. The author discusses in detail the developments that preceded Ampère. This led in the 19th century, on the one hand, to theoretical kinematics, in which the general properties of movement are considered, and, on the other hand, to kinematics of mechanisms, in which the properties of specific movements are investigated.
The 19th-century developments in the kinematics of mechanisms were greatly stimulated by mechanical engineering, which took off after the Industrial Revolution. A golden age dawned for kinematics. The developments in Germany, in which the work of Franz Reuleaux and Ludwig Burmester played a central role, receive a lot of attention in the book.
The book ends with Einstein’s special theory of relativity, which partly arose from the role that kinematics played in theoretical mechanics. The problems surrounding the movement of light challenged the traditional view of space and time. The book ends with an outline of the role that kinematics played in the 20th century, particularly in relation to mechanical engineering.
Prof. Teun Koetsier (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) is a historian and philosopher of mathematics with a specific interest in the history of machines. In 2019, he published ‘The Ascent of GIM, the Global Intelligent Machine, A History of Production and Information Machines’. GIM is the successor of the Internet of things. It is, in fact, a giant robotic machine that covers the globe. It is no science fiction. It exists and grows and gets smarter and smarter.
Find your