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Prof. Dr.ir. Hendrik Van Brussel |
Prof. Hendrik Van Brussel (°1944), is full professor in mechatronics and automation at the Faculty of Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U.Leuven), Belgium, chairman of the Division of Production engineering, Machine design and Automation, Department of Mechanical Engineering. He received his B.Sc ME (Technisch Ingenieur) degree from Hoger Technisch Instituut, Oostende, Belgium, in 1965, and his M. Sc. EE (Burgerlijk Ingenieur) and PhD degrees from K.U.Leuven, Belgium, in 1968 and 1971 respectively. From 1971 until 1973 he was active in Bandung, Indonesia, establishing a Metal Industries Development Centre and as an associate professor at Institut Teknologi Bandung.
He was a pioneer in robotics research in Europe and an active promoter of the mechatronics idea as a new paradigm in machine design. He has published extensively on different aspects of robotics, mechatronics and flexible automation. His present research interest is also shifting towards holonic manufacturing systems, behaviour based robots with applications in service and medical robotics, and micro and precision engineering, including microrobotics.
He is Fellow of SME and IEEE. In 1994 he received an honorary doctor degree from Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH), Aachen, Germany and from the ‘Politehnica’ University in Bucarest, Romania, and in 2003 from the ‘Transilvania’ University of Braşov, Romania. He is a Member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and Fine Arts and Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA). He is Active Member of CIRP (International Institution for Production Engineering Research) of which he served as President (2000-2001).
