Chong Deng

Chong Deng

Senior Research Engineer

Applied Technologies

Robotics and automation for agriculture

I am a senior research engineer in the Advanced Mechatronics Team, part of the Applied Technologies Group at Callaghan Innovation. My specialism is robotics and automation and I’ve been interested in this area since starting my engineering studies. It is rapidly-changing and the more recent addition of soft robotics and AI powered robots are massively increasing the scope of work possible.

My research interests include soft robotics, artificial-intelligence-powered robots, and automation systems for agriculture and the food industry.

The practical application of robotics into New Zealand companies has brought me many customer projects and despite what you see in the movies, not all robots are terminators…!

Areas of expertise
  • Robotics and Automation
  • Soft Robotics
  • AI-powered Robots
Education
  • PhD, Mechatronics Engineering, University of Auckland, 2019
Memberships and awards
  • IEEE Member
  • Mechanical Engineering Group (MEG) Member
Selected publications
  • "A smart grasping system for handling regular, naturally varying objects", Z. Deng, L. Holibar and E. Wester, 24th International Conference on Mechatronics Technology (ICMT), 2021.
  • “Operation planning and closed-loop control of a soft robotic table for simultaneous multiple object manipulation”, Z. Deng, M. Stommel and W. Xu, IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 981–990, 2020.
  • “Mechatronics design, modelling and characterization of a soft robotic table for object manipulation on surface”, Z. Deng, M. Stommel and W. Xu, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, vol. 23, no. 6, pp. 2715–2725, 2018.
  • “A novel soft machine table for manipulation of delicate objects inspired by caterpillar locomotion”, Z. Deng, M. Stommel and W. Xu, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 1702-1710, 2016.
  • "Soft robotics technology and a soft table for industrial applications", Z. Deng, M. Stommel and W. Xu, Robot Intelligence Technology and Applications 4, 2016.
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