From exoskeleton to the Antal Bejczy center for intelligent robotics

Professor Dr. Antal K. Bejczy, the Hungarian born NASA researcher was one of the key founders the scientific society IEEE RAS (Robotics and Automation Society), which has more than 10.000 members and is part of the well-known, global organization, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, IEEE, which now has more than 300,000 members. He worked with the RAS Board of Directors for 14 years and also served as a President of the Robotic and Automation Council, guiding its transition to become the Robotics and Automation Society. He retired as IEEE Life Fellow and senior research scientist at JPL. The name Antal K. Bejczy was found on 7 patents and 43 NASA innovation awards. Furthermore, he wrote 160 scientific papers, contributed in 11 technical books and attended several dozen conferences as a keynote speaker. Antal K. Bejczy made unique and fundamental contributions to the understanding and use of robotic human-machine interfaces, including novel and important enhancing roles of automation. “During his career at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, he pioneered the development of several innovative robot components such as “smart hands” with “smart sensors” and a novel tele-robotic system using a general-purpose force-reflecting hand controller for remote robot arm control that also serve the medical field. His work also led to the design of a precise microsurgical system and the development of the first force feedback surgical system, the RAMS (Robot Assisted Microsurgical System) robot. He was principal investigator of a flight experiment using a force-moment sensor enhanced “hand” on the space shuttle arm of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1994 and holds 43 NASA innovation awards.” (IEEE Global History Network) The Antal Bejczy Center for Intelligent Robotics was inaugurated at the Óbuda University in 2013, Budapest.