Bridging Robotics & Structural Integrity: Henan Polytechnic University Master‑Student Secondment to SSHMC Lab

Four master’s students from Henan Polytechnic University (HPU) have embarked on a two‑semester research secondment at the Smart Structural Health Monitoring & Control (SSHMC) Lab of Dongguan University of Technology. The cohort is jointly supervised by Prof. Guo (HPU) and Prof. Ata Jahangir Moshayedi, Director of the Robotics & Automation Research Lab (RARL) and IEEE Senior Member, whose complementary expertise anchors this cross‑disciplinary initiative.

Prof. David Bassir meets Prof. Guo and the four Henan Polytechnic University master’s scholars during his visit to HPU.

The program was officially launched during a working lunch on HPU’s campus, where SSHMC Director Prof. David Bassir met with Prof. Guo and the students to align research objectives, timelines, and logistics. Founded in 1909 as China’s first coal‑mining college, HPU has since evolved into a comprehensive, research‑oriented university with recognised strengths across engineering, science, and management.

Prof. Moshayedi’s RARL specialises in service‑robot design, autonomous sensing, and industrial automation. Its teams have earned national competition accolades, and Prof. Moshayedi himself holds memberships in IEEE and several instrumentation societies. Leveraging his guidance, the visiting students will integrate RARL’s state‑of‑the‑art navigation algorithms and robotic hardware into SSHMC’s structural‑health‑monitoring workflows.

Prof. Ata Jahangir Moshayedi, co‑adviser and Director of RARL, stands with the four visiting students in front of the DGUT‑CNAM Institute entrance, marking the official start of their research placement at SSHMC Lab.

A follow‑up session at DGUT’s Songshan Lake campus mapped out joint milestones: deploying mobile and aerial robots for high‑resolution crack imaging, fusing these datasets with SSHMC’s finite‑element models, and producing AI‑driven repair recommendations for bridges and industrial plants across the Greater Bay Area. The collaboration grants students access to SSHMC’s LiDAR‑equipped mock‑up structures and high‑performance computing cluster, while enabling SSHMC to field‑test RARL’s latest robotic solutions.

This cross‑institutional exchange accelerates talent development and positions both labs to deliver end‑to‑end, robot‑assisted structural‑integrity workflows that can be rapidly translated into field applications.

(Written by Anicet Barrios, first reviewer: Lara Nizet, second reviewer: Li Qianqian)