Professor Okyay Kaynak visited Nazarbayev University between 2 and 5 October 2016 as a guest of ARMS Lab Director Dr. Atakan Varol. Prof. Kaynak is a Life Fellow of IEEE, UNESCO Chair on Mechatronics at Bogazici University (Turkey), 1000 Plan Professor at Harbin Institute of Technology (China) and the current Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.

As part of his visit, Professor Kaynak gave a lecture entitled “Intelligent Systems: An Assessment of the Past and the Prospects for the Future” at the Senate Hall to university academic staff and more than a hundred students. Additionally, he participated in a number of meetings with School of Science and Technology faculty and researchers, where various academic, research and administrative topics were discussed in-depth.

During his tour of ARMS Laboratory, he was introduced to the research projects currently carried out by the group. With genuine interest, Prof. Kaynak commented on each work and suggested future development directions and academicians from renowned institutions who might be interested in collaboration. Professor discussed novel directions in the area of intelligent systems and wished best of luck to the members of the ARMS research group.

Dr. Varol commented: “We have been honored for having Prof. Kaynak at Nazarbayev University. This visit is yet another indicator of our expanding recognition in the world robotics research arena. We must work harder to achieve more.”