Gamini Dissanayake is a Visiting Professor at University of Peradeniya and an Emeritus Professor of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering at University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). Before retiring in December 2020, Professor Dissanayake was the James N Kirby Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering at UTS. He is the founding director of internationally-acclaimed robots research group, the UTS Centre for Autonomous Systems.
He graduated in Mechanical/Production Engineering from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. He received his M.Sc. in Machine Tool Technology and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (Robotics) from the University of Birmingham, England. He taught at University of Peradeniya, National University of Singapore and University of Sydney before joining UTS in 2002.
Over the past four decades, Professor Gamini Dissanayake has made an outstanding contribution to the field of Mechatronic Engineering and Robotics through his research, publications and teaching.
His main contribution to robotics has been in Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping, technology that underpins many robot applications, from household vacuum-cleaning robots to self-driving cars. His work in this field has resulted in one of the most cited journal publications in robotics, which is used as a reference by robotics students worldwide.
He has also been involved in developing robots for a range of industry applications including cargo handling, disaster response, mining, infrastructure maintenance, and aged care. His research interests include localisation and map building for mobile robots, navigation systems, field robotics, dynamics and control of mechanical systems, optimisation and path planning.
Asela holds two decades of academic, research and industrial consultancy experience working in different parts of the world. His research focuses on sustainability aspects of industrial and supply chain engineering problems. He prefers to work on transdisciplinary, complex problems pertaining to supply chains and industrial applications, which require systems thinking. Prior to joining the University of Exeter, Asela served as a Fulbright advanced research and teaching scholar at the Institute of Sustainable Manufacturing, University of Kentucky, USA, in 2023. Asela has also worked as a gLink Erasmus Mundus postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bremen, Germany, in 2015/2016. Asela served as a Professor and Head of the Department of Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering from 2020 to 2023; and a Senior Lecturer from 2013 to 2020 at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
Asela has served in various international forums and committees, which include IISE-USA, GCSM-Germany, IEOM-USA, CPSL-Germany. Asela’s contribution in Sri Lanka include serving in committees of ministries of environment, industries, agriculture and vocational training.
Asela graduated as a Production/Manufacturing Engineer from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, in 2000 and completed his PhD studies at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia in 2013. Asela currently serves as a Lecturer in Industrial Systems (E&R) attached to the Department of Engineering, Faculty of Environment, Science, and Economics, University of Exeter, UK, and serves as the Director of the MSc Programme in International Supply Chain Management.
Mahanama Dharmawardhana received his BSc. Eng. specializing in Production Engineering from University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. After graduating, served the department as an instructor. Subsequently he joined Royal Ceramics Lanka (Pvt.) Limited and was instrumental in establishing their first factory at Eheliyagoda. One year after commissioning the factory, he joined Elastomeric Tools and Dies (Pvt.) Ltd. where CAD/CAM facilities are used to design and manufacture dies and moulds. Later he joined the Department of Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya as a Teaching Assistant. He earned the Master of Science degree from National Formosa University, Taiwan in 2011. Currently he is attached to the same department as a Lecturer.
Dr. Namal Bandaranayake is an expert in project management, sustainable agriculture, agricultural value chains and cross-border logistics and process analysis and improvement. He has over 15 years experience working in managerial capacity in multinational companies. Namal has worked in new product development in multiple countries including Hong Kong and Singapore. Dr. Namal has also worked on research projects involving several countries such as Australia, Canada and Sri Lanka. He also has hands-on experience in empirical data collection in difficult ground conditions in several countries.
