7th Annual conference on
Mechatronics and 
Machine Vision in Practice,
Hervey Bay,Queensland
Australia
19-21 September 2000

Next year's conference will be held in late August, 2001 in Hong Kong.
Watch this page for details.

Some photographs are linked from here - please email some more.

The folowing links will be removed in a few days time:

Registration form (and transport from Brisbane)
Detailed Programme
Partner programme
Outline schedule and dates
Topic of the Conference
Registration information
Notices for authors and session chairmen
Book accommodation and flights NOW!

September is the height of the whalewatching season.  Although we pre-booked a large number of rooms near the conference, most have already been taken by authors.  Please make your own bookings directly and let us know where - but the conference has been offered off-peak rates by several motels so be sure to mention M2VIP!  The location is in Pialba,Hervey Bay - other parts of Hervey Bay such as Urangan may be ten kilometres away!

Check the map.  The conference venue is opposite the southern end of Charles Street.  The Hervey Bay Resort, the headquarters motel, is close to the beach to the north.

Monday, September 18th

6.30 p.m. - 8.30 p.m. preregistration and 'welcome buffet' at the USQ campus, Hervey Bay.

Registration
9.30 a.m. Conference opening
Conference sessions
12.30 Lunch  (Click here for menu details)
1.30 Afternoon sessions
6 p.m. Beach barbecue we hope to cook fish over an open fire on the beach.
There will be entertainment, singing and maybe an exhibition of aboriginal dancing

9 a.m. Conference sessions
12.30 - 1.30 Lunch
6.00 depart for  Banquet. (click to see details)

9 a.m. Conference sessions
12.30 - 1.30 Lunch
5 p.m. Conference close
6.00 p.m. Farewell mystery outing (with food!)

Post conference events can be arranged on demand - whale watching, trip to Fraser Island and heaps of other choices.

The problem is that there are so many things to do!

Arrangements so far for the partners' programme (included in registration) are:
 

Tuesday, meet at Campus 9.30 to board courtesy bus to

Hervey Bay Natureworld - it has  koalas and the lot! (Includes lunch)

Underwater reefworld and the shark exhibition (registration does not include admission)
Boat harbour and pier
To Trish Erfurt's to see her stained glass studio - with picnic lunch
On to the Old Mining Museum
Visit to historic house if time permits.  (Don't forget the evening banquet!)

Maryborough Market, snack lunch
Botanical Gardens
Shopping

Half day whale watch
Half day on Fraser Island

The $140 registration includes banquet, beach barbecue (including fish grilled over an open fire), lunches and trips as above - but entrance fees to Reefworld and the shark exhibition are not be included!

The registration fees, including banquet ticket are:

 
Delegate registrations made after September 1st: A$650

Partners' package -  banquet, lunches,
welcome buffet, barbecue A$140 - cheaper than buying the tickets separately.
Please send names of partners so that we know the numbers to aim at for trips.

Extra banquet tickets A$60
Extra beach barbecue A$30
Extra mystery trip A$30

Getting to Hervey Bay

Make your plans in terms of getting to Brisbane by mid-morning on 18th.

Taxi journeys have been arranged to suit the times of those who asked for them.
For a last-minute booking or change of plans, please contact the taxi company directly
by sending an email to caroland@optusnet.com.au

The fare of A$32 depends on putting together groups of four or more passengers.

The journey time is between three and four hours.

Other journeys can be arranged, but a minimum of four seats per trip must be paid for.
Return journeys will be aranged at the conference.

Other ways to travel are by coach and on the tilt train.  The coach journey time is very long!

McCafferty's coach departures from Brisbane Roma Street transit centre are:

6.30 a.m. - arrive 12.30 p.m.
8.30 a.m. - arrive 1.55 p.m.
12 noon - arrive 5.05 p.m.
1.15 p.m. - arrive 6.50 p.m.
4 p.m. (Mon-Fri) - arrive 9.10 p.m.

 
The conference will take place during the first week of the Sydney Olympics.  The venue is over a thousand kilometres from Sydney, so there should be much less congestion and pressure for accommodation.

Hervey Bay is around three and a half hours drive north of Brisbane - transport from Brisbane Airport has been arranged for delegates - but they must book now.
It is also possible to fly on up directly (at least three flights per day) or to travel by train via Maryborough.

USQ's Wide Bay campus ("THE CAMPUS FOR THE INFORMATION AGE") will provide a comfortable venue for the conference.  There will be ample opportunity for partners to go whalewatching, explore the World Heritage reserve on Fraser Island (this sand island has a beach called 'Seventy Mile Beach' and really means it!) or merely enjoy the beaches of Wide Bay.

More information will appear here over the next weeks - bookmark the page and keep coming back to it!

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The Topic of the Conference

The proceedings will be published in hard-cover book form by Research Studies Press, an established British publisher with world-wide distribution.  The reviewing process has been more rigorous than for a conference presentation alone.  After initial selection based on an extended abstract, the referees have scrutinised the final manuscripts and  requested many final changes.

'Mechatronics' has become accepted for what it is, the blending of mechanics, electronics and computer control into an integrated design. Degree courses in mechatronics are now widespread.  That does not mean that mechatronics has lost its 'art'.

It continues to be the basis of an ever growing list of products and techniques of great technical and commercial value. Mechatronic design can result in products which are much simpler than their intricate and costly predecessors and can make commonplace the miracles of yesterday.

Machine-vision has emerged from the laboratory to find real applications in areas which include vehicle guidance, robot control and agriculture. Low-cost cameras have been developed for multimedia applications - but with their ease of interfacing they offer a whole new field of low-cost vision-based control.

Like its six predecessors, M2VIP 2000 will provide a forum for international experts and researchers to present and review advances in mechatronics and machine vision which have culminated in practical applications, or which promise practical implementation in the very near future. Presentations will be especially welcome which include video material of experimental systems.

Another burning topic will be the design of courses and experiments which will best equip tomorrow's graduates for the many new mechatronic challenges.

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The International Programme Committee includes

Helder Araujo, University of Coimbra, Portugal
Ms Robin Sarah Bradbeer, City University of Hong Kong
Dr Peter Brett, Bristol, England
A/Prof Matjaz Colnaric, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Professor Chris Cook, University of Wollongong, NSW Australia
Dr. Brian Davies, Imperial College, London, UK.
Professor Roy Davies, University of London, UK
Jorge Manuel Miranda Dias, Universidade de Coimbra, PORTUGAL
Dr Reg Dunlop, Canterbury University, New Zealand
Prof Takashi Emura, Tohoku University, Japan
Prof Abdulkadir Erden, Middle East Technical University, Turkey
Prof. Fernando Ferreira, University of Minho, Portugal
Prof Malcolm C. Good, University of Melbourne, VIC Australia
Dr. Saman Halgamuge, University of Melbourne, VIC Australia
Geza Haidegger, Hungary
Prof Yoshimi Ito, TITECH, Japan
Ray Jarvis, Monash University, VIC Australia
Professor Terje K. Lien, Norwegian U of Science and Technology, Norway
Prof Mario Lima, University of Minho, Portugal
A/Prof Lee Luong, University of South Australia, SA Australia
Gordon Mair, University of Strathclyde, UK
Prof. John Marchant,  Silsoe Research Institute, U.K.
Brenan J. McCarragher, Australian National University, ACT Australia
A/Prof Phillip McKerroe, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia
Prof Sudhir Mehta, North Dakota State University, USA
Prof Joao Monteiro, University of Minho, Portugal
Prof. Philip Moore, De Montfort University, UK
A/Prof Fazel Naghdy, University of Wollongong, NSW Australia
Dr. Eduardo Mario Nebot, University of Sydney, NSW Australia
Prof. Marcio L. Andrade Netto, UNICAMP, Brazil.
Professor Graham Parker, The University of Surrey, UK
Prof. David W Pearson, I.U.T. de Roanne, France
Prof. Goran D. Putnik, University of Minho, Portugal
David Pycock, The University of Birmingham, UK
Dr. Kamineni P. Rao, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Prof. Geoff Roberts, University of Wales College, Newport. UK
Prof. Hubert Roth, U of Applied Sciences FH Ravensburg-Weingarten, Germany
A/Prof R. Andrew Russell, Monash University, VIC, Australia
Prof. Gerhard Schweitzer, ETH, Switzerland
Prof. Paul M. Sharkey, University of Reading, UK
Prof Victor Gonzalez Villela, Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico
Dr Richard Willgoss, University of New South Wales, NSW Australia
Alex Zelinsky, Australian National University, ACT Australia

The USQ Toowoomba Team includes:

John Billingsley (Chairman)
Bob Fulcher
Nigel Hancock
Nantha Kanesen
Peter Aigner
Andrew Maxwell
Stuart McCarthy
Mark Phythian
Chris Snook
Thanh Tran-Cong

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Document Source - original

Last updated - September 13, 2000
Contact : John Billingsley / johnbill@usq.edu.au