Dubai, August 25, 2018:   Dr. Sam Kherat, Dean of Graduate Studies, Research and Incubators at Canadian University Dubai (CUD), led the debate among delegates from prominent engineering and technology firms when he chaired the International VDI Conference on Sensors for Off-Highway Machines, held in Berlin recently.

Bringing together industry leaders in this highly specialized field, the two-day conference focused on the application of sensor technology in challenging environments, including topics such as advanced sensing solutions for off-highway applications, the use of artificial intelligence in processing sensor data, along with cyber security protocols.

As chair of the conference, Dr. Kherat lent his extensive industry and academic expertise, built upon two decades working on automation projects in mining and construction for Caterpillar, alongside years of experience in higher education as an Adjunct Professor of Robotics in the USA, and now as the head of graduate programs at CUD.

In his opening address, Dr. Kherat discussed how sensing technologies are reshaping the entire off-road landscape and spoke of both technical and societal challenges that might impact future operations. In particular, he highlighted the cultural issues of public concern for data protection, and the legislative challenges of ownership and liability.

During the conference, Dr. Kherat was also called upon to deliver a presentation on the subject ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) Applications and Challenges in Mining and Construction’ in which he discussed the drivers for AI in mining and construction, the challenges in automating these applications, and the myriad of current and emerging technologies using machine learning (ML) and AI. 

The conference was organized by the Association of German Engineers (VDI), one of the largest technical scientific organizations in Europe. Among the numerous companies participating were CNH Industrial, Cognizant, Danfoss, SICK Sensor Intelligence, GIM Robotics, MobileTronics and InterControl.