Biography:
Saeid Nahavandi received a Ph.D. from Durham University, U.K. in 1991. Distinguished Professor Saeid Nahavandi is Swinburne University of Technology’s inaugural Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Chief of Defence Innovation. He previously served as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Defence Technologies) and Founding Director of the Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation, Australia. His research interests include modeling of complex systems, robotics and haptics. He has published over 1300 scientific papers in various international journals and conferences.
Since 2013, Professor Nahavandi has carried out joint research collaboration with Professor Robert D. Howe at Harvard University, Cambridge. This collaboration has resulted in a number of scientific peer-reviewed papers. Saeid is a Harvard associate.
Professor Nahavandi is President Elect. (2025) IEEE SMCS, the Senior Associate Editor: IEEE Systems Journal, Senior Editor: IEEE Access, Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics and IEEE Press Editorial Board member.
Professor Nahavandi is a Fellow of IEEE (FIEEE), Engineers Australia (FIEAust), the Institution of Engineering and Technology (FIET). Saeid is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE).
Awards:
Leadership for Senior Executives Certificate, Harvard Business School, 2025
Clunies Ross Entrepreneur of the Year Award – Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering (ATSE), 2022
Australian Engineering Excellence Awards – Professional Engineer of the Year, 2022
Australian Defence Industry Awards – Winner of Innovator of the year 2021
Australian Space Awards – Winner of Researcher of the year
The Essington Lewis Awards – Winner 2021
Australian Engineering Excellence Awards – 2021 Professional Engineer of the Year – Victoria winner
Australian Engineering Excellence Awards – 2022 Professional Engineer of the Year.
Clunies Ross Entrepreneur of the Year Award – Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering (ATSE), 2022
Research Projects:
Autonomous Leader-Follower with Obstacle Avoidance
Total project budget of $6.3 million.
AusArmy Leader Follower Truck Convoy
Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS)
News Brisbane
Australian Museum
Adapting Army – Cove Podcast Series
Design and development of virtual naval firefighting technology
Under the project leadership of Proessor Nahavandi, a $5.13 million contract from the Commonwealth Government was secured (2019-2023) for the continued development of an augmented and virtual naval firefighting system for the Australian Defence Force. Professor Nahavandi started this reserarch back in 2015 and successfully led phase one (2017-2019).
Virtual firefighting training simulation with real time performance monitoring – HotFire Trainer
Industry 5.0 — A human-centric solution
Staying at the top is getting tougher and more challenging due to the fast-growing and changing digital technologies and AI-based solutions. The world of technology, mass customization, and advanced manufacturing is experiencing a rapid transformation. Robots are becoming even more important as they can now be coupled with the human mind by means of brain–machine interface and advances in artificial intelligence. A strong necessity to increase productivity while not removing human workers from the manufacturing industry is imposing punishing challenges on the global economy. To counter these challenges, this article introduces the concept of Industry 5.0, where robots are intertwined with the human brain and work as collaborator instead of competitor. This article also outlines a number of key features and concerns that every manufacturer may have about Industry 5.0. In addition, it presents several developments achieved by researchers for use in Industry 5.0 applications and environments. Finally, the impact of Industry 5.0 on the manufacturing industry and overall economy is discussed from an economic and productivity point of view, where it is argued that Industry 5.0 will create more jobs than it will take away.
Industry 5.0—A Human-Centric Solution MDPI
Control and DAQ Modules for Robotic Assisted Surgical System (HeroSurg)
Paper PDF
Automatic Compensation for RCM/Bed/Patient/Tissue Movements for HeroSurg
Paper PDF
An Analytical Loading Model for n-Tendon Continuum Robots
Paper PDF
Actuation Modules for Instrument Calibration
Paper PDF
Quantification, optimisation, and application of deep uncertainty
Australain Research Council – Discovery project award – 2019-2022 – Quantification, optimisation, and application of deep uncertainty
Publications:
Media:
Clunies Ross Entrepreneur Award 2022
2022 Eureka Prize for Innovative Use of Technology
Australia’s first human ready high-G centrifuge
Deakin University CISR Universal Motion Simulator
Researchers at Deakin University develop multi-point Haptic Gripper