Role
Dr. Azfar Khalid holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from GIK Institute of Engineering, Pakistan and a PhD in Precision Engineering from University of Manchester (2009). Dr. Khalid is a Senior Lecturer of Mechanical Engineering at Department of Engineering in the School of Science & Technology at NTU. Dr. Khalid has a teaching role across the disciplines of Mechanical and Electronics Engineering where he has taught Control Systems, Robotics, Cybernetics & Biomechatronics. He is actively pursuing research on smart factory, human robot collaboration, cyber physical production systems, digital twins and Industry 4.0. Moreover, he is research coordinator of the Department of Engineering and leading the Digital Innovation Research Group in smart technologies theme, as part of the Imaging, Materials & Engineering Centre for research.
Career overview
- Senior Lecturer in Mechanical/Electronics Engineering, in the Department of Engineering at School of Science & Technology, Nottingham Trent University, since 2018.
- Associate Professor at Department of Mechanical Engineering, Capital University of Science & Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan from 2014 to 2018.
- Postdoctoral Research Associate at Bremen Institute for production & Logistics (BIBA), University of Bremen, Germany in 2015-16.
- Research Consultant at School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, National University of Science & Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan from 2010 to 2013.
- Teaching Assistant at Manufacturing Research group, School of Mechanical, Aerospace & Civil Engineering, University of Manchester from 2004 to 2009.
- Production Engineer in a Polypropylene Films Manufacturing plant from 2000 to 2002.
Research areas
Digital Twins and Cyber Physical Production Systems: Future smart manufacturing systems are intelligent, self-decision-making systems in which cooperating modules interact through inter connected network. Virtual simulation of such systems can help in designing and managing complications beforehand, that can include occupational safety, process improvements, customized products and cybersecurity in complex industrial processes.
Human Robot Collaboration: Working with collaborative robots in industrial setups is fast growing. However, studies related to occupational safety in human robot collaboration and collaborative workplace design are in infancy stage. This also includes psychological and stress related hazards due to task complications, cobot payload and other factors.
Robotic Manipulators: This focus area is for the development of application specific robotic manipulators in serial, parallel and hybrid configurations. Robot kinematic modelling, design, dynamics, controls, simulation of such systems and cobot development is of interest.
Precision Engineering: This research area includes design and development of high precision manufacturing systems, CNC machines, metrology systems, desktop size machines for meso scale manufacturing, tactile and vision-based sensing and measurement systems.
Renewable Energy: Renewable energy technology and solutions, energy management, smart homes and buildings.
Opportunities arise to carry out postgraduate research towards an MPhil / PhD in the areas identified above. Further information may be obtained on the NTU Research Degrees website. Current PhD students are listed below:
1 - Kartikeya Walia, Additive Manufacturing for Modular Robotic System Design, Match Funded PhD, PepsiCo - Completed.
2 - Arshia Arif, Digital Automation for Mental Stress Management and Safety Application, Match Funded PhD, PepsiCo - In Progress.
3 - Madeeha Khan, The Future of Workplace Safety: Human-Centric Digital Twins for Ergonomic Risk Prediction, NTU PhD Studentship - In Progress.
External activity
- Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (FHEA), UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and learning support in higher education.
- Guest Editor: Special Issue on Machine Learning in Cyber-Physical Systems, Sensors MDPI Journal.
- Guest Editor: Advances in Mechanical Engineering: Special Collection on Collaborative Robots and Occupational Safety in Industry 4.0
- Guest Speaker: American Control Conference 2019, Workshop on Robot Assisted Manufacturing: Challenges and Opportunities
- Member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (MIMechE), London, UK and Chartered Engineer (CEng) recognized by IMechE
- Referee of International Journals including ASME Journal of Robotics & Mechanisms, International Journal of Non-linear Mechanics (JNLM), Mechatronics (Elsevier), Sensors (MDPI), International Journal of Machine Learning and Cybernetics, Logistics Research (Springer). IMechE Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture.
- Member of technical committee forums:
- 4th International Conference on Robotics, Computer Vision and Intelligent systems, ROBOVIS 2024, Rome, Italy.
- 8th International Conference on Computer and Information Science and Technology (CIST 2023), London.
- 4th HCT International Multi Conferences, The International Conference on Advance Materials, Design & Manufacturing, Dubai, UAE, 2022
- 3rd International Symposium on Industrial Design & Engineering, Antalya, Turkey, 2018
- Technology foresight forum on robotics and precision automotive manufacturing, PCST, Islamabad, 2017
- ICREATE 2014, NUST, Islamabad, Pakistan.
- Expert reviewer for funding bodies and grant hubs: ANR - French National Research Agency, EPSRC and Connected Everything (EPSRC hub for Digital Manufacturing research and feasibility studies).
- Referee to the International Conferences including LDIC, 2016, Germany - MCPL, 2016, Germany - IEEE INDIN 2009 UK - IEEE GCC conference & Exhibition, Muscat, Oman, 2015 – SAME, 2015, Islamabad – IEEE IBCAST, 2011-2014, Islamabad - FIT, 2011, Islamabad - ICREATE 2014, Islamabad.
- Session Chair of 5th LDIC 2016, Bremen, Germany and ICREATE 2014, Islamabad.
Sponsors and collaborators
- Azfar Khalid PI, Ahmet Omurtag Co-I & Philip Breedon Co-I, PepsiCo – external partner, Studying mental stress factor in occupational safety in the context of smart factory, EPSRC funded Connected Everything, industrial systems in the digital age, Feasibility study, £60K, 2020. Lab experiment | Media coverage: link 1 | link 2 | link 3
- Extending occupational safety in industrial manufacturing environment: Mental and psychological perspectives, Match funded PhD sponsored by PepsiCo Europe. Azfar Khalid PI, Ahmet Omurtag Co-I, Philip Breedon Co-I, Zohreh Zakeri Co-I, £55K, 2021.
- Breedon P, Khalid A, Connected Everything – Industry / Partner Engagement – PepsiCo, EPSRC, £5k, 2022.
- Industrial Partners: Olympus Technologies, Raruk Automation, WMH Robotics and The Care Machine.
- Medical Engineering Design Research Group at NTU
- Bremen Institute for Production & Logistics (BIBA), University of Bremen, Germany.
- Project InSA, (http://www.insa-projekt.de/) sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (Project Register Number: HRB 24505 HB) and ThyssenKrupp System Engineering GmbH as Industrial partner.
- Engineering and Industrial Organization (IOI), Department of Civil Engineering, Universidad de Burgos, Spain for collaborative robots and occupational safety in Industry 4.0.
- School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, National University of Science & Technology and Higher Education Commission, Islamabad, Pakistan.
- Intelligent Production Machines and Systems (IPROMS)’ from EU FP6 to develop tri-actuated parallel kinematic manipulator.
- Institute for Automotive and Manufacturing advanced practice (AMAP), University of Sunderland, UK.
- EU Erasmus Mundus Programme, cLINK (Centre of excellence for Learning, Innovation, Networking and Knowledge).
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Capital University of Science & Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Publications
Khalid A., Kazim T., Diaz KRV., Iqbal J. Breaking barriers in higher education: Implementation of cost-effective social constructivism in engineering education. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education. 2023, doi:10.1177/03064190231218123
Zakeri Z., Arif A., Omurtag A., Breedon P., Khalid A. Multimodal Assessment of Cognitive Workload Using Neural, Subjective and Behavioural Measures in Smart Factory Settings. Sensors 2023, 23, 8926. https://doi.org/10.3390/s23218926
Asad U., Khan M., Khalid A., Lughmani WA., Human-Centric Digital Twins in Industry: A Comprehensive Review of Enabling Technologies and Implementation Strategies, Sensors. 2023; 23(8):3938, https://doi.org/10.3390/s23083938
Asad U., Rasheed S., Lughmani W.A., Kazim T., Khalid A., Pannek J., (2023), Biomechanical Modeling of Human–Robot Accident Scenarios: A Computational Assessment for Heavy-Payload Capacity Robots, Applied Sciences, 13, 1957. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13031957
Islam S.O., Lughmani W.A., Qureshi W.S., Khalid A., (2022), A connective framework to minimize the anxiety of collaborative cyber physical system, International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, https://doi.org/10.1080/0951192X.2022.2163294
Khalid A., Wei Y., Saleem M.R., Lughmani W.A., (2022), Meso scale component manufacturing: A comparative analysis of non-lithography and lithography-based processes, Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, IOP Publishing, https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6439/ac6b7d
Khalid A., Khan Z.H., Idrees M., Kirisci P., Ghrairi Z., Thoben K.-D. & Pannek J., (2021), Understanding vulnerabilities in cyber physical production systems, International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, https://doi.org/10.1080/0951192X.2021.1992656
Khan M., Khalid A., Lughmani W.A., Khan M.M., (2021), A use case of exclusive economic zone of Pakistan for wave power potential estimation, Ocean Engineering, 237(August), 109664, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2021.109664
Liaqait R.A., Hamid S., Warsi S.S., Khalid A., (2021), A Critical Analysis of Job Shop Scheduling in Context of Industry 4.0. Sustainability 2021, 13, 7684. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147684
Imran A., Hafeez G., Khan I., Usman M., Shafiq Z., Qazi A.B., Khalid A., Thoben K.-D., (2020), Heuristic-Based Programable Controller for Efficient Energy Management Under Renewable Energy Sources and Energy Storage System in Smart Grid, IEEE Access, vol. 8, pp. 139587-139608, https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3012735
Khan T.A., Ullah K., Hafeez G., Khan I., Khalid A., Shafiq Z., Usman M., Qazi A.B., (2020), Closed-Loop Elastic Demand Control under Dynamic Pricing Program in Smart Microgrid Using Super Twisting Sliding Mode Controller, Sensors, 20, 4376, https://doi.org/10.3390/s20164376
Islam S. O. B., Lughmani W. A., Qureshi W. S., Khalid A., Mariscal M. A. and Garcia-Herrero S., (2019), Exploiting visual cues for safe and flexible cyber-physical production systems, Advances in Mechanical Engineering, Vol. 11(12), pp. 1-13, https://doi.org/10.1177/1687814019897228
Khan Z. H., Khalid A. and Iqbal J., (2018), Towards realizing robotic potential in future intelligent food manufacturing systems, Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, Vol. 48, pp. 11-24, Elsevier, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifset.2018.05.011
Khalid A., Kirisci P.,Khan Z. H.,Ghrairi Z., Thoben K.D. and Pannek J. (2018), Security framework for industrial collaborative robotic cyber physical systems, Computers in Industry, Vol. 97, pp. 132-145, Elsevier, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compind.2018.02.009
Khalid A. and Mekid S. (2018), Intelligent spherical joints based tri-actuated spatial parallel manipulator for precision applications, International Journal of Robotics & Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, Vol. 54, pp. 173-184, Elsevier, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcim.2017.11.005
Khan M.M., Sheikh N.A., Khalid A., Lughmani W.A. (2017), Experimental characterization of gasoline sprays under highly evaporating conditions, Heat and Mass Transfer, Springer, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-017-2251-9
Iqbal J., Khan Z. H. and Khalid A. (2017), Prospects of robotics in food industry, Food Science & Technology (Campinas) Ciência e Tecnologia de Alimentos, Vol. 37(2), http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1678-457x.14616
Khalid A., Kirisci P.,Ghrairi Z., Thoben K.D. and Pannek J. (2016), A Methodology to develop Collaborative Robotic Cyber Physical Systems for Production Environments, Logistics Research, Vol. 9(1), pp. 1-15, Springer.
Khalid A. and Khan Z. H., (2014), Multi-objective optimization for error compensation in intelligent micro-factory CPS in ‘Computational Intelligence for Decision Support in Cyber Physical Systems’, Springer, ISBN 978-981-4585-35-4.
Hussain A., Khan Z. H., Khalid A. and Iqbal M., (2014), A comparison of pulse compression techniques for ranging applications in ‘Computational Intelligence for Decision Support in Cyber Physical Systems’, Springer, ISBN 978-981-4585-35-4.
Khalid A. and Mekid S., (2013), Characteristic analysis of bioinspired pod structure robotic configurations, International Journal of Cognitive Computation, Vol. 6(1), pp. 89-100, Springer
Khalid A. and Mekid S., (2012), Kinematic Platform, US 20120168593 A1. (Patent)
Khalid A., (2010), Robotic Manipulator Design & Construction: Design and synthesis of parallel robotic manipulators, Verlag DM, Germany, ISBN: 978-3-639-25915-5.
Mekid S. and Khalid A., (2008), Chapter 5, Introduction to Parallel Kinematic Machines in ‘Introduction to Precision Machine Design & Error Assessment’, Mekid S. (Editor), CRC Press, ISBN: 9780849378867.
Khalid A. and Mekid S., (2008), Computation and analysis of dexterous workspace in PKMs, International Journal of Digital Manufacturing, 1(1), 10 -13.
Conference papers
Khan M, Barenji RV, Khalid A, Afazov S, Human Motion Analysis for Developing Human-Centric Digital Twins for Industry 5.0, IEEE Smart World Congress, August 28th - 31st, 2023, Portsmouth, UK
Arif A, Zakeri Z, Khalid A, Omurtag A, Philip B, Insight of Neuroimaging: Quantifying Cognitive Stress for Human Robot Collaboration in Smart Factories, First International Symposium on Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS '23), 11–12th July 2023, Edinburgh, UK
Walia K., Navaraj W., Khalid A., Khan A. and Breedon P., (2022), A low-cost reconfigurable industrial robot design utilising additively manufactured components, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Kyoto, Japan, 23-27 October 2022.
Zakeri, Z., Khalid, A., Omurtag, A., Hilliard, G., Breedon, P., (2022), Building Trust and safety Correlates for Autonomous Systems using Physiological, Behavioral, and Subjective Measures, Applied Human Factors & Ergonomics Conference, AHFE 2022, New York, USA, http://doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1001595
Walia K., Breedon P., Khalid A., Khan A., Ward N., (2022), Modular and Reusable Industrial Robotic Systems utilising Additively Manufactured Components, Connected Everything 2022, Liverpool, UK, https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19802197.v1
Zakeri Z., Omurtag A., Breedon P., Hilliard G. and Khalid A., (2021), Studying Mental Stress Factor in Occupational Safety in the Context of the Smart Factory, Proceedings of the 31st European Safety and Reliability Conference, ESREL 2021, Angers, France, doi: 10.3850/981-973-0000-00-0.
Mariscal M. A., García-Herrero S., Khalid A., (2019), Risks Management and Cobots: Identifying Critical Variables, 29th European Safety and Reliability Conference, ESREL 2019, Hannover, Germany.
Islam S.O., Khan L.A., Khalid A., Lughmani W.A. (2019), A Smart Micro Factory Design: An Integrated Approach, 1st International Workshop on Functional Reverse Engineering of Machine Tools (WRE 2018), GIKI, Topi, KP, Pakistan, CRC Press.
Khalid A., Kirisci P.,Ghrairi Z., Thoben K.D. and Pannek J. (2017), Towards implementing safety and security concepts for Human-Robot collaboration in the context of Industry 4.0, Proceedings of the 39th International MATADOR Conference on Advanced Manufacturing, Manchester, UK.
Khalid A., Kirisci P.,Ghrairi Z., Pannek J. and Thoben K.D., (2016), Safety requirements in collaborative Human-Robot Cyber Physical system, 5th International Conference on Dynamics in Logistics (LDIC), Bremen, Germany.
Mukhtar M. and Khalid A., (2014), Non-contact inspection for internal flow characteristics in pipe lines, 1st Applied Mechanical Engineering Conference (AMEC-2014), Lahore, Pakistan.
Wahab A. and Khalid A., (2014), Non-contact metrology inspection system for precision micro products, International Conference on Robotics and Emerging Allied Technologies in Engineering (ICREATE 2014), Islamabad (NUST), Pakistan.
Nawaz A. and Khalid A., (2014), Sensorless control of DC motor using Kalman Filter for low cost CNC machine tool, International Conference on Robotics and Emerging Allied Technologies in Engineering (ICREATE 2014), Islamabad (NUST), Pakistan.
Wahab A., Khalid A. and Khan U. S., (2013), Dimensional inspection system for meso-scale artefacts using sub-pixel edge detection technique, International Conference on Modeling & Simulation (ICOMS), Islamabad, Pakistan, 394-398.
Khalid A. and Mekid S., (2010), Design synthesis of a three legged SPS parallel manipulator, 36th International MATADOR Conference, Manchester, UK.
Khalid A. and Mekid S., (2010), Characteristics analysis of parallel platform simulators with different hardware configurations, Proceedings of the 7th International Bhurban Conference on Applied Science & Technology (IBCAST), Islamabad, Pakistan, 181-186.
Mekid S., Khalid A. and Ogedengbe T., (2008), Common physical problems in micromachining, 6th CIRP International Conference on Intelligent Computation in Manufacturing Engineering - CIRP ICME '08. Ischia (Naples), Italy.
Khalid A. and Mekid S., (2007), Jacobian inversion analysis and extraction of dexterous workspace in PKMs, 35th International MATADOR Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, 293-296.
Khalid A. and Mekid S., (2007), Computation and analysis of dexterous workspace in PKMs, Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Intelligent Production Machines and Systems (IPROMS), Elsevier.
Mekid S. and Khalid A., (2006), Robust design with error optimization analysis of a CNC micro milling machine, 5th CIRP International Conference on Intelligent Computation in Manufacturing Engineering - CIRP ICME '06. Ischia (Naples), Italy.
Khalid A. and Mekid S., (2006), Design of precision desktop machine tools for meso-machining, Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Intelligent Production Machines and Systems (IPROMS), Elsevier, 165-170.
Khalid A. and Mekid S., (2006), Design optimization analysis of a micro machine tool, 6th International Conference of the European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology (EUSPEN), Baden, Austria, 365-368.
Press expertise
Human Robot Collaboration
Mental Health and well being of modern worker
Cyber physical systems in manufacturing and Industry 4.0
Industry 5.0