Editor’s Note: Anchoring the developmental positioning of an application-oriented university and pursuing a path of distinctive development are the objective imperatives presented by economic and social development for our university. By concentrating on the specialized attributes of “uniqueness”, “competitiveness”, and “distinctiveness” within disciplines and professions, SUES will strengthen its core competencies and draw attention to how indispensable and irreplaceable SUES is in the ecosystem of higher education.
Confirming the characteristics of “special robots”, clarifying the advantages of “mirror milling technology for large thin-wall components in aviation”, and condensing the characteristics of “intelligent evaluation and active control of automobile sound quality”, School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering has formed the core feature of “highlighting the specialization of engineering education, giving play to the strength of engineering technology, and highlighting the specialty of engineering strong school”. Relying on the existing talent team and previous discipline accumulation, combined with social needs and industry orientation, the School has comprehensively sorted out the current scientific research status of the discipline, and standards the achievements of the equivalent benchmarking colleges and departments at home and abroad and their own service to the society. The 3S construction aims at creating a large “engineering” golden signboard for SUES.
In terms of specialization, the School has focused on the key point of “drive control integrated joint (core component) of building mechanical and electrical installation robot”, highlighting the first (set of) drilling robot at home and abroad adapted to vibration and shock loads, and key technologies and methods such as high frequency vibration and instantaneous force perception, autonomous operation planning, and accurate positioning. In terms of operation accuracy, work efficiency, and adaptation to complex environments, it has a leading advantage, achieved new breakthroughs in basic research and development, application transformation, and product incubation, and established independent innovation and industry application models from key technologies, to core components, and to application demonstration. In the future, the School will focus on the research and development of key components and core technologies of robots in special industries, create new growth points of mechanical engineering disciplines, and form a special robot characteristic academic direction integrating talent training - scientific research - engineering application - achievement transformation (technology companies).
In terms of strength, the School has focused on the key point of “mirror milling technology of large thin-wall components in aviation”, and has established a “science and education + production and education” dual-integration science and technology research community, forming a misplaced competitive advantage with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and gradually forming a full chain technical service model of basic theoretical modeling - key technology research - equipment research and development - application and promotion. Up to now, a total of 10 longitudinal research projects at the provincial and ministerial level and above have been approved; the total funding of the horizontal projects amounts to 29.91 million yuan. By comparing the top 20 institutions with the most papers published in the field of mirror milling in China based on the CNKI database from 2010 to 2023, SUES ranks second among all institutions and first among all universities.
In terms of specialty, the School has focused on the key point of “intelligent evaluation and active control of automotive sound quality” and proposes the research direction of “intelligent evaluation and active control of automotive sound quality”, which has formed a misplaced competitive advantage with Tongji University and University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. It has formed a full-chain technical service model of theoretical modeling - algorithm development - test evaluation - technology application, presided over more than 10 national projects such as the National Natural Science Foundation and key research and development plan sub-projects, and built a professional technical service platform for vibration and noise evaluation and control of new energy vehicles in Shanghai, becoming the only one of vehicle scientific research platforms in the Yangtze River Delta region.
In the future, the School will adhere to the development trend of the industry, focus on the frontier and cross-field integration, and strive to create a scientific research team with disciplinary characteristics, scientific research expertise, service ability and harmonious culture around the three directions of intelligent collaboration and high-performance manufacturing robots, thin-wall mirror milling and new energy vehicle NVH technical services. This team will support the School's continued high-level of development.