The 2026 International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Intelligent Manufacturing (WCMEIM 2026) was successfully held at Jianghan University on September 19. The conference was hosted by Jianghan University and organized by the International Exchange and Cooperation Office of Jianghan University and the School of Intelligent Manufacturing of Jianghan University, with co-organization by Wuhan University, Tongji University, and Hubei University. Against the broader backdrop of global manufacturing transformation and upgrading, and focusing on intelligent manufacturing technological innovation and the deep integration of information technology and industrialization, the conference built a high-level international academic exchange platform. It brought together experts and scholars from universities, research institutes, and industry enterprises at home and abroad to jointly discuss frontier challenges and development opportunities in mechanical engineering and intelligent manufacturing.

At the opening ceremony, Professor Xuan Liang, Vice Dean of the School of Intelligent Manufacturing at Jianghan University, presided over the event. Professor Jia Yongsheng, Vice President of Jianghan University, and Qiao Zhiqiang, Second-Level Inspector of the Education Working Committee of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee and the Hubei Provincial Department of Education, delivered speeches respectively. In his speech, Professor Jia Yongsheng stated that the university would rely on the WCMEIM 2026 international platform, adhere to its educational positioning of “rooted in Wuhan, serving Hubei, and oriented toward the whole country,” deepen talent, research, platform, and university-locality linkages, promote the development of the intelligent manufacturing discipline, international academic cooperation, and the commercialization of research outcomes, and better serve the transformation and upgrading of the advanced manufacturing industry in Wuhan and Hubei. Qiao Zhiqiang pointed out that WCMEIM 2026 should be taken as an opportunity to strengthen discipline platform development and international academic exchange, focus on frontier directions such as intelligent mechanical equipment, digital twins, and advanced manufacturing, deepen joint research and top-notch talent cultivation, enhance Hubei’s intelligent manufacturing discipline development and the level of internationalized education, and provide intellectual and talent support for industrial development.

The conference included keynote reports, oral presentations in parallel sub-forums, and other sessions. Five authoritative experts from the University of Birmingham, Nanyang Technological University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan University, and Jianghan University were invited to give invited keynote reports, covering five frontier directions: robotic disassembly for intelligent remanufacturing, artificial intelligence for time-series sensor data analysis, robotic adaptive grinding of complex curved-surface components, wearable flexible thermoelectric health monitoring, and the toughening mechanisms of high-strength aluminum alloys produced by laser powder bed fusion.

Professor Duc-Truong Pham from the University of Birmingham focused on intelligent remanufacturing robotic disassembly technology, analyzed the technical bottlenecks faced by automated disassembly systems in the context of the circular economy, and shared implementation pathways for machine vision, force sensing, digital twins, and collaborative robots in autonomous remanufacturing equipment. Professor Li Xiaoli from Nanyang Technological University / Singapore University of Technology and Design focused on massive time-series sensor data in manufacturing, introduced the latest research advances in self-supervised representation learning, domain adaptation, model compression, and time-series foundation models, and provided intelligent solutions for predictive maintenance and equipment health management.

Professor Yang Jixiang from Huazhong University of Science and Technology addressed the difficult problem of robotic flexible grinding of complex curved-surface components. He proposed a force-speed collaborative adaptive optimization method and developed rigid-flexible coupled, variable-stiffness force-controlled actuators, effectively improving the contour accuracy, surface quality, and machining efficiency of complex parts. Associate Professor Hou Yue from Wuhan University presented the latest achievements in flexible thermoelectric devices. Aimed at wearable respiratory monitoring and health screening, she demonstrated lightweight smart masks and multi-channel sensor arrays, enabling quantitative assessment of lung function and speech recognition, and providing new ideas for home screening of chronic diseases and assisted communication. Professor Rao Heng from the School of Intelligent Manufacturing at Jianghan University delivered a keynote report titled “On the toughening mechanisms of high strength aluminium alloys produced by laser powder bed fusion.” The report analyzed the development bottlenecks of dedicated high-performance materials in the industrialization of metal additive manufacturing. It discussed microalloying modification of conventional aluminum alloys, the construction of high-temperature and high-strength new material systems, process adaptation for laser additive manufacturing, and optimization of heat treatment regimes. It revealed the strengthening and toughening mechanisms and service performance improvement mechanisms of lightweight high-strength alloys produced by LPBF, and also looked ahead to future research directions in metal additive manufacturing. The research results have already been translated into applications in the development of domestically produced additive manufacturing equipment and the manufacturing of complex components for civil and aerospace fields, showing strong industrial value.

The conference also held two parallel sub-forums. Young researchers from Beihang University, the National University of Defense Technology, the Xi’an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guizhou University, and other domestic research institutions delivered oral academic presentations. Topics covered equipment reliability, mechanism design optimization, intelligent detection and recognition, vibration analysis, laser processing, intelligent supply chains, and other directions, fully demonstrating the innovative vitality of young scientific research talent. The conference simultaneously supported online scholars at home and abroad in listening to reports and conducting academic exchanges, achieving an integrated online-offline model.

WCMEIM is committed to bringing together global researchers and engineering practitioners, focusing on key challenges in intelligent manufacturing, sharing typical research cases, and promoting interdisciplinary research collaboration. This year’s conference was held in Wuhan, fully leveraging the concentrated advantages of science and education resources in central China, further strengthening the connection and interaction between Wuhan universities and academic circles at home and abroad, and building an important academic platform for external exchange and cooperation in advanced manufacturing in central China. Through diverse intellectual exchanges and mutual learning from achievements, it helps enhance the innovation capacity of manufacturing disciplines locally and in central China, and injects academic momentum and innovative wisdom into the transformation and upgrading of central China’s manufacturing industry and the development of China’s manufacturing industry toward high-end and intelligentization.