PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Hong Zhang

Also known as 张宏, ZHANG Hong

Hong Zhang is a robotics researcher whose work uses camera-based robot sensing and machine learning for image analysis. He earned electrical engineering degrees at Northeastern and Purdue, then conducted postdoctoral research at Penn and worked for more than 30 years at Alberta. He held an NSERC Industrial Research Chair from 2003 to 2017, became an IEEE Fellow in 2014 and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2015, and chaired IROS 2017. Since October 2020, he is a Chair Professor in SUSTech's Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering.

Timeline

  1. 1982–1986

    Electrical engineering degrees

    He earns a B.S. in electrical engineering at Northeastern University in 1982 and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Purdue University in 1986.

  2. 2003–2017

    Machine learning and SLAM

    He holds an NSERC Industrial Research Chair from 2003 to 2017. In 2014, he describes a camera as a robot's vision sensor in his SLAM research; at Alberta, his group formulates image segmentation as pixel classification solved by machine learning.

  3. 2014–2015

    Engineering fellowships

    In 2014, he is elevated to IEEE RAS Fellow for contributions to collective robotics and intelligent sensing in oil sand mining. In 2015, he is elected a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

  4. 2017–2022

    Leading IROS and its editorial board

    In 2017, he is General Chair of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in Vancouver. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the IROS Conference Editorial Board from 2020 to 2022.

  5. 2023–2025

    IEEE RAS AdCom service

    From 2023 to 2025, he serves on the Administrative Committee of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society.

  6. Since October 2020

    Chair Professor at SUSTech

    After postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania, he works for more than 30 years at the University of Alberta before joining SUSTech in October 2020. He is a Chair Professor in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the Southern University of Science and Technology.

  1. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 53% of people in our data with a known employment countryOur estimates of where AI careers are concentrated now and how countries’ shares of dated positions changed over time.
  3. 46% of living people in our data with known birth and employment countries work outside their birth countryOur estimate of cross-border careers in AI, from country of birth and the country of each current organization.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionOur estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.

Sources and credits

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  1. The Hong Kong Society of Robotics and Automation-HKSRA hksra.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. Hong Zhang, PhD apps.ualberta.ca. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. Research Profile: Robot Navigation | Faculty of Science ualberta.ca. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. 2014 IEEE RAS Fellow Class Announced - IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Website ieee-ras.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. Hong Zhang elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering | Computing Science gsa.ualberta.ca. Checked 19 October 2026.