Dr Yongjing Wang BEng(1st), PhD, CEng, FHEA, FIMechE, SMIEEE

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Associate Professor

Contact details

Email: y.wang@bham.ac.uk
Twitter: @YonjingWang

Address: Department of Mechanical Engineering
School of Engineering
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Yongjing Wang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Birmingham.

Wang is the Principal Investigator of the three major EPSRC grants in the area of smart robotics for sustainable manufacturing with a total value of £3.5M (ATARI, STAMAN and RoboTriage). Wang was also a Co-investigator and a theme lead in the £15M EPSRC national hub in robotics for circular economy (RESCUE-M) in the period 2024-2026.

Wang has over 50 publications in the area of robotics for sustainable manufacturing. His co-authored book ‘Optimisation of Robotic Disassembly for Remanufacturing’ was the first book addressing optimisation problems in disassembly sequence planning.

He is also a funding reviewer for research councils in the UK, Switzerland and the US, and an editor for world-leading journals and conferences (e.g. the IEEE, Nature and Royal Society series).

Wang’s research work has been supported by world-leading companies including but not limited to Airbus, Boston Dynamics, Caterpillar, Dyson, Toshiba, Jaguar Land Rover, and KUKA. Wang is on the advisory board of the United Nations Higher Education Sustainability Initiative, an editor of the United Nations guidelines on artificial intelligence for sustainability, an invited member of a standard committee with the British Standards Institution (BSI), UK.

Wang has been an active member of numerous influential national and international organisations. His involvement spans technical domains, including the UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems Network and the UK Digital Innovation & Circular Innovation Network, as well as cultural spheres such as UNESCO, ITU, and the Anna Lindh Foundation.

He is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (FIMechE), Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), a Chartered Engineer (CEng), and a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (SMIEEE).

Yongjing Wang's personal site.

Qualifications

FIMechE 2024
FHEA 2019
CEng 2019
PhD, Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham, 2016
BEng (1st Hons), Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Birmingham, 2013
BEng, Automation Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology (China), 2013

Biography

Yongjing graduated from the University of Birmingham with a first-class BEng (Hons) in 2013, in a joint degree with Harbin Institute of Technology, China. His final year project, under the supervision of Professor Mietek Brdys, encouraged him to study for a PhD at the same institution.

Yongjing’s PhD research supervised by Professor Duc Pham focused on smart and active materials and structures with self-healing capabilities. His work on achieving high-level recovery at ultra-low temperatures has been reported in over 20 news media reports.

After obtaining his PhD degree in 2016, Yongjing continued to work in Professor Duc Pham’s group on robotic disassembly technologies, as part of the £2M EPSRC project AUTOREMAN. He was a core member of the AUTOREMAN research team, the lab manager of the Autonomous Remanufacturing Laboratory, where he co-authored over 20 academic publications.

In 2020, Yongjing was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the newly established School of Engineering. In 2021, he was awarded the EPSRC New Investigator Award (ie. ATARI) to investigate self-learning robotics for manufacturing automation.

ATARI has led to over 30 academic publications (e.g. the IEEE, Science, Royal Society, SME, IMechE series), 16 new collaborations and partnerships including world-leading engineering and technologies companies (e.g. Airbus, Dyson and Boston Dynamics), 1 patent and 5 award/recognition events (e.g. members of the UN advisory committees and keynote speakers at international conferences and exhibitions).

Yongjing was promoted an Associate Professor in 2023. He later received further £2.5M investments from the EPSRC on STAMAN and RoboTriage in 2024 to create a portfolio of robotic technologies to support sustainability and value retention in the future manufacturing.

Teaching

Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Microprocessors and Control Systems

Mechanical Engineering

Mechatronics & Control Systems
Synoptic Mechanical Engineering
Integrated Design Project 3
Final Year Project

Aerospace Engineering

Electrical Energy Systems and Control B

Postgraduate supervision

Yongjing supervises a number of postdoctoral researchers, PhD researchers, master and undergraduate research students within the School of Engineering.

We are already looking for highly motivated people to join our team.

Researchers who would like to join our research team may apply for scholarship and fellowship opportunities.

For more details, please contact y.wang@bham.ac.uk.

Research

Robotics and automation, Human-robot collaborations, Control and system engineering, Remanufacturing, Smart materials and structures.

Some of the major grants awarded to Y Wang as principal investigator:

‘Robotic Triage for Value Retention in a Circular Economy (RoboTriage)’ (2024-2027) Main Sponsor: EPSRC
‘Robotic skill transfer and augmentation for contact-rich tasks in manufacturing (STAMAN)’ (2024-2027) Main Sponsor: EPSRC
Electric Motor Disassembly – A FEMM Hub Feasibility Study (2024-2025). Main Sponsor: EPSRC FEMM Hub
‘Self-learning robotics for industrial contact-rich tasks (ATARI): enabling smart learning in automated disassembly’ (2022-2024) Main sponsor: EPSRC New Investigator Award
‘Affordable and modular robotic disassembly systems’ (2023) Main sponsor: EPSRC Impact Acceleration Award (Follow-up)
‘Hierarchical Use of Battery: Intelligent Evaluation and Collaborative Robot Disassembly’ (2020-2023) Main sponsor: Industry

Other activities

Professional affiliations

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2019 - present)
Chartered Engineer (2019 - present)
Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (2017 - present)

Administrative duties

PGT Admission tutor (Mechanical Engineering)
Co-lead for Research Priorities and Influence, Industrial Advisory Board, School of Engineering, UoB (2023 - present)

External appointments

Expert respondent, Workshop on Sustainability and Environment, United Nations 18th Internet Governance Forum: The Internet We Want – Empowering All People, 2023, Japan.
Funding reviewer: Swiss National Science Foundation (2022) | EPSRC Peer Review College member (2024 - )
Degree/Programme/module external examiner: Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (2024-)
University Ranking Invited Respondent: QS World University Ranking (2025, 2026), Times Higher Education World University Ranking (2025)
Elected Member, UK-RAS Early Career Forum (2022 - present)
Member of TPR/1/7/5 standards committee, the British Standards Institution (BSI) (2022 - present)
Member of Focus Group on "Environmental Efficiency for Artificial Intelligence and other Emerging Technologies", the International Telecommunication Union (2021 - 2022)
Member of Early Career Researcher Forum, UK Research and Innovation (2021 - 2022)

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Wu, Z, Zhang, Y, Lu, H, Huang, H, Liu, Z, Yang, G, Yuan, X, Wang, Y & Wang, Y 2026, 'A novel automatic robotic planning method and system for reducing error accumulations in multi-layer and multi-pass welding', Rapid Prototyping Journal. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-03-2025-0089

Deng, W, Yang, H, Liu, Q, Wang, Y, Cai, Y, Jiang, K & Pham, DT 2026, 'Bridging 2D vision and 3D CAD: Integrating cross-modal deep learning and LLM-assisted semantic graph reasoning for spatial disassembly constraint modelling', Journal of Manufacturing Systems, vol. 88, pp. 88-107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmsy.2026.05.017

Hu, Y, Sun, L, Fox, R, Li, R, Liu, C, Xia, L & Wang, Y 2026, 'Circularity triage: A multi-stage adaptive model for end-of-life products', Journal of Manufacturing Systems, vol. 88, pp. 1177-1203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmsy.2026.07.026

Zang, Y, Xu, X, Lan, F, Zhang, Y, Duan, H, Chacin, M, Goli, F, Dixon, R, Hajiyavand, AM & Wang, Y 2026, 'Disassembly from scratch: An object-centric approach for robotic autonomous disassembly with zero contact/interference information', Journal of Manufacturing Systems, vol. 84, pp. 314-332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmsy.2025.12.013

Gong, L, Lv, Y, Tian, J, Fuliu, Y, Hu, Y, Xia, L & Wang, Y 2026, 'Noise-resilient and lightweight: Hypergraph computation for wind turbine blade defect detection', Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, vol. 182, no. Part 4, 116017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engappai.2026.116017

Zang, Y, Xu, X, Zhang, Y, Zhang, F, Deng, W, Hajiyavand, AM & Wang, Y 2026, 'Twist-pull as an execution skill primitive for robotic disassembly: Safety-aware skill augmentation under contact uncertainty', Journal of Manufacturing Systems, vol. 86, pp. 22-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmsy.2026.02.020

Liu, Q, Lu, H, Zhang, X, Zhang, Y, Wang, Y, Li, Z & Hu, M 2025, 'Active prediction compensation strategy: A new positioning compensation technique for improving the accuracy of the dual ball screw feed mechanism under load', Mechanics Based Design of Structures and Machines, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 1572-1601. https://doi.org/10.1080/15397734.2024.2391942

Liang, C, Parnada, A, Gbadebo, A, Altumi, F, Qu, M, Li, L, Gomes, AD, Lin, X, Pham, DT & Wang, Y 2025, 'An experimental robotic cell for the disassembly of electric vehicle battery modules', Journal of Remanufacturing, vol. 15, no. 2-3, pp. 381-410. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13243-025-00156-9

Jiang, K, Tian, Z, Wang, Y, Ye, J & Hillmansen, S 2025, 'Battery Multiple Units: A Techno-Economic Analysis of Development Pathways', IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification. https://doi.org/10.1109/TTE.2025.3647443

Qu, M, Pham, DT, Lan, F, Wu, Z, Zang, Y, Zhang, Y & Wang, Y 2025, 'Contact-Based Digital Twins Modeling for Reinforcement Learning of Robotic Disassembly Operations', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems, vol. 3, pp. 497-506. https://doi.org/10.1109/TICPS.2025.3589351

Conference article

Fox, R, Li, R, Jonsson, G, Goli, F, Yang, M, Aktas, E & Wang, Y 2026, 'State-Augmented Graphs for Circular Economy Triage', Procedia CIRP, vol. 147, pp. 545-551. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2026.02.189

Conference contribution

Pham, DT, Castellani, M, Huang, J, Wang, Y, Tian, G & Zhang, X 2026, The Bees Algorithm and Its Applications in Remanufacturing. in NM Durakbasa, HC Akdağ & KG Gülen (eds), AI-Driven Production with Green Sustainability: Selected Papers from ISPR2025, October 9-11, 2025 Istanbul-Türkiye. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering, Springer, pp. 34-46, 25th International Symposium for Production Research, Istanbul, Turkey, 9/10/25. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-22784-3_3

Goli, F, Wang, Y & Saadat, M 2025, An Analysis of Rectangular Peg-Hole Disassembly in Three Dimensions. in JL Rickli (ed.), Advances in Remanufacturing 2024: Proceedings of VIII International Workshop on Autonomous Remanufacturing. 1 edn, Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering, Springer, pp. 193-206, 8th International Workshop on Autonomous Remanufacturing, IWAR 2024, Detroit, United States, 15/10/24. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-92425-5_15

Zang, Y, Xu, X, Zhang, Y, Hajiyavand, AM, Ye, J & Wang, Y 2025, Augmenting robotic disassembly skill: Combining compliance control strategy with reinforcement learning for twist-pulling disassembly. in C Laugier, A Renzaglia, N Atanasov, S Birchfield, G Cielniak, L De Mattos, L Fiorini, P Giguere, K Hashimoto, J Ibanez-Guzman, T Kamegawa, J Lee, G Loianno, K Luck, H Maruyama, P Martinet, H Moradi, U Nunes, J Pettre, A Pretto, T Ranzani, A Ronnau, S Rossi, E Rouse, F Ruggiero, O Simonin, D Wang, M Yang, E Yoshida & H Zhao (eds), 2025 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems , Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), pp. 20297-20302, 2025 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Hangzhou, China, 19/10/25. https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS60139.2025.11246037

Review article

Li, R, Liang, C, Fox, R, Jonsson, G, Goli, F, Aktas, E & Wang, Y 2026, 'Towards autonomous triaging for end-of-life EV components: a critical review and diagnostic-to-decision framework', Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain, vol. 20, 100348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clscn.2026.100348

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