Xiangdong Gao received his B.E. degree in industrial automation from Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China, in 1985, his M.E. degree in industrial automation from Central South University, Changsha, China, in 1988, and his Ph.D. degree in welding automatic control from South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China, in 1997. He is currently a Professor with the School of Electromechanical Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, China. His research interests include opto-mechatronic sensing, robotic welding, machine vision, and pattern recognition