2025 RAPDASA-RobMech-PRASA-AMI

Conference and Exhibition

The Rapid Product Development Association of South Africa
(RAPDASA)
proudly announces its
26th Annual International Conference
from
27-30 October 2025
At the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria, South Africa

It is with great pleasure that we announce that RAPDASA will be joined for its 26th Annual International Conference by the 18th Robotics and Mechatronics (RobMech), the 36th Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa (PRASA) and the 6th Advanced Materials Initiative (AMI) conferences.

Following the success of the 2024 RAPDASA Conference, joined by RobMech, PRASA and AMI, hosted in the Board Walk Hotel and Conference Venue in Gqeberha, South Africa  on 28 to 31 October 2024, we are pleased to announce the Call for Papers for the 2025 RAPDASA-RobMech-PRASA-AMI international conference to be held on 27 – 30 October 2025 in the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria, South Africa. RAPDASA is again joined by Robotics and Mechatronics (RobMech), the Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa (PRASA) and the South African Advanced Materials Initiative (AMI).

This conference will bring together experts from industry, R&D institutions, academia and students in additive manufacturing, materials engineering, rapid product development, pattern recognition, robotics and mechatronics to present research, network and expand the fraternity that has been built by the previous conferences.

The theme of the 2025 conference is:

Bridging the gap between industry and academia

Bridging the gap between academia and industry in advanced manufacturing, including areas like additive manufacturing, robotics, advanced materials, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, is essential for accelerating innovation, fostering technological adoption, and addressing real-world challenges.

The conference will offer opportunities for local and international participants from industry, R&D institutions, academia and government, to connect and collaborate to grow the next generation of product development and advanced manufacturing enterprises across the African continent and globally.

Conference papers on the following topics are welcomed:

  • Additive Manufacturing
  • Rapid Prototyping
  • Advanced Manufacturing
  • Computer-aided Design
  • Product Engineering
  • Reverse Engineering
  • Design, Simulation and Modelling
  • Simulation and Modelling
  • Process Modelling
  • Structural Analysis
  • Materials Selection for Design
  • Materials Engineering
  • Materials Processing
  • Tooling Design and Development
  • Classifiers and related topics
  • Speech processing
  • Natural language processing
  • Computer vision and image processing
  • Bioinformatics
  • Signal processing
  • Remote sensing
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Machine learning
  • Computational analytics
  • End-user applications and systems
  • FMS Artificial Intelligence
  • Knowledge Based Systems
  • Information Technology Applied to Manufacturing
  • Computer-Aided Engineering Education
  • Sensors and Applications
  • Robots and Automation
  • Lean Manufacturing Logistics
  • Modelling and Simulation Scheduling
  • Management of Technology
  • Operations Management
  • Education and Training using Robotics
  • Agile Manufacturing
  • Mechatronics
  • Distributed Control Systems
  • Energy
  • Manufacturing Neural Networks
  • Mobile robotics
  • Mining robotics

Who should attend?

The Organizing Committee, on behalf of RAPDASA, RobMech, PRASA and AMI, invites product designers, engineers, production staff, technical directors and managers from industry involved in design, development and manufacturing of products and components to participate or simply attend the conference. In addition, participants from international product development and materials engineering communities, academia and R&D institutions are also invited to attend and participate in the conference. Furthermore, additive manufacturing, robotics and pattern recognition, are becoming important for general managers and CEOs and the world of finance and investment. Ample opportunities will be available to meet with experts in the field.

Important dates deadlines

  • Deadline for submission of extended abstracts of papers and posters: 28 February 2025

  • Notification of acceptance of extended abstracts of papers and posters: 14 March 2025

  • Deadline for submission of abstracts of participants from industry: 6 June 2025

  • Deadline for submission of full papers: 9 May 2025

  • Feedback on reviews of full papers: 4 August 2025

  • Submission deadline for final revised papers: 1 September 2025

  • Submission deadline for poster designs: 26 September 2025

Please see Conference abstract & paper submission for instructions on how to submit an abstract to the conference.

Publication of papers

Abstracts must first be accepted before submission of a full paper can proceed. All papers submitted for the conference will be subjected to a double-blind peer review process, which will be led by the Technical Committee. Papers accepted after peer review will be published in the conference proceedings in MATEC Web of Conferences. Selected papers that comply with the scope of the journal and are of high quality, will be submitted for publication in the ISI accredited The South African Journal of Industrial Engineering (SAJIE).

 

Industry presentations

As an alternative to the above publication of peer-reviewed papers, industry participants can present their applied research in a non-peer-reviewed format. Only an abstract of 300 words length must be submitted for such industry presentations. Industry presentations are not included in the conference proceedings.

The deadline for industry abstracts is 6 June 2025.

Companies or organisations that wish to be a sponsor of the conference proceedings may contact Rynette Coetzer at info@rapdasa.org