CUHK Robotics Open Day

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2023-07-27
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The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)’s T Stone Robotics Institute (CURI) joined hands with Hong Kong Science and Technology Park Corporation (HKSTP) to organise the CUHK Robotics Open Day at HKSTP on 27 July 2023, showcasing its leading innovations to the public. Robotics is an interdisciplinary engineering subject with numerous applications in manufacturing industries, services, health care, space, etc. Robotics technology is widely considered as the technology, next to the Internet technology, that can change the world and human life.

As one of the strategic initiatives of the University, CURI strives to develop cutting-edge technologies in robotics and to become a global leader in the special robotics areas that fit its strengths and the local needs.

The Robotics Open Day is an amazing opportunity for CUHK to showcase and celebrate its incredible work. More than 30 cutting-edge robotics innovations had been showcased during the open day. Major projects include the UAS and AI Technologies for Autonomous Built Asset Inspection and Management developed by Professor Chen Benmei, Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering; the Microrobotic Platform for Endovascular Intervention, which uses a nanorobot swarm and a magnetic actuation system, developed by Professor Zhang Li, Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering; Quadrupedal Robots: A New Last-mile Delivery Solution, featuring the robot Sirius, developed by Professor Liu Yunhui, Director of CURI and HKCLR, for efficient and stable delivery of packages; and TransCam 3D: World’s First 3D Camera with the Ability to Reconstruct Transparent Objects, developed by DepthVision Limited. Also at the exhibition are novel projects from the CUHK Robotics Team, start-up companies and InnoHK.

Showcases of robotics innovations:

Sirius - The Next-Generation Quadruped Robot

Sirius, the cutting-edge medium-sized quadruped robot, is designed to revolutionise the logistics and related industries. Sirius offers a mobile platform with unparalleled terrain adaptability and ability to reach significantly farther distance than traditional wheeled robots.

Wearable Robotic Exoskeleton for Load Transportation

Industrial back-support exoskeletons help workers in reducing the chance of developing low back pain This is achieved by providing an interaction torque on the lumbosacral joint and hip joints, assisting the user in lowering and lifting objects. In this project, two active back support exoskeletons with two different actuation systems are developed to evaluate the assistance effectiveness of different exoskeleton actuation configurations for optimal design of the active back-support exoskeletons.

A Semi-autonomous Stereotactic Brain Biopsy Robotic System with Enhanced Safety

This semi-autonomous stereotactic brain biopsy robotic system is proposed for surgeon workload reduction and patient safety enhancement. This system includes two novel components: a brain biopsy robotic module and a constrained cannula with tissue blocker.

Microrobotic Platform for Endovascular Intervention

A microrobotic platform for the image-guided endovascular intervention is developed for treatments of vascular diseases. The microrobotic platform utilises the nanorobots swarm and the magnetic actuation system for active drug delivery to a targeted region inside the vessels, delivering high dose of drugs to the region locally with lower overall required drug dosage.

TransCam 3D: World’s First 3D Camera with the Ability to Reconstruct Transparent Objects

TransCam 3D is the first and only 3D Camera capable of acquiring 3D shaped transparent objects with high accuracy, high speed, and a large field of view. It is the world’s first achievement in 3D reconstruction of transparent objects in high speed and high precision.

Modular Task-Specific Prosthetics and Supernumerary Robotic Limbs

This invention introduces a new potential method that is lightweight, customisable, and easy to use. The task-specific nature of this design allows different end effectors to be used for different tasks, making it easy to adapt to by patients of all ages. The novel methods of controlling the prosthetics and supernumerary limbs are intuitive, allowing users to freely control the robotic limb without prior training.

Interactive Surgical Embodied AI Simulator (SurRoL)

SurRoL is a simulation platform dedicated to surgical embodied intelligence with strong focus on human interaction, learning algorithm support, and extendable infrastructure design, with which we hope to pave the way for future research surgical embodied intelligence and its downstream application. SurRoL is the first embodied AI simulator dedicated for surgical robot learning and its downstream application (such as surgical training and surgical task automation). It highlights human interaction, learning algorithm support, and extendable infrastructure design.

Autonomous Humanoid Robots for Kitchen Tasks

Domestic service robots have been developed considerably in recent years, while the creation of a robot chef in the semi-structured kitchen environment remains a grand challenge. This project focuses on humanoid robot manipulation for kitchen tasks, which is a bimanual skill learning and deformable object manipulation problem.

 

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Adding edible salt to the electrolyte recipe to create safe, long-life aqueous zinc batteries

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2023-07-31
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A research team led by Professor Lu Yi-chun in the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has taken a critical step forward in creating a high-performance, eco-friendly electrolyte for aqueous zinc batteries. The team applied a strategy from pharmaceutical science to increase drug solubility, solving the problems of aqueous zinc batteries’ short life span by enabling highly concentrated zinc acetate electrolytes, a halogen-free zinc salt. The breakthrough was recently published in the world-leading scientific journal Nature Sustainability, a sister journal of Nature.
 
Making aqueous zinc batteries more powerful and sustainable  
 
Lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries are widely used in electronic devices and gadgets such as mobile phones and laptops. Owing to their stable energy output and satisfactory lifespan, they have become the heart of these portable electronics, as well as electric vehicles and large-scale solar and wind farms. However, Li-ion batteries still heavily rely on toxic, flammable organic electrolytes, which come with serious safety concerns.
 
In contrast, aqueous zinc batteries are non-flammable and, thanks to their water-based electrolyte, do not pose any significant risk of explosion. However, the zinc in the batteries suffers greatly from side reactions and has a short life span. Repetitive zinc metal deposition and dissolution while the batteries are operating leads to the growth of needle-like zinc structures, which can short-circuit the batteries. Existing approaches to mitigating the needle-like zinc often involve the use of a large amount of halogen-containing salts, which raises issues of environmental sustainability. 
 
Dietary supplement ingredient helps stabilise zinc batteries
 
The hydrotropic solubilisation effect is a common phenomenon used in the pharmaceutical field to increase the water solubility of drugs. Poorly water-soluble drugs can be easily dissolved in water with the help of hydrotropic solubilisation agents, which interact strongly with both water and the drug molecules. Inspired by this phenomenon, Professor Lu’s team successfully developed several hydrotropic solubilisation agents to boost the solubility of the poorly water-soluble halogen-free zinc acetate by up to 14 times. One of the effective hydrotropic solubilisation agents demonstrated in the study was urea, which is non-toxic, eco-friendly and often used in topical dermatological products to promote hydration of the skin. 
 
Using the highly concentrated zinc acetate enabled by urea, a full zinc battery demonstrated a satisfactory life span of more than 4,000 cycles even with fast charging (in 6 minutes). The common side reactions that aqueous zinc batteries suffer from, such as hydrogen gas evolution, are virtually eliminated. The electrolyte allows high-performance zinc batteries to operate in a much more environmentally sustainable way. 
 
Professor Lu said, “Our work provides a rational, universal approach to breaking the solubility limit of cost-effective, eco-friendly salts for sustainable, high-performance battery applications. It will unlock the potential of many eco-friendly materials to be used for clean energy applications.”
 
 
Reference:
Dejian Dong, Tairan Wang, Yue Sun, Jun Fan, Yi-Chun Lu*. Hydrotropic solubilisation of zinc acetates for sustainable aqueous battery electrolytes. Nature Sustainability (2022). 
 

The first author Dong Dejian, a PhD student in CUHK’s Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, shows the prototype of the zinc ion batteries using highly concentrated zinc acetate electrolyte.

The prototype of the zinc ion batteries using highly concentrated zinc acetate electrolyte powers an LED light.

The solubilisation process of zinc acetate using a hydrotropic solubilisation agent.

 

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Professor Jonathan Choi Chung-hang and Professor Sun Xiankai named RGC Research Fellows

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2023-07-26
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Two scholars from the Faculty of Engineering were among the four overall from CUHK to receive awards under the 2023-24 Research Grants Council (RGC) Research Fellow Scheme (RFS) in recognition of their distinguished research achievements.

 
Professor Jonathan Choi Chung-hang from the Department of Department of Biomedical Engineering received the award for his project, “Preclinical Translation of Spherical Nucleic Acid Nanostructures for Managing Cardiovascular Diseases”. 
 
Professor Sun Xiankai from the Department of Electronic Engineering received the award for his research project on “Phononic Integrated Circuits for Next-generation Phononic-optoelectronic Integrated Chips”.
 
Appendix
 
Professor Jonathan Choi Chung-hang, Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Project title: Preclinical Translation of Spherical Nucleic Acid Nanostructures for Managing Cardiovascular Diseases
 
Atherosclerosis underpins the progression of stroke and myocardial infarction, both leading causes of death globally. Gene regulation is an emerging therapeutic approach to cardiovascular diseases, but methods for gene delivery to the plaques are inefficient. Professor Choi’s team bypassed this obstacle by assembling a spherical nucleic acid nanostructure using anti-inflammatory microRNA oligonucleotides. In mouse disease models, this nanostructure not only naturally targets the scavenger receptors on plaque macrophages and endothelial cells to achieve plaque delivery and transfection agent-free cellular entry of miRNA, but also reduces plaques without inducing severe toxicity. Professor Choi aims to elevate the biomedical impact of microRNA nanostructures to manage cardiovascular diseases in large animals, including plaque-bearing rabbit models and pig models with myocardial infarction. This project will offer important insights into the bio-nano interactions, efficacy and safety of nucleic acid nanostructures for clinical translation.
 
Professor Sun Xiankai, Associate Professor, Department of Electronic Engineering
Project title: Phononic Integrated Circuits for Next-generation Phononic-optoelectronic Integrated Chips
 
In an information society, the capability of information acquisition and processing is central to human life. Professor Sun’s team aims to develop phononic integrated circuits on a silicon substrate, which enables phononic-optoelectronic integration for the next-generation integrated chips. This project will design all the phononic components and fabricate the phononic integrated circuits without suspended structures. For fundamental research, the developed area of integrated phononics will not only combine the traditional fields of nano-optomechanics and nanoelectromechanics, but also bring them to the level of integrated circuits, which can be used to explore the quantum properties of phonons and the interaction between phonons and other degrees of freedom on an integrated platform. For practical applications, the developed phononic integrated circuits will bridge the gap between today’s integrated electronics and integrated photonics, provide cost-effective solutions for signal processing, and enable multifunctional sensing on a chip.
 

Professor Jonathan Choi Chung-hang

Professor Sun Xiankai

 

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Professor Li Cheuk Ting receives the IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award 2023

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2023-07-20
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Professor Li Cheuk-ting, Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Engineering, has been awarded the prestigious Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Information Theory Society Paper Award 2023. This marks the third time that CUHK’s Department of Information Engineering has won this award, a record among Hong Kong institutions, with previous wins in 2005 by Professor Raymond Yeung for Network Coding and in 2016 by Professor Chandra Nair for developing a new technique for Gaussian optimality.
 
The awarded paper, “A Unified Framework for One-Shot Achievability via the Poisson Matching Lemma”, was co-authored by Professor Li and Professor Venkat Anantharam from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. The paper presents a result, called the Poisson matching lemma, that provides a new approach to constructing coding schemes for various delay-constrained communication scenarios, with sharp bounds on the error rate. The new approach proposed by Professor Li and Professor Anantharam can potentially be applied in a wide range of industries where reliable communication of short messages is required over noisy communication channels, for example the Internet of Things (IoT) and telecommunications.
 
Professor Li said, “The transmission of short messages within a small delay will be increasingly important due to the rising number of connected devices. I am honoured by the recognition this paper has received. I hope this work on a new approach to the theoretical analysis of finite-blocklength communication can provide insights into the design of practical communication schemes.”
 
Professor Li received his B.Sc. in mathematics and B.Eng. in information engineering from CUHK in 2012 and his M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 2014 and 2018 respectively. He was a postdoctoral scholar at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley. He joined the Department of Information Engineering, CUHK, in January 2020 as an assistant professor. His research interests include developing new information-theoretical techniques to address problems in delay-constrained communications, automated theorem proving, distributed computing and machine learning. He was awarded the 2016 IEEE Jack Keil Wolf ISIT Student Paper Award.
 
About the IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award
The IEEE is the world’s largest professional organisation dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity, with more than 430,000 members in over 160 countries.
 
The Information Theory Society Paper Award is given annually for an outstanding publication in the fields of interest to the Society appearing anywhere during the preceding four calendar years. The purpose of the Information Theory Paper Award is to recognize exceptional publications in the field and to stimulate interest in and encourage contributions to fields of interest of the Society. 
 
(extracted from the press release issued on 20 Jul 2023 by CUHK Communications and Public Relations Office) 

Professor Li Cheuk-ting

 

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Professor Zhang Li receives HKD26.69 million Strategic Topics Grant Award from RGC

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2023-07-18
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Professor Zhang Li from Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering has been granted HKD26.69 million by the Research Grants Council (RGC) Strategic Topics Grant (STG) 2023/24 to support his research five-year research project, titled “AI-assisted Microrobotic Platform for Minimally Invasive Interventions”. 
 
Professor Zhang's awarded project aims to apply AI to miniature robots for minimally invasive interventions. The project will address the challenges of integrating AI and microrobotics research, including control, imaging, performance in dynamic physiological conditions, and appropriate autonomy for intervention. The advanced technology and the outcomes from this joint research project will significantly contribute to Hong Kong, particularly in the emerging field of AI and medical miniature robots for minimally invasive medicine. The project team, composed of engineering experts and medical professionals from CUHK, HKU, CityU, PolyU, NTU LKCMedicine, and ETH Zurich. (Please see the attachment for the project details.)
 
Professor Zhang said, "Autonomy and intelligence of medical robots are fundamentally important research topics across scales, via the STG funding support, we will put joint efforts with local and international partners on exploring the practical applications of medical miniature robots and the AI-assisted microrobotic platform for minimally invasive interventions."
 
About Strategic Topics Grant and Theme-based Research Scheme
The STG was introduced in August 2022. This new scheme is set up to support collaborative research in specific areas which can help Hong Kong overcome imminent challenges and tap fast-evolving opportunities. While TRS aims to focus academic research efforts of UGC-funded universities on themes of strategic importance to the long-term development of Hong Kong.
 
 
Appendix 
 
Project details
 
Project Coordinator: Prof Li Zhang (CUHK)
Project Title: AI-assisted microrobotic platform for minimally invasive interventions
Topic: Using Artificial Intelligence to Address Imminent Challenges in Health Care
 
Miniature robots have presented promising ways for medical applications inside the human body. Due to their small size, they are ideal for active and targeted therapy in tiny-and-tortuous lumens which are hard-to-reach by conventional medical tools. However, several grand challenges need to be adequately addressed for in vivo uses, including the imaging and control, the performance in dynamic physiological conditions, and appropriate autonomy for intervention. Besides, integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and microrobotics research can open many new possibilities for boosting the clinical translation of miniature robots and achieving intelligent robotic platforms for next- generation minimally invasive interventions. This interdisciplinary STG project aims to apply AI to miniature robots for minimally invasive interventions, which will address the following key challenges: (1) how to introduce deep-learning algorithms for real-time and adaptive planning and control of reconfigurable microrobot collectives to undertake medical tasks in physiological environments; (2) how to apply AI-based methods to process the noisy raw images and optimize the control performance of the microrobot collectives against physiological disturbances; (3) how to simulate the physiological parameters of human body for pre-operative intervention evaluation and clinical training. 
 
To tackle these challenges, our team, which composes of engineering experts and medical professionals in the related fields, will work together to deliver: (1) an integrated deep- learning-based AI control strategy for environment-adaptive morphological control of microrobot collectives in physiological environments; (2) a human-scale magnetic actuation system integrated with real-time imaging tools for robust in vivo tracking and tele-operation of microrobot collectives; (3) an AI-based control scheme for autonomous and intelligent navigation of microrobot collectives in vivo with high adaptability in physiological environments; (4) a microrobotic Interactive Virtual Surgical Platform (μbot-IVSP) for human body simulation, pre- operative microrobotic intervention evaluation, and tele-operation practice. Our project by a research team with long-term close collaboration will generate outputs that provide fundamentally critical new data and references for the field. The advanced technology and the outcomes from this joint research project will significantly contribute to Hong Kong, particularly in the emerging field of AI and medical miniature robots for minimally invasive medicine.
 

Professor Zhang Li

Microrobotic platform for the image-guided intervention.

 

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Prof. Sze-yiu CHAU's Team Won the Best Paper Award at the 16th ACM Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks

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2023-05-31
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Congratulations to Prof. Sze-yiu CHAU's team has been awarded the Best Paper Award at the 16th ACM Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks (ACM WiSec 2023). The paper, titled "The Devil is in the Details: Hidden Problems of Client-Side Enterprise Wi-Fi Configurators," is co-authored by MPhil student Ka-lok WU, undergraduate students Man-hong HUE, Ka-fun TANG, and Prof. Sze-yiu CHAU from Department of Information Engineering. This recognition is a testament to the team's hard work, dedication, and expertise in the field of wireless and mobile network security. 

 

 

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CUHK Engineering FinTech Applied Research Academy partners with 10×1000 Tech for Inclusion to cultivate FinTech talents

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2023-05-22
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The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Engineering FinTech Applied Research Academy (CEFAR) partnered with the “10x1000” Tech for Inclusion Programme to launch the world’s first joint course this year, allowing more than 100 foremost students who are enrolled in the Master of Science in Financial Technology programme (MSCFT) to fulfil part of the course requirement after completing certain modules of the “10x1000” online courses. Some students commented that the “10x1000” course is simple and easy to understand. Even if you are not a “Tech Person”, you can be one in the pool after completing it. One of the students had been inspired by the course, adding unique elements to her own NFT products which had achieved an initial success. There were also students who plan to stay in Hong Kong or further develop their career in the Greater Bay Area after graduation.

After completing a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics at a university in Canada, Pan Zhihang (Chris), a student of this course, returned to Hong Kong for development. Chris said “I think the 10x1000 course is not too difficult, as long as you learn more about it. Compared to some online financial technology courses which usually take two to three hours, the 10x1000 videos are relatively short, and you can watch them even during travel. There are some areas in financial technology which our Master programme does not cover, and the 10x1000 course is a very good complement for the programme.”

Another student, Mok Wai Fan (Fanny), who is an entrepreneur, expressed that even if she is not a "Tech Person", she could become a "Tech Person" after completing this course, and the 10x1000 course has helped her a lot. Fanny has been inspired by this course that she had improved her innovative "product" to make it more unique.

“The biggest insight that 10x1000 gave me is the quiz after watching the videos in each module, which allows students to have unlimited attempts, apart from explaining the profound theories in simple ways. People will make mistakes. As for learning process, if we cannot do it once, then try it twice or even three times. As long as one is willing to try, she will definitely achieve 100%,” said Fanny.

Fanny added, “This will give students a sense of satisfaction. I applied this in the promotion of my original NFT products to attract more children or adults with less artistic talent, stimulating their interest in integrating art with technology.” Although the related product is still in the preliminary stage, Fanny revealed “It can be said to be an initial success. At least for the time being, there are already customers who are willing to buy our NFT with $200,000.”

Chris, who is only 27 years old, predicted that he will not start a business within ten years, and emphasized that accumulating working experience is more important. He said “I plan to stay in Hong Kong after graduation and choose to work in finance or financial technology field, such as data analysis. I think Hong Kong, as the window of Mainland China to the outside world, will develop very well in the future. I may also work in the Greater Bay Area, since my family lives in Guangzhou, and it is convenient to travel between these two cities. Those big cities like Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Guangzhou have synergy effects, and thus the prospects of working in Greater Bay Area are good.”

This course is the world's first joint course with a university since the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and Alipay jointly announced the "10x1000 Tech for Inclusion" charity initiative and the launch of the financial technology talent cultivation platform in 2018. This joint course is also an achievement of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between CEFAR and Ant Group in the middle of last year, which aims to cultivate young Fintech talents in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area, and promote the establishment and development of Hong Kong as an international innovation and technology center through cross-field collaboration amongst government, industry, academia and research.

Professor Chun Kwong Chan, CEFAR, Faculty of Engineering, CUHK remarked, “Since the signing of MOU in June last year to launch the ‘10×1000’ campus version, after in-depth discussions, the two parties decided to integrate three topics closely related to financial technology, namely the background of financial technology, blockchain applications and artificial intelligence applications as the content of the co-branded course and incorporated the relevant training modules into a core course – ‘Advanced Financial Infrastructure’ of the MSCFT programme taught by me, through which the students can understand how technology supports and changes the development of financial infrastructure.”

Ms. Jennifer Tan, the person in charge of the 10x1000 project, added, "As of the end of last year, the total number of 10x1000 graduates, coming from 92 different countries or regions around the world, has reached 2,808. More than 40 experts and scholars from about 20 countries or regions contributed to the course design and development. Their expertise and experience have enhanced the thinking, knowledge and skills of the learners, thereby equipping them to become a new generation of leaders in the digital economy. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to CUHK for its efforts and cooperation to offer the world's first co-branded course jointly developed by 10x1000 and a higher education institution. Without the support of partners and academic staff from all over the world like CUHK, 10x1000 would not be able to achieve its goal of cultivating hundreds of scientific and technological talents in various places every year.”

There was a total of 1,741 learners completing the Fintech Foundation Programme or the Fintech Expert Programme under 10x1000 last year, and the number of graduates has increased by more than 63% as compared with 2021. Among them, 115 graduates are Hong Kong locals from various organizations. After completing the Foundation Programme and passing the tests, learners can join the 10x1000 Alumni Association for network building and knowledge exchange with industry mentors and learners worldwide, laying a solid foundation for future career development in related fields.

 

10x1000 Programme Lead Jennifer Tan, Fanny Mok, Chris Pan and Professor Chun Kwong Chan (From L to R)

 

 

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