News & Stories

If you’ve ever struggled with trying to pick up tofu with chopsticks, think how difficult it must be for the steely grip of a mechanical robot.  But thanks to some great teamwork and a lot of persistence, that’s exactly the challenge recently solved by five Mechanical Engineering students at HKUST, an achievement that has won them the 2017 President’s Cup for excellence in research and innovation. The team’s ‘Smart Soft-End Effector’ is a flexible robotic gripper that can safely handle the most delicate items, offering strong potential for commercial development.  The idea was initiated in 2015 by Alex Tse Yu, a final year engineering student, who has long been interested in soft robotics and created a prototype.

The use of the Scholarly Publications Database (SPD), which showcases the research output of the University, registered a 30% increase with 1.78 million page views recorded in 2016-17.

Researchers at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed an air purification system that removes up to 99.999 per cent of airborne bacteria and viruses, including influenza (H1N1, H3N2), EV71 and MERS-Cov (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus) that had caused hundreds of deaths across the Middle East and Asia two years ago. “Our technology effectively combats and inhibits the growth of bacteria, germs or viruses that cause respiratory diseases, offering solutions to protect one's health,” Prof Yeung King-lun, Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies from HKUST School of Engineering, said. “We must extend our heartfelt gratitude to Haven of Hope Christian Service, which has put our system on trial in its Holistic Care Centre for 18 months. This is the result of long cooperation among HKUST, industry and the government.”

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) researchers have successfully created solid composite materials with the unique wave property of fluid, a property of which forbids the transmission of transverse waves. The transverse waves can lead to destructive horizontal shaking during earthquake. Such composite, also called “metamaterials”, can be used for wave filtering and vibration control, and may eventually provide an alternative earthquake proofing solution as well as improve the efficiency of medical ultrasound transducers.

ORCID is a non-profit, cross-disciplinary effort to create and maintain a Registry of unique and persistent researcher identifiers. By the end of 2016, close to 3 million ORCID iDs have been created. Research funders and institutions worldwide are joining the effort to integrate ORCID iDs into their systems. At HKUST, EVPPO is requiring all faculty to have ORCID iDs and connect them to the HKUST Scholarly Publications Database (SPD).

Illustrating the innovation at work at HKUST, Prof Neville Ka Shek Lee and his design team consisting of HKUST alumni have devised a novel way for seniors to wash in greater safety while retaining their independence The bathroom can be a dangerous place especially when you are a senior. The US National Institute of Aging has found that more than one in three aged 65 and over fall each year, with 80% taking place there. Heart attacks, scalding and fainting are other incidents that can frequently occur while bathing.

Researchers from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed an intelligent hearing aid which not only allows users to adjust the clarity of selected sound sources, but is also much more affordable at just one tenth the price of similar products in the market. Developed by Prof Richard So from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management and his student Calvin Zhang, fresh graduate of MPhil Program in Technology Leadership and Entrepreneurship (TLE), the novel audio technology not only promises to improve life for the elderly and the hearing-impaired, but will also enhance the audio quality of hearing protection equipment and communication devices such as mobile phones and walkie-talkies, as well as the accuracy of voice recognition devices.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is dedicated to nurturing students’ passion and interests in research. Three undergraduate students have recently discovered a method that could make production of entangled photon pairs (biphotons) – an essential element for quantum communication and quantum network – much easier and cheaper, taking popularization of such next-generation communication a step closer to reality.