Radio spectrum is scarce and expensive. The use of unlicensed RF bands, such as by Wi-Fi, cannot guarantee reliable communication because everyone can use the unlicensed bands. The use of licensed RF bands, such as by cellular networks, can be expensive and require infrastructure building and extraneous operation by the wireless operators who own the […]

Chemical and physical filters are the active ingredients in many personal care products to block harmful UV rays. However, chemical filters could often trigger skin irritation and link to hormone disruption. Moreover, some of them are toxic to coral reefs. As a safer alternative, conventional physical filters such as titanium dioxide (TiO2) and zinc oxide […]

The research team has developed a personalised Chinese text-to-speech system (TTS) to reproduce and “clone” users’ own voices with AI speech technology. The team started with data collection by making recordings with users, covering daily spoken Cantonese materials. These recordings, including their commonly used linguistic and speech characteristics, phrasing, and collocations, are learnt by AI […]

This project aims to develop a high-resolution flexible pressure sensor array through a two-step laser manufacturing process, where individual sensing pixels and their interconnects are sequentially defined by laser induced graphitization and ablation to minimize crosstalk interferences between sensor pixels. The geometry of the interconnects is optimized through theoretical modeling and experimental validation. Characterization results […]

We have been using developing different kinds of optical sensors based on nanoscale periodic nanostructures. The optical properties of the nanostructures have been applied for gas, virus, and particulate matter (PM) sensing. For example, the nanostructures can detect bio-molecules at very low concentration. In addition, we have achieved low part-per-billion (ppb) level of volatile organic […]

The AR rehabilitation system is an intelligent human-computer interaction rehabilitation training platform, providing more than 45 special designed training activities by Hong Kong Physiotherapists and occupational therapists, including upper limb, lower limb, balance and coordination exercises. It uses the state-of-the-art 3D body tracking technology to give users real-time, objective AR visual and audio instruction and […]

This project aims to develop a light-guided metal-assisted chemical etching system. It utilizes metal nanoparticles as a catalyst to generate positive charges (i.e., holes) through local band bending. Combined with UV light excitation, high energy holes can be generated, thus facilitating the etching process. By fine tuning the light direction, intensity and exposure time, as […]

The mobile cable robot system can perform contact-based façade inspections. The robot consists of four components: 1) one or more mobile carriers with the cable-driven robot winches; 2) cable-driven robot to move the inspection end-tool; 3) the end-effector platform with inspection tools and stabilization; and 4) digital recording and data analysis of the building health. […]

Geometry is an important topic in mathematics. Since there are successful applications in various fields, like medical image analysis, computer graphics and visions, it has recently attracted much attention. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a wide-ranging tool to learn from data. It has been proved to be effective for image processing, image analysis and different industrial […]

As one critical component towards carbon neutrality, clean energy is in dire need and has been actively developed in a number of countries. Benefiting from recent technical advances, shale gas has been actively developed in the past two decades with a boosted production volume. However, earthquakes that produced significant damages were found in different shale […]

Coastal South China including Hong Kong suffer significant economic, societal and human losses due to tropical cyclones (TC) each year. As global warming intensifies, we expect it will affect future typhoons and thus storm surge at land-falling. Collaborating with the Hong Kong Observatory, the research team investigated the future changes of western North Pacific land-falling […]

There is a growing tendency of new farmers joining the field, and they tend to prefer to practice farming as leisure or recreational activities. Aiming to facilitate the knowledge acquisition for these new farmers, and to keep arousing the interests of more citizens joining agriculture, a new interactive platform for Hong Kong agriculture (https://agropedia.hk), which […]

Scientists has been exploring new materials which can be freely adjusted in its hardness and softness, compression and expansion. The research team discovers materials’ elasticity is the key. By achieving a topological transition in a special packing derived network, the team designs a unique network structure based on the packing of particles and observes a […]

RABI®, an innovative, theory-driven, and evidence-based intervention, aims to enhance social and communicative functioning of autistic individuals, facilitate their societal inclusion, and eventually promote their economic self-sufficiency. Through the demonstration of the appropriate social skills in robot dramas, autistic children are taught self-care skills, appropriate ways to behave in various scenarios, and emotional understanding and […]

The objective of this project is to develop the world’s first augmented reality smart glasses for people with color vision deficiency. We plan to develop a stand-alone device which combines the most cutting-edge color correction technology with AR technology to help the visually impaired to regain color sensibility as well as the ability to communicate […]

Characterizing home activities including both individual and family activities is important for studies of health, sociology, and home economics. This project develops a system that leverages pervasive smart devices for recognizing important home activities. The system is based on Federated Learning technologies that enable smart devices to collaboratively improve the accuracy of human activity sensing […]

For intraday trading, we develop a novel deep limit order book (LOB) trading system that takes advantage of tick-time intervals with deep learning and GPU techniques to generate trading signals, optimize the use of signals and execute orders to gain profits under real trading circumstances. For interday trading, we build numerous factors, propose deep-learning models […]

To address the difficulties in early diagnosis and challenges of quantitative evaluation of neurodegenerative Parkinson’s disease, this project aims to reveal the degeneration mechanism of pathological gait by establishing a kinetic model of human walking lower limbs. An adaptive gait characterization technique for neurodegenerative Parkinson’s disease will be proposed, and the co-featured space of multi-source […]

This project aims to develop next-generation ultrafast 3D bio-imaging and lithographic microfabrication technologies, i.e., an integrated tissue scaffold 3D printing and imaging platform. We will utilize a high throughput tomographic phase microscopy (TPM) for monitoring scaffold formation and tissue growth and develop super-resolution imaging for monitoring cell redox in vivo. (a) Optical configuration of structured […]

Cartilage loss is shown to be a risk factor for Osteoarthritis (OA) which is one of the main causes of disability in older people. This invention, consisting of methods in image segmentation, 3D reconstruction, morphological quantification, and 3D visualization, is a system for automatic mapping of articular cartilage thickness. It can be used for articular […]

Existing calcium-based cement augmentation products suffer from the excessively slow degradation, which may impede bone regeneration. Hence, the team has developed a novel hierarchical porous Magnesium oxychloride cement foam (MOCF)-derived scaffold with a more appropriate bio-resorption kinetic and superior bioactivity for bone defect repair. The developed MOCF shows excellent handling performance in the paste state, […]

Currently used flow cytometers involve chemical staining, antibody targeting, and other treatments of the samples by experts. Therefore, the cost of the systems is inherently high, not to mention the systems require well trained users to operate. Our low-cost cytometer provides a turn-key solution to provide cell analysis results in minutes, which can potentially be […]

In order to enhance the quality control of herbal products and promote the development of herbal industry, we have developed an one-stop information platform – HerBChain for recording the processes from the growth of herbs to the marketing of the herbal products using Blockchain technology. HerBChain covers different ‘node’ including planting base, Traditional Chinese Medicine […]

CUHK joined with the South China University of Technology has developed an efficient enzymatic method to produce healthy oil – diacylglycerol to alleviate obesity. Obesity and associated diseases such as diabetes have been closely associated with unhealthy diets. Nutritionists have found that diacylglycerol, a natural form of oil, can reduce fat without changing people’s dietary […]

We make use of the measurement of changing numbers, distribution, and clustering of immune cells in endometrium, as well as the interaction of different pairs of immune cells as an innovative and comprehensive test (EndoTest) to predict successful implantation. EndoTest analyzes the immune cell profile in endometrium before natural and artificial conception to predict successful […]

Our team developed a novel statistical method that can accurately cluster cells into cell types, estimate cellular compositions and identify cell types whose abundances differ between patients and healthy individuals using single cell sequencing data. The accuracy of our proposed method in clustering cells into cell types outperforms the state-of-the-art method by 21% for real […]

The physics of magnetic resonance makes it feasible to use MRI to non-invasively detect metabolites and macromolecules changes in human tissues without injecting any contrast agent. Such biochemical imaging techniques provide valuable diagnostic information beyond standard anatomical imaging and is very useful for early-diagnosis and treatment monitoring of diseases. Compared to the conventional technology, the […]

This project produces a decellularized stem cell sheet after forming the cellular stem cell sheet, with the retained biological activity of previous proprietary treatment using an optimized method for decellularization. This invention can be used as a bioactive material for the promotion of tissue repair and as a scaffold for the synthesis of bio-artificial tissue. […]

Our team has developed a novel anticancer immunotherapy in which they genetically engineer the most abundant immune cell type in our blood – Neutrophil. In this invention, a novel anticancer immunotherapeutic S3KO-TAN can be mass produced by editing human neutrophils with the latest genome engineering technology CRISPR/Cas9. S3KO-TAN shows pronounced anticancer N1 phenotype and effectively […]

Brain and other central nervous system (CNS) cancer is the 10th leading cause of death around the world. To determine the type and grade of brain tumor, brain biopsy is the gold standard. This project aims to develop a semi-autonomous stereotactic brain biopsy robotic system that can helps to shorten the operation time, improve biopsy […]

Smart watches and wristbands are helpful in health monitoring, sport training, living assistance, etc. However, due to critical size limitation and high-power requirement, battery endurance becomes a big issue that the devices need to be frequently recharged, which even causes “battery anxiety” among the users. Although capturing the kinetic energy from arm swinging renders a […]

Stemming from fundamental physics principles, the research team came up with a brand-new idea for material deposition. They combined the optical tweezer technique and semiconductor photoelectric effect, by introducing semiconductor nanoparticles suspension into metallate solution to form the “universal ink”. The focused laser beam triggers both effects simultaneously and induces chemical reduction reactions on the […]

This project provides the portable wearable robotic hand for rehabilitation of patients after stroke. It also integrates the professional rehabilitation guidance and evaluation, enabling the patients to conduct the training at home and complete activities of daily living (ADL) with the device. The key component of soft robotic hand is our design of Soft-Elastic Composite […]

The project designed a multi-functional prosthetic to fit users’ daily needs. The new design is equipped with a custom made “adapter” which is firmly screwed to the stump and allow quick change of various kind of “tools” to accomplish daily tasks; for example, a extender used to imporve contect angle of violin bow to string, […]

Searching, organizing and summarising what the customers are thinking on the Internet or social media can help companies better understand their potential consumers’ interests and needs for tailored marketing strategies. However, such kind of data collection and analysis is labor intensive, time consuming and error prone. In collaboration with the Consumer Council, our project developed Soliste, an […]

SignTown is a web-based, real-time sign recognition game, where users take control of an avatar to communicate with other characters in sign language to get things done. The game employed an end-to-end open source platform for machine learning, TensorFlowTM, to train the sign language recognition model. It enables users to learn and express themselves in […]

Smart lampposts are widely regarded as the key infrastructure of smart cities, which can realize a range of applications including intelligent transportation, assisted/autonomous driving, real-time monitoring and public safety response, and city-scale public Wi-Fi services. Our goal is to develop the most advanced smart lamppost wireless communication technology based on the batch sparse coding (BATS […]

Early identification of people at risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and timely intervention to slow the onset and progression of AD are crucial. In this project, we will build an indoor monitoring system that deploys different types of sensors and collect the corresponding data to develop a multi-modal fusion algorithm for daily activities and […]

This project aims to develop a bilingual speech recognition system that can accurately recognize continuous sentence level Cantonese and English speech inputs from impaired adult speakers with varying forms of speech disorders. The system targets both conversational speech that is essential for daily use, and more formal style speech. The recognition vocabulary covers over 80 […]

Using new federated learning techniques, the AI system is trained on multicentre data in Hong Kong without the need to centralise data in one place, thus protecting patient privacy. The established AI system is validated on multiple, unseen, independent external cohorts from mainland China and Europe, showing the potential and feasibility to build large-scale medical […]

With the development of 5G technology, the ultra-high speed and super-low latency network will bring many new media applications to industry. For example, 8K + 360 panorama + 3D live video streaming will become possible. We propose to develop a new data compact system for 5G media streaming applications, which could achieve the goal of […]

For a chatbot to generate proper responses, it should have both short-term and long-term memories, so that the chatbot can associate the relationship between the past and the current conversation in the response. One of the major challenges in this project is to effectively associate the relationship between a user query and the previous dialogue. […]

This project developed a water-tube-based TENG (WT-TENG) to convert ocean wave energy into electricity efficiently. Water is encapsulated in a tube of 6 cm long with a diameter of 1 to 2 cm. When waves hit and water moves in the tube between regions of the two electrodes, triboelectrification happens and electric currents can be […]

The “CU-Brick” system consists of a gripper end-effector and cable actuators which can be mounted on a range of different environments, from metal frame structures to the walls and roofs of buildings. The design is performed through developed intelligent software. The system will then automatically generate the structure to be built, while keeping the robot […]

This project designs a novel charge-reinforced ion-selective (CRIS) membrane for sulphur-based redox flow batteries, with 15 consecutive hours of runtime and over 2,000 hours cycling without obvious capacity decay is developed. The new battery has taken a significant step forward in the practical application of redox flow batteries in grid-scale storage for renewable energy, by […]

Particulate matter 0.1 and 0.3 are influential to human health and the environment. Particularly, most viruses including COVID-19 have sizes ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 um and are difficult to be detected by current PM sensors.  We have developed the plasmon-mediated light scattering effect to improve the performance of PM sensors.  Metallic nanostructures at low […]

This project developed a battery-driven handheld optical sensor for calibration-free and ultra-sensitive formaldehyde detection. The proposed formaldehyde sensor adopts the recently developed optical method using multipass-assisted wavelength modulation spectroscopy with low cost and low power consumption. The sensor achieves a minimum detection limit of 0.6 ppb at 1 s measurement time and the detection is […]

Combining bioinformatics, virology and artificial intelligence, our team developed a robust model that can characterize and predict genetic mutations of viruses. The model could be applied to antigen design to improve vaccine effectiveness (VE), or to accurately estimate the VE of different vaccines in-silico. For instance, when applied to influenza, we could improve seasonal influenza […]

This project provides advanced medical solutions for non-invasive diagnosis of liver fibrosis based on MRI and AI technologies. The current gold standard for diagnosis of liver fibrosis is liver biopsy, which is invasive and impractical for screening and treatment monitoring. The existing non-invasive diagnostic techniques still have significant limitations. The project aims to develop a […]

Under COVID-19, there is an urgent requirement for fast and precise temperature measurement. However, the existing contact thermometers are likely to cause secondary infection, while the non-contact ones have low reliability and are easily affected by external environments. Concerning these problems, a precise and fast optical thermometer based on tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy is […]

Conventional laparoscopes are not suitable for minimally invasive surgery as they limit the surgeon’s field of view and may collide with other instruments. They also occupy much port space and hence bigger incision or additional port is required. Concerning these problems, the project has developed an intelligent magnetic anchored and guided endoscope. The system included […]

Over the past 40 years, in vitro fertilization (IVF) success rate has remained poor for women of advanced maternal age (AMA). The poor outcomes often associated with oocyte quantitative and qualitative decline. To compensate for the poor success rate, AMA women have to undergo multiple IVF procedures, encountering invasive painful operations and the risk of […]

Advanced energy storage system (ESS) is the crucial technology for the future target of carbon neutralization. Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, are naturally unstable. The large-scale utilization of renewable energy requires energy storage systems as the buffer to provide a reliable electricity supply. The objective of this project is to develop […]

Colorectal cancer can be prevented and cured in case of early diagnosis. However, conventional flexible colonoscopes which are most commonly used for colon inspection and treatment still have two major limitations: (i) patient discomfort related to the colonoscopy procedure without sedation; (ii) high skill requirements for endoscopists. This project proposes and designs an electromagnetically actuated […]

Complex disease refers to diseases without identifiable single major cause. Our team chose a couple of diseases currently known to have strong genetic heritability – such as Alzheimer’s disease and Schizophrenia – and invented a novel statistical method to account for the effects of genome interactions. Using this method, the team successfully developed a screening […]

The soft microrobots are mainly composed of stem cells (~98%) and a tiny portion of magnetic particles (~2%), possessing an elastic modulus close to the human brain tissue. The stem cells can be harvested from the host to minimize immune responses during the in vivo delivery. The project has also developed endoscopy-assisted magnetic actuation with […]

The Automatic Retinal Image Analysis (ARIA) technology is developed to assess the risk of autism spectrum disorder (Autism). Study results show that autism subjects have significantly larger optic disc diameter and larger optic cup diameter. The sensitivity and specificity of this technology to identify autism were 96% and 91% respectively. The use of retinal image […]

The project has developed a test to predict infants’ future language ability by electroencephalography (EEG). With EEG, a method is then devised to forecast language developmental outcomes. By intervening at the earliest possible time, the severity of potential language impairment will be reduced and provide optimised language learning for all children.The predictive models this project […]

The limited battery life of smart watches and wristbands remains a pain point. We designed an embedded and compact electromagnetic generator so that these wearable gadgets can be self-powered. Applications include pedometer, sleep monitoring and GPS. Unlike existing products, the invention uses a novel magnetic frequency-up converter and harnesses the kinetic energy of human motion. […]

Energy harvesters are traditionally heavy and create burden in the energy capture process. This smart materials-based energy harvester enables wearable electronic devices. Made with a lightweight macro-fibre composite, it captures energy from motion of the human knee, deforming piezoelectric transducers to generate electricity. Walking 10,000 steps at normal speed is enough to power a smart […]

Ultraprecise 3D printing technology is a key enabler for manufacturing precision biomedical and photonic devices. However, the existing printing technology is limited by its low efficiency and high cost. The conventional nanoscale 3D printing technology, i.e., two-photon polymerisation (TPP), operates in a point-by-point scanning fashion. As such, even a centimeter-sized object can take several days […]

Enterprises increasingly support hyper-scale data storage in production, yet providing performance and reliability guarantees for big data storage remains a non-trivial challenge. We propose a software-defined network-coding-based cloud storage system, called nCloud, that supports geo-distributed cloud data center storage with storage efficiency, performance, and fault tolerance in mind. nCloud adapts the network coding theory to […]

A click is the prominent way that users interact with content on the World Wide Web (WWW). Malicious third-party advertisers or hackers expose web users to a security threat by injecting malicious JavaScript code to intercept user clicks and trick them into visiting untrusted web content. Attackers aim to intercept genuine user clicks to either […]

As STEM-related innovations become an integral part of the 21st Century, promoting the innovation and technology ecosystem via STEM education in secondary schools becomes a vital educational strategy. The Jockey Club Community Care and STEM in Action Project maximizes the opportunities of students and schools to apply the latest STEM knowledge and skills within the […]

Drill-Easy is an online Chinese language learning game for primary and junior secondary students. It is based on award-winning artificial intelligence technology at the 47th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva. The EdTech system, in the form of a game, can auto-compose corresponding proofreading exercises for users at different grades, and auto-correct the answers submitted […]

The ever-increasing growth in data traffic requires more powerful transmission networks. The conventional optical communication is based on total internal reflection, creating a high-refractive-index channel, for the light wave to propagate. Bound states in the continuum (BICs) refer to a type of wave that can coexist with continuous waves without any radiation loss.  Applying BICs […]

By simply taking a photo using a mobile phone, PhotoAir can measure PM2.5 concentrations indoor or outdoor, day or night in real time regardless of weather conditions. These functions are achieved through the development of advanced computer vision and artificial intelligence algorithms in the light of physical optics to extract complex features embedded in the […]

Biodiesel is an emerging renewable fuel commonly used in blends with petroleum diesel, which produces less pollutants than traditional pure diesel. It is typically produced from cooking oil, in which requires rigorous pretreatment resulting in water pollution. Enzymes can also act as a catalyst to produce biodiesel. In fact, enzymes generate less waste and require […]

Electronic devices and gadgets are indispensable parts of our modern life. As a result of the rechargeable characteristics and stable energy output, Li-ion batteries have become the heart of these electronics. However, they still heavily rely on toxic and flammable organic electrolytes to produce power, and the serious safety hazards remain unsolved. In contrast, aqueous […]

Industrial processes, such as thermal power generation and petrochemical production, involve emission of harmful gaseous chemicals and a growing number of companies are taking corporate environmental responsibility to take initiatives in monitoring, controlling and preventing pollutant emission. To enable timely and effective detection of gaseous pollutants in the industrial processes, we have developed a high-sensitive […]

Terahertz (THz) radiation, or terahertz radiation (T-rays), sit in-between infrared and Wi-Fi on the electromagnetic spectrum. T-rays have different properties from other electromagnetic waves, most notably they can see through many common materials. Another quality is that the low-energy photons of T-rays are non-ionizing, making them very safe in biological settings including security and medical […]

Many elderly suffer from knee osteoarthritis and related degenerative diseases. However, due to limited medical resources and population ageing, patients have to wait for months for physiotherapy treatment in hospital. To provide elderly a safe, reliable and effective personalized physiotherapy, our team has developed an easy-to-use smart therapeutic device for prevention and treatment of knee […]

Prosthetic knees are the devices for helping trans-femoral amputees to regain locomotion ability. When compared with passive prosthetic knees, quasi-passive and powered prosthetic knees with the ability to govern the motion of prostheses can significantly improve the stability and safety, at the same time enable exceptionally natural and effortless gait, even on difficult terrains. However, […]

Infectious diseases cause 50,000 deaths daily. Early detection is essential for timely treatment and prevention. However, current diagnostic methods face limitations in long reaction time, high costs, or require specialists to conduct labour-intensive procedures. To tackle this, we developed a fast and effortless detection system, which integrates a novel microrobotic sensing probe capable of detecting […]

Core decompression, the classic preservation treatment for steroid – associated osteonecrosis (SAON), only addresses biological environment of the necrostic head and cannot treat the collapse caused by the biomechanical failure of the femoral head. Prof. QIN Ling and his research team in CUHK have developed a Mg-based composite device of magnesium hip stents, for supporting […]

CUHK research team has developed a novel hybrid system of Magnesium-containing implant for fracture fixation to enhance the healing quality by incorporating biodegradable Magnesium (Mg) into the conventional implants. Titanium-Magnesium plate-screw hybrid fixation system has been produced and tested in small animal model, our result indicates that the system is a promising solution for clinical […]

Activities of neurons are generally completed on a time scale of 10 milliseconds, which makes it hard for conventional microscopes to observe these phenomena directly. On the contrary, two-photon microscopy works by delivering ultrafast pulses of infrared laser light to the sample, where it interacts with fluorescent labels to create an image. It is extensively […]

The population in Hong Kong is ageing, and the number of older adults with chronic conditions will continue to grow. The project is the first territory-wide elderly care support project which integrates health management technology, community care and professional support. We aim at promoting preventive healthcare among the older adults and empowering them in health […]

Our Neuro-Muscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES), motor-assisted cycling system is designed for persons recovering from stroke or other lower limb functional disabilities. Electromyographic (EMG) signals collected on the surfaces of four lower limb muscles (i.e. Quadriceps, Hamstring, Gastrocnemius, and Tibialis Anterior) are used to modulate the cycling speed and neuro-muscular electrical stimulation intensity through a closed-loop […]

Fetal stem cell secretome is a unique source with high regenerative properties. We invented a powder which contain stem cell secretome and nanoparticles with antiaging and regenerative properties. To cite an example, with a patented manufacturing and quality control process, we invented a medical dressing that contains secretome to promote diabetic skin wound healing. Based […]

HealthCap is a mobile App that serves as a chronic disease management platform, providing a convenient way to log and manage blood pressure data. Users can record their health data with a simple snapshot using the cameras on their mobile devices. Equipped with state-of-the-art image recognition techniques, utilizing advanced optical character recognition (OCR) technology as […]

The recent outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, is a global threat to human health. However, there are currently no drugs for treating this devastating disease. The existing drug, remdesivir, has only one known protein target and is prone to drug resistance. Using in […]

With the rapidly growing population of elderly and rising life expectancy, the incidence of dementia amongst elders is rapidly increasing. Although there is currently no cure for dementia, early detection of cognitive impairment can greatly delay the onset of the disease. Current pen-and-paper methods of dementia screening, such as MMSE, is time consuming and labour […]

Physical Therapists (PTs) and Occupational Therapists (OTs) are striving to provide the best therapeutic exercises to patients, while applying numerous tools to facilitate their routine training. With a growing aging population worldwide, the demand for high quality rehabilitation will continue to increase. We therefore developed AR + Sensor + Therapist, a platform providing automated rehabilitative […]

Mode division multiplexing in few-mode or multimode optical fibers is one of the most promising emerging technologies which can enable optical fiber interconnects to increase their data transmission capacity and bandwidth density. Current 400Gb ethernet standard optical transceivers use 4 lasers at four wavelengths, each supporting 50Gbaud PAM-4 modulation.   This is not scalable to 1.6Tb/s […]

To apply the microrobotic swarms for medical applications in the human body, the generation and navigation behaviours of microrobotic swarms in bio-fluids, such as blood and vitreous humour, need to be investigated. Different from the relevant research that conducted in water before, this project categorised magnetic active swarms into three types, and individually investigated the […]

Gene therapy conventionally utilizes virus to correct diseased genes for eliminating cancer, but safety risks and off-target effects of viral method largely limit their clinical translation. Therefore, CUHK team combined RNA interference technology and ultrasound microbubble system to form a novel virus-free gene therapy. The invention specifically delivers gene silencing particles into tumor without using […]

Traditional manufacturing of clothes and shoes requires pre-production of various sizes of products, which cannot match every individual’s body shape. We provide digital human oriented solutions for intelligent design and advanced manufacturing to achieve the upgrade to Industry 4.0. By our patented AI-enabled Shape Driven Technology, we can change the current operation mode of the […]

Spectrometers are widely used in many different aspects, such as food and environmental inspection etc. However, it is necessary to have a portable and high-resolution spectrometer for real-time on-site inspection at remote farm or factory. CUHK team invented two new technologies, which broke the traditional boundary. We develop a handheld high-resolution short-wave infrared (SWIR) spectrometer […]

Positioning and robotic technologies are essential elements for large-scale automated manufacturing. However, the existing robotic platforms only allow robots to perform routine and simple assembly processes with low precision (100s µm – mm scale), which sensors applied in these platforms are very expensive. Combining deep learning with precision engineering principles to improve efficiency and accuracy, […]

With the advancement of technology, medical robots have been widely adopted in many hospitals in Hong Kong and around the world. More and more conventional open surgical processes are replaced by robot-assisted minimally invasive surgeries. However, due to the lack of significant haptic feedback, accidents of robotic surgical systems have been reported occasionally. CUHK research […]

The colonial history plays an important role in the development of Hong Kong and reflects the city culture. This project aims to contribute in enhancing young generation’s understanding of Hong Kong’s past by transferring knowledge related to architecture, heritage conservation, and tourism development to students through an innovative approach – VR tour. Students are able […]

The Tai Tam Road (Dam Section) is part of the thoroughfare connecting Chai Wan and Stanley. Although it is only five metres wide, widening the road section is not possible as the dam is a declared monument. Hence, congestion problems occur when larger vehicles use the road section. To solve this problem, we have developed […]

Mountainous terrain covers 60% of the land area of Hong Kong, and landslides may happen under conditions of continuous rainfall. Civil Engineering and Development Department of Hong Kong SAR Government has been building rigid concrete barriers and flexible wire-mesh fence along the hillside to protect the residential area below. However, these barriers are often located […]

People with complex communication needs, such as those with cerebral palsy, dementia, aphasia, developmental disorders, and those in acquired medical conditions, do not possess the necessary cognitive abilities and/or motor skills to conduct daily verbal communication. They often need to rely on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to express their thoughts, feelings, and needs. This […]

SAMUL is a multilingual sentiment analysis toolkit to empower business intelligence in e-commerce. Given a specific topic, SAMUL will search, analyse, organise and report the related information from the designated social media and websites using natural language processing (NLP) and big data analytic technology. It is protected by five patents (three accepted and two pending). […]

Digital 3D films and TV shows consist of videos from two perspectives. The large file size of 3D videos makes it difficult to broadcast in current TV channels or stream over the internet. Conventional 3D-to-2D conversion transforms a video from binocular to monocular by cropping one side of the video, and the converted 2D video […]

Nezha is an AI-driven Chinese language Checkbot. It helps users proofread Chinese. In Nezha’s lexicon, there are billions of Chinese vocabulary (more than 100GB) built from advanced natural language processing (NLP) technology. No dictionary in the market contains such a huge volume of vocabulary. This makes Nezha highly accurate. Nezha also possesses a proprietary data […]

The Multimedia Laboratory at The Chinese University of Hong Kong was established by Prof. Xiaoou TANG in July 2001. It currently has 5 faculty members and more than 40 PhD students. Its research directions include computer vision, machine learning and deep learning. It was recognized as one of the top 10 AI labs in the […]

Enhancing Chinese Language Literacy Through Virtual Reality (VR) in Education Secondary school students, restrained by their life experience and exposure, often show a shallow knowledge and understanding of the subject matters in the learning of Chinese language, and fail to express themselves with personal touch and sensation. The Jockey Club VR Project for Enhancing Chinese […]

In Hong Kong, about 1 in 7 adults have experienced common mental disorders, such as anxiety, depression. Among them, only about 25% ever seek help. In view of the situations, the Jockey Club TourHeart Project aims to promote mental health and anti-stigma targeting working adults aged 18 – 45 in the community by developing the […]

There are 60,000 local newborns on average each year. Expectant parents and parents with newborn always desire for information about pregnancy and newborn babies. Yet, information on the Internet is often overloaded and lack of credibility. It is time-consuming to search for reliable and useful contents needed. Dr. B is designed to help expectant parents […]

Human eyes are capable of fusing two displaced images, even those with differences in details, contrast and luminance, as up to a certain limit. This phenomenon is binocular single vision, based on which we developed the world’s first Binocular Video Tone Mapping (BVTM) framework. Our proposed BVTM framework can be adopted in Hollywood 3D film-making […]

Early childhood years are fundamentally important for child’s physical and intellectual growth. According to the statistics of Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children and The Education University of Hong Kong, over 20,000 kindergarten students suffer from developmental disorders due to parents’ lack of awareness. In view of this situation, we develop a mobile […]

In recent years, there has been great advancement in wireless communication technologies. Multi-hop communication arises in many application scenarios where information needs to be transmitted to the receiver through a number of intermediate nodes. For existing technologies, however, the transmission cannot sustain more than a few hops due to channel noise and interference. BATS is […]

This project has developed the very first computer algorithm to automatically generate an optimized LEGO® Technic™ model with assembly instructions in only a few seconds from a simple sketch by the user. Building toys, including LEGO®, Erector Sets®, Lincoln Logs® and many other construction toys, contain interlocking bricks of different shapes to deliver high functionalities […]

The existing stock trading platforms only push massive amount of news to users. Stock traders can hardly digest the reports by themselves. When a stock analyst predicts that one stock price will rise while another analyst predicts the opposite, which news report is more reliable? ARIES (ARtificial Intelligence Empowered Stock-analyzer), developed by CUHK research team, […]

With the fast evolution of mobile communication systems, microwave filters are needed in unprecedented large quantities. Slower tuning speed and the lack of experienced filter tuning technicians are two major obstacles that lead to low production capacity. This intelligent robotic filter tuning system, which employs the analytic circuit model extraction theory and guided by the […]

Through blood analysis, we can know the health condition in general. The increase or decrease in the number of immune-functioning leukocyte / white blood cell can reflect different diseases such as inflammation, infectious diseases and leukemia. Currently commonly used blood testing methods include manual observation on stained smears and fluorescence detection via flow cytometry, but […]

Half of the causes of women’s infertility are related to the uterus, but the existing methods for examining the endometrium are external, and the resolution of the image is low, such as ultrasound, MRI, etc. Hence, doctors failed to distinguish whether the endometrium has inflammation, injury or defects etc., which may affect the chance of […]

The Internet of Things is widely applied in our daily live, such as smart sensing and recognition technologies, which contains thousands of sensors. Replacement of batteries for sensors is a difficult task and disposal of batteries may contaminate soil and water. By combining freestanding sliding mode triboelectric nanogenerator (FS-TENG) and electrically tunable liquid lens (ETULL) […]

(a)-(e) The fabrication process of the electrostatic robotics. (f) The moving part of the electrostatic robotics. (g) The fixed part of the electrostatic robotics. (h) The magnified picture of the electrodes of the device. (i) Powering the electrostatic robotics. Flexible and ultra-thin robots can work in special environment, such as industrial use, cleaning systems and […]

The safety of food and other consumables has caught intensive attention worldwide for better quality of life. Raman spectroscopy is one of the most powerful methods in testing applications such as food, beverages, drugs, pollutants and explosives. We invented a new type of substrates for dramatically amplifying Raman signals and pushing the molecular detection limit […]

Most of the wearable devices in the market are consumer fitness tracker for recording heart rate, sleep behavior and step count etc. Even though some devices can monitor the blood pressure (BP), which only provide a snapshot measurement. They cannot serve as medical devices to perform long-duration and high accuracy monitoring of vital signs for […]

This is an assay to determine gene expression level of a specified cell-type subpopulation (e.g. T cell) by direct analysis of a whole blood sample without the need of prior separation of the component cell populations. The assay can be performed by real time qPCR, microarray or RNA-seq platforms. Applications are huge as it enables […]

Abstract: Quantitative phase microscope (QPM) techniques have become an important modality for quantifying live cell morphology and precision material (e.g. semiconductor) metrology. Here, a new portable and versatile QPM system is proposed and developed. This system can measure the dynamical deformations of both transparent and reflective samples by combining both reflection mode and transmission mode […]

High-efficiency stealth laser dicing system for semiconductor wafer Conventionally, semiconductor wafer dicing is performed by blade dicing or laser ablation dicing, where materials are mechanically removed or pulverized in the cutting path, causing issues such as debris, contaminations, or damage to the devices etc. CUHK research team develops a new high-speed stealth laser dicing (SLD) […]

With the advancement of digital photography technology, the demand for cloud and local storage space is increasing. Image processing technology nowadays can convert color images into grayscale ones and greatly reduce the storage space required, however, original colour cannot be restored once an image is converted to grayscale. We therefore develop a color conversion system […]

Abstract: Conventional big data analytics systems (e.g., MapReduce, Dryad, Spark) are designed to work in an offline, batch-based manner originally. All data needs to be available in advance and will be processed as a whole. However, data is often generated continuously and needs to be processed in real time, for instance, network traffic data in […]

The complexity of urban drainage systems and blockages may impose difficulties and dangers in performing an on-site inspection and detection of hazardous gases such as sulfur dioxide and methane in real-time, and even increase the risk of flooding associated with adverse weather conditions. The underground has been an extremely challenging environment for establishing a reliable […]

Abstract: Approximately 250 million people suffer from color vision deficiency (CVD). They can hardly share the same visual content with normal-vision audiences. We propose the first system that allows CVD and normal-vision audiences to share the same visual content simultaneously. In the same time, we develop an app for the CVD to enhance color in […]

Abstract: Knowledge and Education Exchange Platform (KEEP) is a one-stop education cloud that the educational resources, especially those developed by local educators can be easily showcased, shared, searched, and made accessible to target users. Problem to be solved: The higher education sector has been facing the growing need to integrate technology into teaching and learning. […]

Abstract: In the course of learning English as a Second Language, English speaking skills and pronunciation often become a major challenge for students due to the lack of a natural English-speaking environment and insufficient opportunities to communicate in English. Our centre develops The Gamified Vocabulary Platform which aims to utilize the mobile technologies and artificial […]

About EduVenture® EduVenture® is an integrated GPS-supported outdoor mobile learning system by which teachers can facilitate students to conduct inquiry-based fieldtrips outside the classroom. The system consists of EV-Composer; EV-eXplorer, and EV-Retriever. The EV-Composer is a cloud-based platform for teachers to design before the fieldtrip an outdoor inquiry learning electronic resource, namely, LOCALE (Location-Oriented Context-aware […]

Abstract: The project proposes an application of EMD to clean up the intraday market datas and form EMD-candlestick to replace traditional candlestick as the signal generators in technical trading strategies, including moving average, relative strength index, and intraday and interday trading rules. Empirical results show that technical trading strategies are more profitable if EMD-candlestick is […]

Abstract: Converting low-grade heat that naturally exists in buildings (e.g. Solar heating, pipe lines, generators, etc.) to electricity provides an attractive approach to sustainably power autonomous wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Such power supply will significantly reduce the labor and cost associated with replacing hundreds or thousands of batteries needed in the WSNs. In this project, […]

Abstract: Photocatalysis is well-known for its capability to degrade a wide range of organic contamination including bacteria and viruses. We have been working on the incorporation of transparent photocatalytic thin films into some frequently touched facilities and devices. These thin films are able to harvest both light originated from the devices and indoor light/sunlight for […]

Solution processed perovskite is a new generation thin film technology with solution inks for photovoltaics (PV) and light emitting diode (LED), suitable for application using printing and coating techniques. The world record photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite-coated PV lies between silicon solar cell (first generation, 26.7%) and thin film solar cell (second generation, ~22%). […]

Abstract: A new electrical sensor for highly selective and sensitive detection of chemical and biological species in water is enabled by functionalized organic semiconductors with unique self-assembly structure. Problem to be solved: By combining sensory electrical output with easy device fabrication, organic field effect transistors (OFETs) promise low-cost, soft and biocompatible sensors for wearable and […]

Mapping High Mountain Asia Glacier Dynamics with Bistatic Interferometry and SAR Imagery Classification Glaciers, as an important part of the cryosphere, play an essential role in climate change. Their shrinkage is an indicator of global warming. The largest number of low-latitude and high-altitude glaciers in the world are located in ‘High Mountain Asia’ (HMA), including […]

Colonoscopy is one of the most effective ways to prevent colorectal cancer. It allows doctors to examine the colonic wall for polyp(s) and remove those that are adenomatous. Nevertheless, two major difficulties are encountered by endoscopists during colonoscopy: namely missed polyps and misclassified polyps. To solve the issues, we develop a real-time computer-aided diagnosis system […]

Running is a very popular sport. However, the injury risk is very high (around 70% per year). Currently, the industry uses video analysis and instrumented treadmill to assess runners’ gait. Video analysis is subjective and a lot of intrinsic parameters such as force, energy and impact cannot be measured; instrumented treadmill is available to measure […]

Abstract: This is a portable laser-vibration therapeutic device which is small and light-weight (170g). It has three critical treatments. The core technologies covered three conservative treatments of retrogression: laser therapy, vibration, heat therapy. Laser therapy: High range laser and low range laser which can provide low-level laser therapy. Vibration: provide physical therapy and strengthen musculoskeletal […]

The hybrid system of Magnesium-containing implant is developed for fracture fixation. This innovative implant consists of a modified implant, such as intramedullary nail (IM nail) and compression plate with drill holes, and self-locking Magnesium (Mg) plugs. These Mg plugs are biodegradable and the released Mg ions can stimulate and facilitate fracture healing. Problem to be […]

New Treatment Paths for Neural Diseases Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) is the most common form of dominantly inherited ataxia. SCA3 patients often present problems with gait and balance, blurred vision, and speech difficulties. The symptoms are progressive, and to date SCA3 remains an incurable disease. Our research team has recently discovered a novel pathogenic […]

Rehabilitation for stroke patients or individuals with lower-limb disability The Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) Interactive Cycling System is a tool for lower-limb disability rehabilitation. The system integrates both motor power and muscle power to facilitate the cycling exercise. The motor can be driven to rotate with different speed, while electrical pulses from the system can […]

Infectious disease represents a major threat to global health causing millions of human lives often due to late diagnosis and inefficient treatment. Many of the currently prevalent diagnostics methods are not preferred in the clinics because they rely heavily on pre-amplification or post-separation steps. Motivated by the appeal of a sensitive, yet easy-to-assay, diagnostic approach, […]

Abstract: Autophagy is a well-defined catabolic mechanism whereby cytoplasmic materials are engulfed into a double-membrane structure termed autophagosome. Autophagy plays an essential role in quality control of proteins and organelles, and protects the cell against pathogen infection or other unfavorable conditions. During autophagy, autophagosome engulfs and delivers cargo(s) into the lysosome/vacuole for degradation and recycling. […]

Lung-Sight Automated detection of pulmonary nodules via deep neural networks Lung cancer has been the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Visual inspection of lung tumors through medical imaging is one tedious and time-consuming task for radiologists and doctors. We propose a novel deep-learning-based framework with 3D convolutional networks for screening of primary lung cancer […]

Abstract: Stroke-induced disability and the elderly becomes a major issue nowadays with the ageing population. Role of rehabilitation becomes dominant in enhancing patients’ quality of life (QOL). A stroke rehabilitation training with a personalized, affordable, multi-functional 3D-printed soft robotic hand will be developed to facilitate better hand function recovery to enable them to reintegrate to […]

Abstract: This project aims to develop a scalable precision multi-layer roll-to-roll (R2R) printing system that utilizes a modified Microcontact Printing (MCP) technique to enable high-throughput, low-cost fabrication of submicron-level resolution and registration accuracy photoelectronic devices. Microcontact Printing is a soft lithography technique developed to overcome the diffraction limit; although submicron resolution printing has been repeatedly […]

A self-running and self-floating actuator for non-contact motion in designated two-dimensional directions. Non-contact actuators, such as air bearings and magnetic levitation bearings, are widely employed in precision machine-tools, nanotechnology, and metrology for their high precision, low noise, negligible friction and wear. However, these actuators have their drawbacks such as complex design, high costs, constrained moving […]

Machines used in rapid prototyping and light industry, such as 3D printing, cutting and engraving, typically operate in a smaller volume or area. This is due to the significant increase in complexity, weight and cost of larger systems, owing to the rigid links and actuation methods that are currently used. A laser cutter which operates […]

Abstract: This project proposed a cost-effective and efficient machining technology for structural coloration of metals. Structural color from the grating structures produces an iridescent effect which changes its apparent color with different viewing angles. Unlike the commercial ultrafast laser ablation method, the proposed mechanical machining technology utilizes ultrasonic vibration to create controllable and variable micro-gratings […]

Facilitate manga digital migration by automatically extracting structural lines from patterns. With the wide popularity of portable devices and the low-cost distribution over the internet, there has been an increasing trend to convert legacy manga to digital form. Comparing to traditional paper-based manga, electronic manga or e-manga is more visually appealing as more visual elements, […]

Facilitate real-time resource planning for servicing near-term customer needs under ad hoc circumstances In transit hubs such as airports, operations may be disrupted either by unexpected weather or incidents that flights or other events cannot be carried out as scheduled. Distressed passengers may change their needs that require corresponding service providers to re-allocate resources to […]

Colloquial expressions, abbreviations and slang are integrated into daily language for teenagers. Such behavior may lower the Chinese language writing proficiency of many students. In view of the problem, CUHK developed an error detection system called ACT, which is based on Big Data Mining and Deep Learning, and in conjunction with a unique intelligent algorithm […]

A novel communication medium that serves as a platform for developing smart campus. We have developed a virtual campus system and have constructed the virtual campus of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) based on the real scenery. Exploring the virtual 3D world as avatars, users can not only learn about the architectural, cultural […]

Mapping solutions for enhancing the quality and the efficiency of 360-degree video. Recently, Virtual Reality (VR) has become the basis of the future I.T. industry. Different from flat displays that display flat videos, VR devices are able to display 360-degree scenes that are more close to human vision. To display VR videos (or 360-degree videos), […]

Flexible System for facilitating service counter operations with ad hoc queue line setting At transit hubs such as airports or on occasions like exhibitions, arts/sports/entertainment festivals, going through service counters is a key step for visitors to acquire the subsequent services. Often, temporal queues are set up with different number of service counters and queue […]

Project Leader ： Prof. WONG Ching-ping, Dean of Engineering The fast-growing demand for energy and the recognition of man-made global climate change underscore the urgency of developing clean and renewable energy resources to replace fossil fuels. Harvesting energy directly from sunlight is a promising way to meet such requirements. With the aims to strengthen the […]

A lightweight prefabricated building product that is easy to assemble, reusable and recyclable. Checkered Playhouse is a lightweight prefabricated building product developed by The Chinese University of Hong Kong. It is designed with careful thoughts on climate, structure, manufacturing, construction, transportation and maintenance. With its easy-to-assemble feature, persons without professional training or even students can […]

Integrating multiple sources of Hong Kong air pollution data for the investigation of and decision-making on urban air pollution. Air pollution has become a life-threatening hazard that exerts a serious impact on the sustainable development of our cities. The measurements from stationary ground-based stations are relatively costly and they are generally too sparse to build […]

Abstract: This proposed project aims to customize the hardware and software modules for COSMO-SkyMed data processing with respect to the ground deformation monitoring workflow of the Hong Kong International Airport. We propose to integrate persistent scatterer SAR interferometry (PSInSAR), distributed scatterer SAR interferometry (DSInSAR), and small baseline subsets (SBAS) methods for monitoring the reclamation settlement […]

A statistical model for the estimation of air pollutant concentrations in real time at any locations in Hong Kong and mainland China Hong Kong and other cities in China are suffering from a serious air pollution problem. Public awareness of ambient air quality has been growing since poor air quality can cause serious health problems. […]

Automated detection of pulmonary nodules via deep neural networks Abstract: Lung cancer has been the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. We propose a novel framework with 3D convolutional networks for automated detection of pulmonary nodules from low-dose CT scans, which is a challenging yet crucial task for lung cancer early diagnosis and treatment. Problem […]

Abstract: The detection of lymph node metastasis gives an important aggressiveness indication of the invasive breast cancer. However, visual inspection relying on pathologists is expensive and time-consuming. We propose a fast and robust method to detect mitosis by designing a novel deep cascaded convolutional neural network. Problem to be solved: Automatic detection of lymph node […]

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) refers to the clusters of risk factors that lead to increased episodes of cardiovascular disease. These risk factors include obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFLD), hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, etc.  MetS is becoming more common in Hong Kong, with a prevalence of 19.2% in male, and 23.2% in female aged 50 years or above. Since […]

A 3D imaging system that can be applied in the field of medical, fitness tracking, human systems engineering, etc. Abstract: 3D scanners can be widely used in the field of medical, fitness tracking, apparel industry, human systems engineering, etc. Our team proposes a high-speed and high-resolution 3D imaging system by integrating: (1)    a novel stereo […]

Hearing impairment is one of the most common birth defects worldwide with the incidence of 1 in 500. In China, it has been estimated that over 27 million people are with hearing and speech disabilities. Of which more than 60% of these hearing impairment is caused by genetic factors. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology pioneered […]

Identifying new indications of clinically approved drugs for treating the cancer specific to a particular patient Liver, colon, lung and bladder cancers are common causes of deaths worldwide. Surgical resection and conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy are likely to fail because of tumor recurrence and resistance. Hence, finding appropriate medications on a personal basis is now […]