April 2026

TechTalk – The West’s Fading Factory Floor

Innovation Wing Two, TechTalk / By

May 5, 2026 (Tuesday) 10:30am-11:30am
In this talk, I’ll walk you through my research on medical and industrial exoskeletons at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as the development work at the two companies I founded in the United States. I’ll then focus on two main points.
First, the darker side of the overwhelming push across U.S. universities to encourage entrepreneurial work.
Second—and despite the first point—my next venture: how it took shape in my mind, influenced by the geographic and political landscape of West–East economic rivalries.
My goal is to create genuine motivation for some of you to join me, either as a co-founder or collaborator, to help bring this new venture to maturity.

TechTalk – Cell Mechanics: from Disease Progression to Tissue Morphogenesis and Mechanotransduction

Innovation Wing Two, TechTalk / By

May 15, 2026 (Friday) 4:00pm-5:00pm
In this talk, Professor Yuan Lin will introduce their recent efforts in elucidating the role of mechanics/physics in different cellular and tissue-level processes. First, he will demonstrate that mechano-transduction via intercellular integrin complexes between the invading spheroid leader cell and mesothelial cells triggers and augments mesothelium apical constriction, which then leads to the shrinkage of mesothelial cell-cell junctions and eventually induces their rupture. At the same time, the growth of intercellular integrin adhesion causes wetting at the spheroid-mesothelium interface and induces deformation of spheroid cells, further facilitating its invasion into the mesothelium. After that, he will talk about how collective active contraction of cells and their interactions with outside dictate the pattern formation of tissues. Finally, he will show how tubulin family proteins (i.e., isotypes) regulate the microtubule accessibility for luminal proteins via the force-induced reversible protofilament separation, and ultimately mechanosensitive response of the cell.

TechTalk – Future Directions of Robotic Surgery: Interventional, Ingestible, Injectable, Implanted Robotic Devices

Innovation Wing Two, TechTalk / By

April 20, 2026 (Monday) 10:30am-11:30am
Robotic technologies are becoming pervasive in healthcare, with a lot of advanced platforms preclinically or clinically employed and providing a great benefit for both patients and the entire healthcare system. Robots for minimally invasive surgery, robots for radiation therapy delivery, robots for steering catheters and miniature devices in the human body are already a reality and pose interesting challenges to clinicians and engineers in terms of controllability, safety and navigation.
In addition to robotic instrumentation used in acute setting for interventional applications and minimally invasive surgery, robots can be also used for chronic monitoring and therapy inside the human body. Implantable and ingestible in vivo robots are emerging as leading alternatives for continuous therapy, and are featured by additional challenges, in terms of biocompatibility, safety, communication and powering.
Starting from the speaker research experience, this talk illustrates the challenges for development and clinical translations of robots operating in acute and chronic setting.

HKAE TechTalk – Fiber-based Tactile Emulation Mechanisms and Intelligent Wearables

Innovation Wing Two, TechTalk / By

April 21, 2026 (Tuesday) 4:00-5:00pm
True human-like tactile emulation technology aims to replicate human sensory experience. The study includes human-like fabric tactile simulators that can perceive and adjust interface forces and temperatures by changing hardness, size, surface morphology and thermal properties at mm- and cm-scales. Various operating mechanisms of tactile sensory simulation are explored, from which fiber-based multi-mode tactile sensory emulation wearable devices are developed together with their applications. This leads to a new research direction that further enhances the level of scientific and technological innovation for healthcare, Internet of Things, smart cities, art technology, robotics, education, sports, personal protection, fashion, textiles and entertainment.