Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing, HKU Engineering (2026)

11/05/2026

TechTalk: “Solar PV-X Technologies: New Frontiers Beyond Electricity” 🔄

🗓️ Mark Your Calendar: 14th May 2026 (Thursday)

📍 Hosted at Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing Two ()

⚡Speaker: Professor Christos N. Markides, Professor of Clean Energy Technologies, Head of the Clean Energy Processes Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London

Photovoltaic (PV) panels are typically less than 20% efficient in delivering electricity from the Sun’s energy. The efficiency losses are especially pronounced when PV panels are exposed to high irradiance conditions on warm, sunny days, which lead to higher temperature operation. Of the total amount of sunlight incident on PV panels, over 70% is lost to the environment as waste heat. This loss has motivated the development of ‘hybrid’ PV-thermal (PV-T) collectors, which combine PV cells with a contacting fluid. The fluid recovers waste heat from the cells, thus delivering a potentially useful thermal output, while simultaneously cooling the cells and increasing their electrical efficiency. Recently, a new concept that we refer to as multifunctional ‘PV-X’ collector technology has emerged, in which secondary processes are integrated synergistically with the PV cells, exploiting the available waste heat to perform additional functions directly within the collector. ⚡

In this talk, Professor Christos N. Markides will present conventional and advanced PV-T and PV-X collector concepts and designs, along with their underlying operational principles. He will explore opportunities for further developing these technologies and examine how new materials can drive improvements from the component to the system level, while discussing the potential of integrating these technologies into broader solar-energy systems capable of providing cooling, heating, power, fuels or clean water.

🔗 Register now:

https://innowings.engg.hku.hk/solar-pv-x/

👉Scan the QR code on our story!

-X

06/05/2026

Innowing【🦾TechTalk Recap: “The West’s Fading Factory Floor”】

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Professor Homayoon Kazerooni, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UC Berkeley, for delivering an absolutely inspiring and eye-opening TechTalk at the Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing Two () on 5th May, 2026. His talk shared his research on medical and industrial exoskeletons at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as the development work at the two companies he founded in the United States. 💡

A special thanks to Professor Norman Tien, Head of Innovation Academy, Chair Professor of Microsystems Technology, Taikoo Professor of Engineering, HKU, for brilliant ideas and igniting lively, thought-provoking discussions! 💬

Stay tuned—more are coming soon to fuel your mind and spark collaboration.

🔗 TechTalk recording and more information:

https://innowings.engg.hku.hk/factory-floor/

Robotics

05/05/2026

HKAE TechTalk: “From Trustworthy Systems to Trustworthy AI” 🔐

🗓️ Mark Your Calendar: 19th May 2026 (Tuesday)

📍 Hosted at Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing Two ()

⚡Speaker: Professor Xin Yao, Vice-President (Research and Innovation), Tong Tin Sun Chair Professor of Machine Learning, School of Data Science, Lingnan University

Trustworthiness is a critical issue in artificial intelligence (AI), especially for real-world applications. It is impossible to deploy AI in the real world without its being trustworthy. However, the connotation and extension of AI trustworthiness are not entirely clear. There has not been a single definition that is accepted by all researchers. This talk starts from a brief recall of trustworthy systems in the literature and tries to understand any potential differences between classical trustworthy systems and modern-day trustworthy AI. It argues that AI ethics is a crucial part of trustworthy AI, which was not featured in classical trustworthy systems. ⚖️

In this talk, Professor Yao will present a short summary of AI ethics and governance.

🔗 Register now:

https://innowings.engg.hku.hk/trustworthy-ai/

👉Scan the QR code on our story!

30/04/2026

🧬TechTalk: “Cell Mechanics: from Disease Progression to Tissue Morphogenesis and Mechanotransduction” 🔬

🗓️ Mark Your Calendar: 15th May 2026 (Friday)

📍 Hosted at Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing Two ()

⚡Speaker: Professor Yuan Lin, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, HKU

In this talk, Professor Lin will introduce their recent efforts in elucidating the role of mechanics/physics in different cellular and tissue-level processes.

🔗 Register now:

https://innowings.engg.hku.hk/cell-mechanics/

👉Scan the QR code on our story!

28/04/2026

🌏TechTalk: “The West’s Fading Factory Floor” 🏭

🗓️ Mark Your Calendar: 5th May 2026 (Tuesday)

📍 Hosted at Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing Two ()

⚡Speaker: Professor Homayoon Kazerooni, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UC Berkeley

In this talk, Professor Kazerooni will discuss his exoskeleton research and startups at UC Berkeley, and how West–East rivalries inspired his next venture. He aims to motivate everyone to join as co-founders or collaborators.

🔗 Register now:

https://innowings.engg.hku.hk/factory-floor/

👉Scan the QR code on our story!

27/04/2026

Innowing【📸TechTalk Recap: “Embodied Photography and Cinematography”】

We warmly thank Professor Jia Pan, Associate Professor, School of Computing and Data Science, HKU, for giving an inspiring and innovative TechTalk at the Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing Two () on 23rd April, 2026. His talk offered a unified approach to enabling robots to learn photographic styles from human demonstrations, control focus and exposure in difficult lighting, and support new applications like intelligent birdwatching. 🚀

A special shout-out to Professor Yifan Peng, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, HKU, for sharing brilliant insights and sparking lively, thought-provoking discussions! 🙌

Stay tuned—more are coming soon to fuel your mind and spark collaboration.

🔗 TechTalk recording and more information:

https://innowings.engg.hku.hk/embodied-photography-cinematography/

Cinematography

24/04/2026

Innowing【🧵HKAE TechTalk Recap: “Fiber-based Tactile Emulation Mechanisms and Intelligent Wearables”】

We sincerely thank Professor Xiaoming Tao, Chair Professor, School of Fashion and Textiles; Director, Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems, PolyU, for delivering an inspiring and forward-thinking TechTalk at the Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing Two () on 21st April, 2026. Her talk included 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.

A special shout-out to Professor Lizhi Xu, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, HKU, for sharing valuable insights and sparking engaging discussions! 🙌

Stay tuned—more are coming soon to fuel your mind and spark collaboration.

🔗 TechTalk recording and more information:

https://innowings.engg.hku.hk/intelligent-wearables/

IntelligentWearables

20/04/2026

Innowing【🤖Future Directions of Robotic Surgery: Interventional, Ingestible, Injectable, Implanted Robotic Devices】

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Professor Arianna Menciassi, Full Professor of Bioengineering and Biomedical Robotics, Vice-Rector of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (SSSA), Pisa, for delivering an inspiring and thought-provoking TechTalk at the Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing Two () on 20th April, 2026. Her talk illustrated the challenges for development and clinical translations of robots operating in acute and chronic setting. 🔬

A special thanks to Professor Zhongliang Jiang, Assistant Professor in Robotics and AI, Director of the Medical Intelligence and Robotic Recognition (MIRoC) Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, HKU, for adding valuable insights and sparking engaging discussions! 🎉

Stay tuned—more are coming soon to fuel your mind and spark collaboration.

🔗 TechTalk recording and more information:

https://innowings.engg.hku.hk/i4-rod/

RoboticDevices

17/04/2026

🎥TechTalk: “Embodied Photography and Cinematography” 📸

🗓️ Mark Your Calendar: 23rd April 2026 (Thursday)

📍 Hosted at Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing Two ()

⚡Speaker: Professor Jia Pan, Associate Professor, School of Computing and Data Science, HKU

Embodied photography and cinematography require a robot to integrate aesthetic judgment, camera control, and scene understanding in real time.

In this talk, Professor Pan will present a unified view of the problem, spanning how robots can learn photographic style from human demonstrations, how they can robustly control focus and exposure in challenging lighting conditions, and how these capabilities can enable new applications such as intelligent birdwatching. He will first discuss imitation learning methods that capture photographer intent and composition. And then he will cover event-based autofocus and auto-exposure systems that maintain image quality under low light and extreme illumination. Finally, he will explore open-world tracking and language-guided observation for targeted wildlife capture. Together, these directions suggest a future in which robots act as active visual partners, not just passive imaging devices.

🔗 Register now:

https://innowings.engg.hku.hk/embodied-photography-cinematography/

👉Scan the QR code on our story!

13/04/2026

🤖TechTalk: “Future Directions of Robotic Surgery: Interventional, Ingestible, Injectable, Implanted Robotic Devices “ 🩺

🗓️ Mark Your Calendar: 20th April 2026 (Monday)

📍 Hosted at Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing Two ()

⚡Speaker: Professor Arianna Menciassi, Full Professor of Bioengineering and Biomedical Robotics, Vice-Rector of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (SSSA), Pisa

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.

In this talk, Professor Menciassi will start from the speaker research experience, illustrating the challenges for development and clinical translations of robots operating in acute and chronic setting.

🔗 Register now:

https://innowings.engg.hku.hk/i4-rod/

👉Scan the QR code on our story!

Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing, HKU Engineering

11/05/2026

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05/05/2026

30/04/2026

28/04/2026

27/04/2026

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