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U S T . H K
Frank Wang (left)
with his mentor
Prof Zexiang Li.
HKUST students and their academic men-
tors are both benefiting from and sup-
porting future innovation in a university-
industry model, facilitated by leading
international practices in intellectual
property and technology transfer.
DJI is the best-known example and
model for others, with an on-going
relationship with HKUST. Today, DJI
has grown to employ more than 5,000
people in different locations around the
world. It now funds several scholarships
for HKUST graduate students to pursue
robotics research and several graduates
have gone on to take up leading positions
with the Shenzhen-based company.
Other companies co-founded by
faculty and students in the area of
automation include Googol Technology
Limited, now a leading motion control
company in China, and QKM Technology,
which is pioneering the use of robotics for
the assembly of smartphones and other
small precision electronic products. The
Zhuhai Yunzhou Intelligence Technology
Limited is another successful company
established by HKUST students. It devel-
ops unmanned surface vessel used for en-
vironmental protection, hydro-geological
mapping and cleaning maintenance.
FRANK WANG
HKUST BEng 2006, MPhil 2011,
Founder and CEO, DJI
HKUST
Robotics Institute
into the
Intelligent
Machine
Age
Robotics has the potential to be as
transformative for manufacturing and
society as the internet has been on our
daily life and work. Robots can empower
people in their daily lives, across work,
leisure and domestic needs.
Economies around the world are pinning
their hopes that robots will play a key role
in the next generation of manufacturing,
to increase efficiency, address labor
shortages, and free people fromwork that
is dull, dangerous, or dirty.
However, manufacturers face many
obstacles. In the “3C” industries of
computing, communications, and
consumer electronics, for example, robots
need to manipulate tiny parts in confined
spaces with far greater precision than in
well-established uses in the automobile
industry. And as with unmanned aerial
vehicles, there is a demand for them to be
ever more intelligent in the industry and
societal tasks they take on.
“To address these challenges, a totally
new and innovative approach is needed to
design robots,” said Prof Michael Wang,
Director, HKUST Robotics Institute.
The interdisciplinary Institute builds on
25 years of cutting-edge engineering
research at the University. Scientists
across engineering departments will bring
together leading research in areas ranging
frommanufacturing system design and
statistical process control to advanced
visual and audio interfaces and networked
sensing, estimation and control.
The Institute also provides broad education
in the science and technologies of robotics,
and incubates innovative start-ups with
the potential to propel the knowledge
economy of the region to new heights.
HKUST was fundamental to DJI’s
development. During my studies, I
was encouraged by my professors
to pursue my lifelong passion for
flying devices. Little did I envision
then that my fantasy could realize
the commercialization of a disruptive
technology
