Undergraduate Team Won Second Prize in iCAN 2015
A group of engineering undergraduates (Alexander Yu Tse and Chen Tang from Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Chun Sing Poon from Electronic and Computer Engineering) won the 2nd prize with US$2,000 in the final contest of the International Contest of Applications in Nano-Micro Technologies (iCAN 2015) in Anchorage, Alaska, US on 20-22 June 2015. Their project, entitled “Air Hand”, is a good application of low-cost multiple MEMS sensors, soft robotic hands, integrated with micro controller unit to perform handling and manipulation of different objects without complicated control. Yu and Chen were motivated by their Mechanisms of Machinery course (MECH 3030) term project to participate in iCAN.
A total of 19 teams from United States, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand, Poland, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China attended and showed their innovative projects in the final contest of iCAN. One of the most innovative iCAN 2015 projects is “Anywhere Sadou” by students from Tohoku University and Osaka University. It is the application of MEMS motion sensors to the mixing enhancement of making Japanese tea.
In the domestic contest in Mainland China, more than 20,000 students from 100+ universities in China participated. Our students were exited to attend this contest because they learned a lot about the spirit of teamwork and the applications of MEMS devices to daily life. There are currently 15 companies which provide free MEMS devices for all the iCAN teams.
About The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) (www.ust.hk) is a world-class research university that focuses on science, technology and business as well as humanities and social science. HKUST offers an international campus, and a holistic and interdisciplinary pedagogy to nurture well-rounded graduates with global vision, a strong entrepreneurial spirit and innovative thinking. HKUST attained the highest proportion of internationally excellent research work in the Research Assessment Exercise 2014 of Hong Kong’s University Grants Committee, and is ranked as the world’s best young university in Times Higher Education’s Young University Rankings 2019. Its graduates were ranked 16th worldwide and top in Greater China in Global University Employability Survey 2018.
