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PolyU develops smart assistant “AI-Care” that automatically identifies daily tasks and provides guidance to support independent living for visually impaired people

Hong Kong currently has nearly 200,000 visually impaired people. Although white canes and guide dogs can assist with basic mobility, daily tasks such as shopping and taking public transport remain challenging for them. A research team at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has developed an innovative assistive system, “AI-Care”,which is driven by an advanced artificial intelligence (AI) model. Connecting smart glasses and a mobile application, the system proactively detects surrounding objects and provides voice guidanceto help visually impaired people handle daily tasks independently. The team has partnered with industry collaborator Hillming Smartech Ltd. (HSL) to advance commercialisation, and with the Hong Kong Society for the Blind (HKSB) to launch community trials, aiming to inject new momentum into building an inclusive smart city.   The launch ceremony of the AI-Care project was held yesterday (10 June) at the PolyU campus. It was officiated by Prof. the Hon. Kam-fai WONG, Legislative Council Member of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People’s Republic of China; Prof. Changwen CHEN, Interim Dean of the PolyU Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences; Prof. Qing LI, Head of the PolyU Department of Computing; alongside Mr Sean FONG, Chief Executive of HKSB; Mr YANG Zhiming, Technical Director of Assistive Technology of the China Culture and Information Service Center of the Visually Handicapped (China Braille Library); Mr Hillming LI, CEO of HSL; and Ms Shirley TSANG, Director of Rehabilitation Services at HKSB. Project leader Prof. Jing LI, Associate Professor of the PolyU Department of Computing and Associate Director of the PolyU Research Institute for Generative AI also attended the event.   Addressing the ceremony, Prof. Changwen Chen said, “PolyU is committed to impactful research. We believe the true measure of technological innovation lies not only in how smart our AI becomes, but also in how deeply it empowers those who need it most. By transforming AI from a passive tool into a proactive companion, AI-Care not just advances the development of assistive technology, but also promotes social inclusion.”   Mr Sean Fong remarked, “AI-Care empowers people with visual impairments to transcend physical limitations, enabling them to live more independently and participate in society with confidence. Many of HKSB’s service users have already benefited from such innovations, and we are eager to integrate this novel system into our services.”   Mr Hillming Li said, “The Government has been a strong advocate for building an accessible city. AI-Care is not only a successful transfer of cutting-edge technology, but also an innovation with a human touch, empowering underserved communities to experience the world more fully and embrace greater opportunities for a richer and more fulfilling life. We hope to further expand its application and even scale this technology across the country.”   AI-Care is built upon an advanced AI model that is adapted from cutting-edge Visual Question Answering and Natural Language Processing frameworks specifically for daily shopping scenarios, covering the full workflow from product searching and payment to receipt audit. Breaking away from the passive “question-and-answer” approach of traditional digital assistive tools, it uses smart glasses to capture the user’s perspective, thereby proactively identifying everyday objects. The system then transfers image data to the mobile application for processing and analysis, and generates real-time audio instructions.   Smart glasses available on the market mostly target sighted users, relying on visual context and sight-dependent cues, and therefore do not fully meet the unique needs of visually impaired users. AI-Care, on the other hand, adopted rigorous post-training for its AI model using domain-specific data, making its image recognition and voice guidance better aligned with the spatial perception and cognitive needs of visually impaired users, and ensuring precise, actionable guidance. The system completed phased testing in the first quarter of this year, involving 17 visually impaired participants, and achieved an average satisfaction score of 93. The team plans to scale up the trials through continued collaboration with the social welfare sector.   The research team demonstrated the current functions of AI-Care at the event. Prof. Jing Li added, “For our team, what we most look forward to is seeing how AI research can truly support independent living for the visually impaired. While current AI models show impressive generic skills, enabling them to understand users’ needs as flexibly and accurately as human assistants, to know how to provide help and to intervene proactively at the right moment remains a major challenge. AI-Care embodies a human-centric approach to technology and marks a major step forward in the development of AI-powered assistive tools.”   Supported by HK$5 million in funding from the HKSAR Government’s Innovation and Technology Fund and other industry sponsors, the research team has completed the design of the core AI model and verified the stability of the cloud-based server. The team is currently working to enhance the system’s memory management, optimise the hardware and advance prototyping, with the aim of commercialising the technology and expanding its application.  

Dr Mohammed Aquil Mirza Honoured with Teaching Excellence Award at ISBDAI 2026

We are proud to announce that Dr Mohammed Aquil Mirza, our Senior Lecturer, has been awarded the Teaching Excellence Award at the 5th International Symposium on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence for Education Transformation (ISBDAI 2026) jointly organised by IHERD of PolyU and IETI.   The award recognises Dr Mohammed's outstanding contributions to cross-disciplinary computing education, his innovative application of translational pedagogy, and his dedication to bridging the gap between complex software architectures and diverse student cohorts. His award-winning methodology focuses heavily on fostering student agency and real-world "Output Conversion"—enabling learners to seamlessly deploy advanced computing pipelines into practical applications. These cutting-edge student pipelines span across edge-AI, robotics, telemetry, and advanced medical imaging frameworks.

COMP Best Project Award Competition 2026

The Best Project Award Competition 2026 concluded successfully on 6 June, showcasing an impressive lineup of Capstone Projects presented by 10 outstanding finalists.   This year’s projects were evaluated by a distinguished panel of academic leaders and industry experts: Ms Chris CHAN, Assistant Director, Incubation, Startup Ecosystem, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation Ms Silvia Ihensekhien, Chief Security Advisor, GCR, Microsoft Mr Terence LEUNG, Senior Manager, Start-up Support, Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited Prof. Amelia LI, Associate Professor, Department of Computing, PolyU Mr Edwin TAM, Managing Director, InfoTech Services (Hong Kong) Limited Prof. Yuanqing ZHENG, Associate Professor, Department of Computing, PolyU (In alphabetical order of surnames)   Each finalist was given 15 minutes to pitch their project, demonstrate its core features, and field questions from the panel. The judges highly commended for the outstanding quality, rigor and innovativeness of every project. They were equally impressed by the completeness and the strong potential of our students’ works, expressing great enthusiasm for seeing these innovative ideas further develop in the future.   The high-quality entries this year made the competition highly competitive. Following a rigorous discussion, the judging panel proudly selected the following awardees for the competition. Alongside the Best Project Awards, two students were also awarded with the InfoTech Job Market Driven Scholarship in recognition of their projects' strong alignment with current industry needs and the highly practical skills demonstrated.   Award Awardee Project Title Champion WANG Youkang Probabilistic Optimization in LLM Inference-time Scaling and Training 1st runner-up HO Cheuk Hin UAV- and AI-based Concrete Defect Inspection System for Smart Infrastructure 2nd runner-up SREEKUMAR Sidharth An Intelligent Financial Advisor Merit ZAIDI Syed Muhammad Askar Hussain A Digital Twin Framework for Elderly Motion and Health Monitoring Using AI and Geolocation Technologies ZENG Tianyi SwarmMind: A Consensus-Driven Multi-Agent Reasoning Paradigm with Selective Peer Debate InfoTech Job Market Driven Scholarship HO Cheuk Hin UAV- and AI-based Concrete Defect Inspection System for Smart Infrastructure LAI Ka Chung Development of a ROS-Based Mobile Robot for Environmental Monitoring and Data Analysis   We extend our warmest congratulations to all the award recipients for their outstanding achievements. Their dedication, creativity, and hard work have truly set a high standard of excellence!  

Startup Founded by Prof. Yang Hongxia Receives Prestigious BEYOND Best of Innovation Award 2026

We are proud to announce that InfiX.ai, an AI infrastructure startup founded by Prof. YANG Hongxia, Executive Director of the PolyU Academy for Artificial Intelligence (PAAI), Vobile Group Professor in Generative Artificial Intelligence, Associate Dean (Global Engagement) of the Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, and Chair Professor of Generative AI at COMP, has been honored with the prestigious BEYOND Best of Innovation Award 2026 for its breakthrough product, InfiCube, an integrated large-model training and inference appliance.   The award-winning InfiCube represents a landmark milestone in bringing cutting-edge AI from the lab to the market. Jointly developed by InfiX.ai and its ecosystem partners, InfiCube bridges the gap between high-performance computing hardware and advanced AI software. While InfiX.ai spearheaded the development of the core large-model training and inference algorithms, the system seamlessly integrates with underlying high-performance hardware to offer an all-in-one hardware-software AI infrastructure covering model training, fine-tuning, inference deployment, permission management, and continuous optimisation.   In terms of data security, InfiCube addresses the critical needs of industries with stringent compliance standards by supporting complete training, fine-tuning, and inference within localised, private deployment environments. This ensures that sensitive enterprise data remains secure inside private systems rather than being uploaded to external platforms, with added security from built-in permission management and comprehensive audit records.   Furthermore, the system transitions AI from a one-time deployment tool into an evolving asset through its built-in machine learning operations capabilities. This enables ongoing industry data integration, incremental training, feedback-based fine-tuning, and continuous model iteration, embedding a self-optimising AI capability directly into daily enterprise workflows.   The award was presented at the BEYOND Expo 2026, held in Macao from 27 to 30 May 2026. Recognised as one of Asia's most influential platforms for technological innovation and industry collaboration, the expo gathers top-tier global tech pioneers. The BEYOND Best of Innovation Awards represent the highest honour within the BEYOND Innovation Awards, selected from a highly competitive pool of award winners to honour truly disruptive technologies and industry-leading products. InfiCube received this esteemed accolade alongside innovations from top-tier global technology companies, marking international industry recognition of the PolyU research team’s commercialisation capabilities in enterprise-grade AI infrastructure and integrated large-scale model technologies.

Outstanding Alumni Award of PolyU COMP 2026

PolyU is proud to recognise and honour its alumni's outstanding accomplishments and contributions to the community through the Outstanding PolyU Alumni Award (OPAA). The results of this year's departmental awards are out after a rigorous selection process.   We are delighted to announce that Prof. WANG Xinchao, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS), has been granted the Outstanding Young Alumni Award of PolyU Department of Computing. Mr TAM Wing Kei, Founder & Technical Director of Octopus InfoTech Limited, is the recipient of the Outstanding Alumni Award of PolyU Department of Computing 2026.   Prof. WANG, who graduated from PolyU in 2010 with a BSc in Computing, is internationally recognised as one of the most distinguished young scholars in the field of artificial intelligence. He is the only academic in Singapore to have bagged the President’s Science and Technology Award (Young Scientist Award), NUS University Award (Young Researcher Award) and IEEE AI’s 10 to Watch honour at the same time. He has published more than 200 papers in top-tier venues, with over 28,900 citations and an H-index of 81. His influential research, including MetaFormer, DepGraph, LLM-Pruner, DeepCache, and OminiControl, has opened new directions in efficient neural networks, large language models, and generative AI, with impact extending to both academia and industry. His work has been widely adopted through large-scale systems and major open-source and industrial ecosystems, and at NUS, he has secured more than SGD15 million in research funding. He has also maintained strong ties with PolyU by contributing to seminars, student supervision, and research support initiatives.   Mr TAM is recognised for his outstanding entrepreneurial leadership and contributions to technological innovation in education. Four years after earning his BSc in Enterprise Information Systems, he founded Octopus InfoTech Limited in 2012. In the past 14 years, he has built the company from the ground up into a key player in Hong Kong that provides AI and digital solutions for digital transformation across the education and business sectors. His flagship innovations have been widely adopted by the government, local schools, universities and corporations. Beyond his business achievements, he is also committed to community service by taking on various leadership roles at institutions that promote educational technology advancement, while continuing to actively contribute to PolyU by co-organising workshops and competitions, providing student advising, and supporting alumni engagement.   PolyU takes great pride in its alumni's remarkable achievements and contributions to their professions and the community. The Outstanding PolyU Alumni Award celebrates the university's role in nurturing future leaders and innovators.

The 4th Bauhinia Forum on the Development of Computer Science Successfully Held at PolyU: Academic Leaders from Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Macau Gather to Explore the Future of the Discipline

The 4th Bauhinia Forum on the Development of Computer Science was successfully held on 16 May 2026 at Hotel ICON, jointly organised by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), Tsinghua University, and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). The Forum was hosted by PolyU’s Department of Computing (COMP).   The event brought together around 40 presidents, deans, department heads, and distinguished professors from leading universities across Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Participants engaged in in-depth discussions on key issues concerning the development of computer science, exploring future directions and fostering cross-institutional collaboration.   In response to the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and the evolving global higher education landscape, this year’s Forum centred around three major themes — “AI4Education,” “Interdisciplinary Integration,” and “International Collaboration.” The programme featured a series of keynote and thematic presentations, as well as roundtable discussions, focusing on critical topics in the current development of computer science. Presentations covered innovative models for talent cultivation, international cooperation, applications of AI in education, quantum computing, the convergence of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence, and practical experiences in discipline development and talent training. With rich content and diverse perspectives, the discussions inspired new insights and promoted active exchanges among participants.   The opening ceremony was moderated by Prof. LI Qing, Head of the Department of Computing at PolyU. Prof. WU Jianping, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Director of Zhongguancun Laboratory and Professor at Tsinghua University, and Prof. CAO Jiannong, Vice President (Education) of PolyU, delivered opening remarks.   Prof. Wu remarked, “Hosting this year’s Forum at PolyU brings together scholars from the Mainland, Hong Kong, and Macau to jointly open a new chapter for the discipline. Through exchanges and discussions among peers, I believe this Forum will reach new consensus on the development of computer science.”   Prof. Cao highlighted the rapid and transformative progress of AI over the past year, noting its growing impact on education and research. He expressed his hope to strengthen collaboration among universities in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau to advance joint research and educational development in AI and computer science.   Prof. Cao Jiannong delivers the opening remarks   Academician Wu Jianping (top right) and Academician Fang Binxing (bottom) deliver the opening remarks and keynote speech online, respectively   The keynote sessions featured several distinguished academics. Prof. FANG Binxing, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Honorary Dean of the School of Cyberspace Security at Guangzhou University, delivered his presentation online, sharing insights on how AI impacts talent quality and how curriculum design, teaching practices, and assessment mechanisms can be reformed to foster higher-order thinking among students.   Prof. HU Shimin, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor at Tsinghua University, presented in person, sharing recent developments of China’s computer science societies and their initiatives in promoting international academic exchange. He also discussed leveraging the regional advantages of Hong Kong and Macau to further enhance internationalisation. Academician Hu Shimin shares updates on national computer science societies   Prof. HU Xiangen, Director of the Education Research Centre at PolyU, gave a keynote on how education should be re-envisioned in the era of AI, arguing that AI for education should evolve into an independent academic domain. Prof. HU Xiangen discusses the role of artificial intelligence in education   Beyond the keynote speeches, three thematic presentations were delivered by experts from the three regions, highlighting frontier topics in the field.   Prof. Zhao Wei, Provost of Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology Prof. Li Kenli, Vice President of Hunan University and Director of the National Supercomputing Center in Changsha Prof. Cai Zhanchuan, Director of the School of Computer Science and Engineering, Macau University of Science and Technology   Two roundtable discussions further deepened interdisciplinary and cross-regional exchange. The first roundtable, themed “AI4Education,” focused on how AI empowers teaching and learning. Participants shared challenges faced by their institutions, discussed different AI-driven educational approaches, and examined their implications for curriculum innovation and talent cultivation.   Roundtable discussion themed “AI4Education”   The second roundtable, entitled “Breakthrough and Restructuring: Opportunities and Pathways for Internationalisation Strategies of Computer Science Schools under the New Global Environment,” explored how universities can continue advancing international cooperation, expanding academic networks, and enhancing their global impact in a changing world.   Roundtable discussion themed “Breakthrough and Restructuring: Opportunities and Pathways for  Internationalisation Strategies of Computer Science Schools under the New Global Environment”   Participants generally agreed that, amid the rapid evolution of AI technologies and the deepening trend of interdisciplinary integration, computer science should seize the opportunities of the times, strengthen its disciplinary foundation, and promote overall academic advancement. The Forum not only provided a high-level platform for academic exchange but also helped build consensus in areas such as educational reform, research collaboration, and international development.   The Forum concluded successfully with closing remarks by Prof. ZHOU Xiaofang, Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at HKUST, and Prof. YIN Xia, Head of the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Tsinghua University. They summarised the key achievements of this year’s Forum and expressed their expectations for strengthening future cooperation to advance the field of computer science.          

Code to Career: COMP Class of 2026 x Alumni Network Night

COMP successfully hosted the Code to Career: COMP Class of 2026 x Alumni Network Night on 22 May 2026 (Friday), bringing together over 100 participants, including students, staff, and alumni, for an evening of sharing, inspiration, and networking.   The evening began with an opening speech by Prof. Ken YIU, Professor and Associate Head (Teaching and Learning) of COMP. In his welcoming remarks, Prof. Yiu encouraged students to make the most of the opportunity to connect with alumni, learn from their experiences, and broaden their perspectives as they prepare for their future careers.   This was followed by speeches from Dr Darron SUN, President of the Computing Alumni Association, and Prof. Henry CHAN, Professor and Associate Head (Partnership and Collaboration) of COMP, both of whom highlighted the importance of maintaining strong ties within the COMP community and supporting students in their academic and professional journeys.   The event included sharing sessions by alumni speakers from various backgrounds. They shared their success stories to inspire graduating students to apply the knowledge they have gained at the University to real-world contexts. The aim was to encourage these students to strive toward their goals and face future challenges with confidence.   Four sharing sessions themed around “CARES” — Computing for Application, Research, Entrepreneurship and Service, were delivered by: Mr Tony CHUNG, Vice President of Asia Satellite Dr Godfrey HO, Founder of Bitlliant.io Mr Kent CHENG, Mr Terry CHU, and Mr Winson SIU, Co-founders of Bravolol Limited Dr Darron SUN, President of the Computing Alumni Association   The second half of the event featured more relaxed, interactive activities, including a COMP trivia quiz and an AI-generated creative song performance. These activities allowed students to unwind before graduation, engage more comfortably in the event, and interact with staff and alumni in a friendly atmosphere.   The event not only strengthened bonds within the COMP community but also provided an inspiring platform for students to explore future possibilities and learn from alumni, encouraging graduating students to become pillars of society who can contribute to the advancement of the world.

Prof. Yang Hongxia is appointed as Vobile Group Professor in Generative Artificial Intelligence

We are proud to announce that Prof. Yang Hongxia has been appointed as Vobile Group Professor in Generative Artificial Intelligence under the University’s Named Professorship Scheme. This prestigious appointment recognises Prof. Yang's significant contribution to advancing generative artificial intelligence on a global scale.   Prof. Yang is a world-renowned AI scientist who brings extensive expertise to the university. Prior to joining PolyU, she held senior leadership positions at leading global technology companies, including Alibaba Group and ByteDance. Her research at PolyU is currently at the forefront of the generative AI revolution, where she advocates a decentralised approach to technology. Specifically, Prof. Yang is developing the "Model-over-Models" paradigm, known as InfiFusion, to enhance the accessibility, scalability, and efficiency of Large Language Models (LLMs).   In a testament to the impact of her work, Prof. Yang has recently been awarded HK$62.6 million in funding from the Research Grants Council’s (RGC) Theme-based Research Scheme 2025/26. The funding will support her groundbreaking project, “Collaborative Generative AI (Co-GenAI),” which seeks to redefine how AI models interact and function collaboratively.   Prof. Yang’s global influence was recognised by CoinDesk, which named her among the Top 50 Women in Web3 & AI in 2025. In addition to her new appointment, Prof. Yang concurrently serves as Executive Director of PolyU Academy for Artificial Intelligence (PAAI), Associate Dean (Global Engagement) of the Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Chair Professor of Generative Artificial Intelligence, and Director of UBDA.

Prof. WU Yujie Awarded the PolyU Young Innovative Researcher Award 2026

We are delighted to announce that our Assistant Professor, Prof. WU Yujie, has received the PolyU Young Innovative Researcher Award (YIRA) 2026. Prof. WU's research focuses on "Scaling by Smarter Neurons: A Neural-Inspired Foundation Model Framework for Enhanced Long-Sequence Understanding and Energy-Efficient Computation."  Selected from over 60 submissions across all schools and faculties, Prof. WU is among six distinguished awardees, showcasing the exceptional contributions made by our young faculty members. This prestigious award recognises originality and the promising potential of their research proposals. Each awardee will be granted HK$500,000 in research funding and a personal cash prize of HK$20,000 to support their innovative research initiatives. Congratulations to Prof. WU and all the YIRA 2026 awardees! We eagerly anticipate their continued excellence in research.

Prof. Allen Au’s Web3 Security Project “ShieldTrade” Secures Funding in the 3rd Round of RAISe+ Scheme

We are proud to announce that the project “ShieldTrade: Multi-layer Defense System for Secure Web3 Transactions” led by Prof. AU Man Ho Allen, our Associate Head (Research and Development) and Professor, has earned funding support under the third round of the Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus (RAISe+) Scheme.   Administered by the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC), the RAISe+ Scheme is designed to fund high-impact research projects and promote the translation of academic research into real-world industrial applications. In this highly competitive third round, only 24 projects were recommended by the Steering Committee, representing a total Government funding commitment exceeding HK$1 billion. We are honoured that Prof. Au's initiative is among the four prestigious projects awarded to PolyU.   ShieldTrade: Multi-layer Defense System for Secure Web3 Transactions The project aims to develop ShieldTrade, a next-generation Web3 security system that prevents users from transacting with blacklisted or sanctioned addresses, malicious or deceptive smart contracts, and phishing or fraudulent applications that attempt to obtain unauthorised token approvals or asset transfers. ShieldTrade provides end-to-end security protection for Web3 users by detecting risky transactions before execution and blocking malicious activities in real time. It analyses wallet interactions, smart-contract behaviours and transaction patterns to identify blacklisted or sanctioned addresses, malicious or deceptive contracts, and phishing or fraudulent “dApps” designed to steal assets or token approvals. Through advanced binary analysis, fuzzing and symbolic execution, ShieldTrade delivers proactive defence against emerging Web3 threats and ensures safer participation in decentralised ecosystems.   This milestone marks a consecutive success for our department in this prestigious government funding scheme. In the second round of the RAISe+ Scheme, Prof. YANG Hongxia, Executive Director of PAAI (EDoPAAI), Associate Dean (Global Engagement) of Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Chair Professor of Generative Artificial Intelligence, Director of UBDA, also successfully received funding for her pioneering research. (Click here to read more about Prof. Yang’s project.)