News

Research Centre for Future (Caring) Mobility Featured in PolyU Design Impact Report 2025​

PolyU Design Impact Report 2025 reviews the School’s recent milestones and showcases how design research creates impact through education, innovation, and collaboration. The centre is prominently featured in the report through two dedicated coverage, highlighting how well-being oriented research can be connected with international academic exchange. In the Wearable Intelligence, Emotional Support feature, two projects in Research Centre for Future (Caring) Mobility: Transparent Knee Guard and EmoFriends, are presented as design research examples addressing physical rehabilitation and emotional well-being, echoing their recognition at the 2025 iF Design Awards. Transparent Knee Guard integrates liquid metal sensors with fibre mesh for knee rehabilitation monitoring, and the report notes 93.42% accuracy in behaviour recognition to support real-time clinical data delivery. EmoFriends is described as a stress-sensing plush companion enabled by Emosense touch technology, and it is also noted as a Gold winner at Hong Kong Techathon+ 2025. The report also includes Closing the Year with Presence, which documents the PolyU Design team’s submissions and Best Paper Award achievement at IASDR 2025 in Taipei. It mentions an exchange between Prof. Don Norman (PolyU Design International Advisory Board member) and Prof. Stephen Jia Wang during IASDR 2025, underscoring how research dialogue and collaboration can carry work forward across cities and communities.

Prof. Stephen Jia Wang’s Team Recognized with Best Paper Award at IASDR 2025 in Taipei

Prof. Stephen Jia Wang presented two papers at IASDR2025 (the annual conference for International Association of Societies of Design Research). Every two years, IASDR brings together scholars and practitioners to share research outcomes, discuss methodologies, and foster cross institution collaboration. It also provides a setting for exchanges between collaborators and emerging scholars, allowing research and project impact to extend beyond the conference itself. One of the studies, “AI-Empowered Cultural Heritage Integration: A Climate-Responsive Acoustic Design Framework” received a Best Paper Award at the conference. In addition, the team presented “Mindmesh: A Collaborative Canvas for Designing Generative AI in Creative Context” which explores how generative AI can be designed and applied in creative collaboration settings. The research team includes Xinyue Zhang, Cong Fang, and other members who contributed to the two conference papers and the award-winning outcome. The work is also connected to an international collaboration network spanning RCA, KCL, IC, and CAFA, supporting knowledge exchange and research translation across institutions. Together, the two IASDR 2025 papers reflect the team’s diverse research directions, demonstrating research centre’s latest progress in AI empowered cultural heritage integration and collaborative design approaches for generative AI in creative contexts. Through continued discussions and exchanges, the IASDR platform also helps extend and translate research across institutions and regions, enabling longer term collaboration. The gathering further highlighted the value of scholarly exchange, with Prof. Don Norman meeting Prof. Stephen Wang during the conference, showcasing how academic dialogue can extend the impact of design research beyond a single conference moment.

Prof. Stephen Wang Leads Team to Present Groundbreaking AI Autism Research at CSCW 2025 in Norway

Prof. Stephen Jia Wang led his research team to present their innovative study at the 28th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW2025) in Bergen, Norway. As a premier academic conference in human-computer interaction and social computing, CSCW serves as a vital platform for researchers and practitioners to exchange cutting-edge ideas. The paper titled “AI Doctor for ASD: Physician Perceptions and Adoption Challenges in Autism Clinical Practice” addresses the critical challenge of integrating artificial intelligence into autism care. The research explores the complex dynamics between clinicians and AI systems in addressing the growing needs of Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis and treatment. The study, conducted by PhD student Yujie Zhu and research team members Cong Fang, Le Fang, Mingyuan Zhang and Meichen Liu, involved comprehensive semi-structured interviews with 18 physicians across different hospital tiers and regions. The findings reveal physicians' generally positive attitudes toward AI collaboration while identifying key barriers including ASD complexity, uncertainty in AI capabilities, and system understandability. This successful presentation at the internationally renowned CSCW2025 continues Prof. Wang’s track record of bringing socially impactful research to global academic stages, further establishing the Research Centre for Future Caring Mobility as a pioneer in human-centered AI solutions for critical healthcare challenges.

Prof. Stephen Wang Showcases “Transparent Knee” Wearable Tech at World's Largest Startup Expo in Dubai

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Stephen Jia Wang, founder of Mirror Caring Mobility, presented the innovative wearable health product "Transparent Knee" at "Expand North Star" in Dubai, held from 12th to 15th October 2025. As the world's largest startup and investor event powered by GITEX GLOBAL, it gathered leading tech companies, investors, and innovators across Greentech, Fintech, Healthtech, and AI, creating new global marketplaces for the digital economy. Mirror Caring Mobility showcased a lightweight, nearly imperceptible wearable knee monitoring system designed for continuous daily use, representing a major advancement in rehabilitation and preventive care. The product integrates 3D stretchable liquid-metal sensors with proprietary skin-friendly SBS fiber mesh, ensuring comfort and stable signal transmission while accurately tracking knee angle, swelling, and circumference changes. The system features disposable patches with reusable electronics, supported by a mobile app providing real-time and historical data feedback. Through a K-Nearest Neighbours algorithm, it achieves 93.4% accuracy in activity recognition. Suitable for rehabilitation, sports science, and clinical applications, "Transparent Knee" enables proactive knee health management. Its modular design incorporates an eco-friendly dissolvable base, reflecting the company's commitment to sustainable innovation. This international presentation demonstrates Prof. Wang's continued leadership in developing cutting-edge, human-centered health technologies that are both accessible and practical for daily and long-term use.

EmoFriends Wins Gold Award at Hong Kong Techathon+ 2025

We are pleased to announce that EmoFriends, developed by Prof. Stephen Jia Wang's team at the Research Centre for Future Caring Mobility, has won the Gold Award in the Trusted AI and Data Science track at Hong Kong Techathon+ 2025, one of the most prestigious intercollegiate technology competitions in the region that attracts thousands of participants from leading universities worldwide and serves as a crucial platform for showcasing groundbreaking innovations in emerging technology fields. EmoFriends is an innovative modular toolkit that transforms ordinary plush toys into intelligent companion robots for emotional support. Its breakthrough “Emosense” technology enables the system to understand users' emotional status through touch, providing precise stress monitoring. Powered by advanced AI, EmoFriends offers personalized conversations tailored to users' emotional states, delivering empathetic support through a combination of stress tracking, emotion-aware chatting, and haptic stimulation. The Gold Award recognition underscores our lab's continued leadership in developing human-centered AI solutions that bridge emotional health with cutting-edge technology. This achievement follows the project's previous international recognition, including an iF Design Award 2025, further establishing our position at the forefront of caring technology innovation.

Prof. Stephen Wang’s Team Presents Emotion-Aware Automotive and Multimodal AI Research at CHI 2025 in Yokohama

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Stephen Jia Wang led PhD students Xintong Chen and Le Fang to Yokohama, Japan, on 29th April 2025, where they presented two innovative studies at the ACM CHI 2025 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. The first paper, authored by CHEN Xintong and titled “Emotion-aware Design in Automobiles: Embracing Technology Advancements to Enhance Human-vehicle Interaction”, investigates how emotion-aware systems can be integrated into automotive user experience design. Through interviews with 31 industrial design practitioners, along with engineers and AI experts, the study examines current practices, challenges, and expectations around designing emotion-aware in-vehicle interfaces. The findings offer valuable insights for designing human-centered emotion-aware systems and suggest adaptations for future automotive design innovation. The second contribution, a late-breaking work by FANG Le entitled “KANFeel: A Novel Kolmogorov-Arnold Network-Based Multimodal Emotion Recognition Framework”, introduces a novel approach to multimodal emotion recognition (MER). By leveraging Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (KANs), the proposed KANFeel framework improves both efficiency and accuracy in emotion recognition. The model was evaluated across three public datasets, showing notable improvements in training speed and recognition performance compared to existing methods. These presentations reflect the group’s ongoing leadership in human-centered AI, emotion-aware systems, and intelligent mobility research under the Research Centre for Future Caring Mobility. 

EmoFriends Wins Silver Medal at 50th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva

EmoFriends, developed by Prof. Stephen Jia Wang's team at the Research Centre for Future Caring Mobility, has been awarded the Silver Medal at the 50th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva . Prof. Wang attended the award ceremony in person at this widely recognized annual event devoted exclusively to invention, which showcases groundbreaking innovations from around the world. EmoFriends is a modular toolkit that transforms ordinary plush toys into intelligent companion robots. Using patented Emosense technology, it tracks stress through touch and delivers AI-driven, personalized, emotion-aware conversations combined with haptic stimulation. The toolkit features advanced stress tracking, emotion-aware AI conversations, and modular components made from TPU via injection molding, ensuring durability and scalability for mass production. As the first technology capable of understanding emotional states through touch, EmoFriends provides effective stress management, emotional support, and companionship in a comforting, relatable form. Its accessible and customizable design makes it adaptable across various plush toys, offering a unique tool for mental health support while maintaining sustainable design principles. This international recognition at Geneva Inventions Expo further establishes our lab's leadership in developing human-centered technologies for emotional wellbeing.

Two products connecting healthcare and technology win iF Design Awards 2025

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is internationally recognised for its innovative achievements in design research. Two exceptional products developed by Prof. Stephen Jia WANG, Professor of the School of Design of PolyU, along with his team of researchers and students, namely an interactive toy for emotional support and a wearable medical device, have been honoured with the globally prestigious iF Design Awards 2025. The ‘EmoFriends,’ created by Prof. WANG and his team at the Research Centre for Future (Caring) Mobility, is a modular toolkit that transforms any plush toys into intelligent companion robots using patented "Emosense" technology. It is the first toy to understand a user’s emotional status through touch, precisely monitoring stress. The ‘Transparent Knee Guard,’ another acclaimed project by Prof. WANG, has also been honoured. This lightweight device for knee osteoarthritis rehabilitation and prevention integrates 3D- stretched liquid metal sensors and a skin-friendly SBS fibre mesh. It can detect knee angle and swelling, support continuous long-term monitoring on a daily basis with real-time and cumulative data, and achieve a 93.42% accuracy in recognising knee behaviours. This innovative design, integrating cutting-edge sensing technology, has also received the prestigious Good Design Award, organised by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and Metropolitan Arts Press. The award has recognised excellence in product, communication, and architectural design for over 70 years. Prof. WANG’s research focuses on the exploration of new design methods, technology possibilities, and related curriculum development in the field of innovative design. As an experienced interaction and industrial designer, he has contributed to commercial product development, led major research projects, and exhibited his work across Australia, China, and Japan. Sponsored by the non-profit iF Design Foundation, the iF Design Award is one of the world’s most prestigious design competitions. This year, 131 jurors from 23 countries selected the best and most outstanding designs among almost 11,000 entries from 66 countries, all of which adhered to strict selection criteria. Source: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design (PolyU Design)

Stephen Wang's novel emotion-aware navigation system won Smart Traffic Fund

We are pleased to announce that a Smart Traffic Fund of HK$2.74 million was recently granted by the government Transport Department to a project led by Prof. Stephen Jia WANG, Professor of School of Design and Founding Director of the Research Centre for Future Caring Mobility.   The awarded project ‘An Empathetic Navigation System Design Based on Drivers’ Emotion Inference from Traffic Contextual Data’ aims to develop a novel emotion-aware navigation system for drivers. It is also the first Design-led project winning the fund. It is no doubt a piece of exciting news to Prof. Wang and PolyU Design. ‘The grant represents a recognition of our vision on “Caring Mobility” - interdisciplinary, cutting-edge, STEAM (STEM plus Art and Design) and innovative design approach with an emphasis on living, caring and wellbeing under various scenarios of mobility,’ Prof. Wang said. Taking this opportunity, he would like to thank the continuous support from the industry partners XPeng AeroHT (匯天) and XPeng Auto Group.   Read more in "PolyU project designs novel emotion-aware navigation system supported by Smart Traffic Fund" by PolyU Research and Innovation Office

Prof. Stephen Jia Wang joins Royal Society of Arts as Fellow

Prof. Stephen J. Wang has joined the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) as Fellow. The RSA, with an almost 270 years history, today, the RSA has fellows elected from 80 countries worldwide. It is a global network consisting of more than 30,000 entrepreneurs, educators, and innovators. Their collective goal is to work together for the advancement of society, the economy, and the environment. Notable past Fellows (before 1914, Members) include Charles Dickens, Benjamin Franklin, Stephen Hawking, Karl Marx, Adam Smith, Marie Curie, Nelson Mandela, David Attenborough, Judi Dench, William Hogarth, John Diefenbaker, and Tim Berners-Lee.  As a Fellow of the RSA, Prof. Wang will be committed to the 'Design for Life' mission, taking a leadership role in making the world a better place. Being part of the RSA Fellow Community will provide Prof. Wang with access to new ideas and innovative future-focused research, which will further inspire him in his endeavours.  Prof. Wang's profile at RSA: https://www.thersa.org/fellowship/find-a-fellow/profile/180310