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JRS of NSFC-RGC aims to promote research in textile & clothing

16 Nov '12

2 min read

Professor Tao Xiao-ming, Chair Professor of the Institute of Textile & Clothing (ITC), teamed up with Professor Su Zhong, School of Information & Communication Engineering, Beijing Information Science & Technology University, recently successfully secured a joint research funding of HK$1,027,619 from the Research Grants Council (RGC), and RMB 800,000 from The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

PolyU's Research Office received 30 initial proposals from different departments of the University. Amongst these proposals, seven were short-listed by the funding body for formal application submission, and only two were funded. A total of 23 projects from different universities across Hong Kong and China were funded this year.

The NSFC/RGC Joint Research Project entitled “The Key Technologies Study for Deformable Bionic Search Robot with Electric Fabric Skin” is concerned with the key technologies of a novel deformable bionic search robot with electric fabric skin that can sense real-time dynamic environmental conditions, including temperature, humidity, noxious gas and mechanical stress/strain.

The robot has dielectric elastomer actuator capable of mimicking gaits of snakes or earthworms, plan routes, based on information obtained from the sensors and camera by SLAM algorithm, and vary its size and structure to adapt to different routes in narrow spaces.

The NSFC and RGC of Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme (JRS) aims to promote collaboration between researchers/research teams in Hong Kong and the Mainland on the basis of complementing existing strengths of both sides. The focus areas under the Scheme are: Information Technology; Life Science; New Materials Science; Marine and Environmental Science; Medicine; and Management Science.

Institute of Textile & Clothing (ITC)