Division of Integrative Systems and DesignHKUST
RMDLABRobotics and Material Design LabPHYSICAL PRINCIPLES · ROBOTIC POSSIBILITIES

RMD LAB / HKUST

From physical principles to future robotic technologies.

We study how structure, materials, interactions and dynamics can create new functions in robotic and physical systems.

Led by Prof. Hongri (Richard) Gu, the lab works across physical science and engineering: resolving mechanisms, building new capabilities and starting from consequential real-world constraints.

Explore our researchHow we work
Artificial microtubule platform guiding magnetic microcargo
RESEARCH IN FOCUSArtificial microtubules
A structured interaction becomes a rapid transport mechanism. Explore the story

OUR CENTRAL QUESTION

How can physical principles, materials and robotic systems create functions that conventional engineering cannot easily achieve?

A SCIENCE-ENGINEERING SPECTRUM

Three ways into a problem.

Explore the research
Magnetic friction rotor array
01 / UNDERSTAND

Resolve the physics.

Make hidden mechanisms and collective dynamics measurable.

 Magnetic quadrupole assemblies
02 / CREATE

Build a new capability.

Turn a physical principle into a material, mechanism or platform.

 Robotic mitochondrial biopsy
03 / SOLVE

Work from a real constraint.

Translate a difficult application into a question we can test.

HOW WE WORK

A working prototype is the beginning of an explanation.

Why does it work? What determines its performance? What is the fair comparison? What can someone else generalize from it?

Our approach to research

RESEARCH STORIES

Different problems. A shared standard of evidence.

All eight stories
A rotor array slides over a magnetic substrate while lateral force and collective order are measured.

Understand · 2026

Magnetic friction

Explaining an unexpected friction curve.

Read the story
The robotic workflow combines positioning, contact detection, electrochemical sensing and DEP extraction.

Solve / Create · 2025

Mitochondrial biopsy

Sense, trap and extract an organelle without a fluorescent guide.

Read the story
The two-magnet module, tunable multipole field and four-site energy landscape explain stable bonding.

Create · 2019

Magnetic quadrupoles

Changing the interaction opens a new design space.

Read the story
A programmed rigid-soft chain folds after catheter delivery and can be retrieved again.

Solve / Create · 2023

MaSoChains

Small during insertion. Functional after deployment.

Read the story

JOIN THE LAB

Build. Question. Understand.

We welcome researchers who enjoy making physical systems, learning from experiments and taking intellectual ownership of a difficult question.

What we look for