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

QUESTIONS → MECHANISMS → EVIDENCE

The thinking behind the work.

Eight studies show how a physical question becomes a mechanism, an experimental platform or a new engineering capability.

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.

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Curved magnetization templates program travelling metachronal waves across a magnetic cilia carpet.

Understand / Create · 2020

Magnetic cilia

Making collective motion experimentally accessible.

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Field-driven microrods step along patterned nickel sites embedded in a microfibre.

Create · 2022

Artificial microtubules

From a magnetic track to rapid collective transport.

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

Solve / Create · 2023

MaSoChains

Small during insertion. Functional after deployment.

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A rotating cylindrical magnet drives collective transport across patterned micromagnets.

Solve · 2024

Magnetic separation

Making scalability part of the mechanism.

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A counterfactual compares group performance with and without one agent to assign credit.

Create / Understand · 2024

Counterfactual rewards

Teaching noisy microrobots to move cargo together.

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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.

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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.

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