From researcher to entrepreneur Prof. Li’s own realization of how the academic world could work with industry to push forward economic and social development came when a Hong Kong business person arrived at the School of Engineering in the s with a real-life problem. The industrialist had bought a machine from Japan to help with his aluminum can production line, but could not get it to do what he needed. Nor could the original manufacturer help. “Initially, I turned him down as xing an actual machine was not really my interest or skill set at the time. But he was desperate. So I asked one of my postdocs to pull out a controller board that we had developed for a robotic hand. Then the researcher spent a month at the factory to retro t the original controller. From then on, we began to think, how could we take our research from the laboratory and turn it into useful products for industries located around us.” Setting up Googol In , Prof. Li registered Googol Technology, a month ahead of a US company with a similar name. The business moniker was suggested by his mathematician wife from a term used by Edward Kasner, an earlier math dynamo, to represent the huge number of . Prof. Li later received a request for use of his company name. “We refused because we had the right spelling!” Googol became the rst hi-tech company in Asia Paci c focused on motion controllers and controller-based systems, the fundamental drivers for microelectronics, robots, computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools, production automation, and other industrial control applications. Prof. Li became one of the University’s early academic-entrepreneurs. By , Googol held the largest market share in its sector in China. Prof. Li’s expertise lies in multi- ngered robotic hands, precision assembly, and motion controllers, the “brains” that generate the speed and mode used to make a machine move. All are key areas for greater automation in the computer, communications and consumer electronics ( C) manufacturing industry, which has a major presence in the Pearl River Delta and forms a vital part of the global supply chain for products such as smartphones and electrical appliances. He joined the School of Engineering in in HKUST’s formative days, a er years exploring robotics and arti cial intelligence research at Carnegie Mellon University, University of California, Berkeley, MIT and New York University. As early as , he set up the University’s Automation Technology Center. At the Center, Prof. Li, his students and colleagues engage in the theoretical study of assembly processes along with the so ware and hardware development that can be transferred out to assist industry in the region. Projects currently underway include C technology to automate electronic component assembly tasks and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system leveraging cutting-edge robotics to provide auto-landing, positioning, and sensor-fusion navigation. He is also a member of the HKUST Robotics Institute, a multidisciplinary University-wide platform set up in . But the proudest of his many achievements to date, he noted, is to have helped to integrate education and research with entrepreneurship by fusing previously separate elements into a single entity. Besides DJI, companies now spun-o from the Center or Prof. Li’s mentorship include QKM Technology for innovative C robotics solutions ( ), ePropulsion Technology for high-performance electric marine propulsion systems ( ), and Walnut Technology ( ), creator of intelligent skateboards, equipped with the world’s rst e-board posture control system. 11 IN FOCUS Seeking to automate electronic component assembly tasks. Prof. Li Zexiang (left) and (above) a novel UAV system under development.
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