Kwok Wai Samuel AU Hong KongProfessorThe Chinese University of Hong Kong

Dr. Kwok Wai Samuel Au is currently a Professor of the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering and Department of Surgery (by courtesy) at CUHK, and the Founding Director of Multiscale Medical Robotics Center, InnoHK. In Sept 2019, Dr. Au found Cornerstone Robotics and has been serving as the president of the company, aiming to create affordable surgical robotic solution. Dr. Au received the B.Eng. and M.Phil degrees in Mechanical and Automation Engineering from CUHK in 1997 and 1999, respectively and completed his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering at MIT in 2007. During his PhD study, Prof. Hugh Herr, Dr. Au, and other colleagues from MIT Biomechatronics group co-invented the MIT Powered Ankle-foot Prosthesis. Before joining CUHK(2016), he was the manager of Systems Analysis of the New Product Development Department at Intuitive Surgical, Inc. At Intuitive Surgical, he co-invented and was leading the software and control algorithm for the FDA cleared da Vinci Si Single-Site surgical platform (2012), Single-Site Wristed Needle Driver (2014), and da Vinci Xi Single-Site surgical platform (2016). He was also a founding team member for the early development of Intuitive Surgical’s FDA cleared robot-assisted catheter system, da Vinci ION system from 2008 to 2012. Dr. Au co-authored over 60 peer-reviewed manuscripts and conference journals, 17 granted US patents/EP, and 3 pending US Patents. He has won numerous awards including the first prize in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Student Mechanism Design Competition in 2007, Intuitive Surgical Problem Solving Award in 2010, and Intuitive Surgical Inventor Award in 2011.