Missile technology helps 3D image invention hit bullseye
A three-dimensional imaging system that uses technology developed for guided missiles has won an international award for its Hong Kong inventor.
One of 25 winning inventions from Hong Kong at the Fifth China International Invention Expo in Shanghai, the system took 15 years to perfect, according to inventor Lee Cheung-kin.
Mr Lee said he had been asked to use his invention, which employs missile focusing systems, to design a three-dimensional trademark for the Beijing Olympics.
The system uses a camera with nine lenses from which the operator combines the seven best images. The combination is done with a machine which Mr Lee said used 'digital, cyber and flat technology'.
'Now photographs are so flat, so boring. This is what will be the trend,' he said.
Another winning invention was an apparatus to help stroke patients control their muscles.
Developed by Polytechnic University assistant professor Raymond Tong Kai-yu, it stimulates hand and foot muscles using a sensor and self-adhesive electrodes attached to the limbs.
He said repeated use could help restore muscle function but he emphasised it was not a massage product. 'It is not for massaging but medical use. It must be operated under professional instruction,' he said.
A sensor that can detect substances such as antibiotics in dairy products also won a prize.
Inventor Thomas Y. C. Leung, a lecturer in applied biology and chemical technology at Polytechnic University, said it was a valuable tool for checking dairy products, as use of antibiotics in the industry was a serious problem.
He said mainland authorities had asked him to develop a similar test for pesticides in vegetables.
