On October 30, 2025, Dr. Liang He from University of Oxford was invited by Professor Yan Chen to visit Motion Structures Laboratory of Tianjin University.

        Dr. He delivered an insightful lecture titled “Soft Robotics for Healthcare”, explaining that while rapid advances in computing have enabled AI systems to understand and respond to human commands, physical human-AI interaction remains limited—a key barrier to developing AI that can truly understand and assist people in daily life. Dr. He proposed that soft and wearable robots, with their biocompatible and biomimetic features, can serve as effective intermediaries to bridge this gap by enabling physical-level communication. The lecture introduced groundbreaking research from Oxford University’s Healthcare Biorobotics Lab (HBL), including robotic reconstruction, pneumatic active perception, stretchable soft sensors, soft continuum actuators, and rehabilitation training soft robots, showcasing the lab’s innovative efforts in advancing embodied AI for healthcare applications.

        Dr. Liang He is an Associate Professor with the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford and an Official Fellow at Kellogg College. He received his PhD in Soft Robotics from Imperial College London and conducted postdoctoral research at the Oxford Robotics Institute with the Embodied Intelligence Program. Later, he joined the Oxford Institute of Biomedical Engineering to establish the Healthcare Biorobotics Lab (HBL). His research interests include soft robotics, wearable and assistive robotics, haptic and VR. The HBL lab aims to explore embodied-AI solutions to prevent injuries, assist rehabilitation, and enhance patient care. Dr. He is also a core faculty member of the Podium Institute for sports medicine and technologies, a long-term strategic partnership between the University of Oxford and NGO Podium Analytics.