A team of three undergraduates from the Division of Integrative Systems and Design (ISD) has won the Gold Award at the ASMPT Technology Award 2026 for their final year project titled "AWAVA: An Active Thruster-Based Stabilization and Intelligent Propulsion System for Stand-Up Paddleboards," supervised by Dr. Jac LEUNG and Prof. Rob SCHARFF.

Stand-up paddleboarding (SUP) is a rapidly growing water sport, but dynamic fluid forces—waves, wind, currents, and paddler weight shifts—make it inherently unstable, causing high fall rates for beginners and fatigue for experienced riders. AWAVA is a lightweight (under 8 kg), intelligent thrust-vectoring control system that attaches to any SUP via a quick-mount interface. Using dual redundant IMU sensors and a real-time embedded controller running PID, feedforward, and motion-prediction algorithms, it delivers active roll and pitch stabilization, steering, and auxiliary propulsion, with Stable, Cruise, and Sport modes selectable through a companion app. In testing, users reported dramatically improved confidence and stability, with the system achieving over two hours of continuous stabilization on a single charge.

The winning team consists of Tony SHEN Yuming, Adam WEI Yang, and Max YAU Hei-Chung, all of whom are currently Year 4 ISD undergraduates. They have received a cash prize of HK$30,000 and secured a HK$100,000 scholarship donation to the University.

This stellar achievement marks the fourth consecutive year that ISD students have been recognized at the ASMPT Technology Awards—including Gold in 2023, Bronze in 2024, and consecutive Golds in 2025 and 2026—underscoring the division’s sustained leadership in technological innovation.

This consistent track record of success reflects the exceptional quality of ISD's undergraduate offering, the BSc in Innovation, Design and Technology (JUPAS Code: JS5711). Through interdisciplinary training and project-based learning, the program equips students with deep expertise in emerging technologies and provides them with valuable opportunities to seamlessly integrate design, technology, and entrepreneurship, empowering them to develop impactful real-world solutions like AWAVA.

The ASMPT Technology Award is an initiative by ASMPT Limited aimed at promoting technological innovation in Hong Kong by recognizing outstanding final year projects in engineering and related fields from invited universities.

Congratulations to the team for this remarkable achievement!