Visiting Professor Adrian David Cheok Shanghai East China University of Science and Technology

This week I was a visiting professor at Shanghai East China University of Science and Technology. I was invited by Professor Gaoqi He who was an incredible warm and friendly host. I had two classes in the school on the topic of multi sensory mixed reality and on the final day a public talk where people came from other universities. For the class, it was mainly undergraduate with some graduate students. I particularly enjoyed to discuss with the students when they asked questions. There were a couple of students who were from Africa (but who spoke Chinese and English!) who asked very deep questions. Such as what are the long term effects of internet hugging. I spent some time in the lab ans it was great to see some students who seemed shy come up to me with great ideas and questions. There was one student Jingyuan Chen who I had a very interesting and impressing talk with in the lab. He came to talk to me and he wanted to ask about possible ways to make interactive origami. We talked about robots doing origami. But then he said something profound. He said for origami the *process* is important. I totally agree and I think this applies to all of life. Having a robot or outsourcing tasks can actually decrease happiness because humans find pleasure in “flow” in being involved in the process. I noticed this student really makes origami and had a whole collection on his desk. I was impressed he is putting his passions and hobbies into action and making real things. This is the best way to have creativity. To have passion from your heart.

PHOTO SET: EAST CHINA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY