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Polyplastics’ DURACON(R) POM Adopted for Ground-breaking Crawler Transport System

TOKYO, March 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Polyplastics Co., Ltd.’s DURACON(R) POM resin has been selected for use in a unique crawler track transport system developed by Tokyo-based CuboRex Co., Ltd., a leading supplier of innovative mobility solutions. The unique transport system, which significantly improves work efficiency at factory and construction sites compared to conventional caster-equipped carts, includes a structural crawler covering made of DURACON(R) POM.

Image: https://cdn.kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M100475/202603185867/_prw_PI1fl_BN4tWSX9.png 

DURACON(R) POM was selected for the crawler’s white components. It was chosen for its high load-bearing capacity, providing the strength to withstand heavy-duty material handling at manufacturing sites. POM also boasts excellent friction properties, delivering stable performance in both static and dynamic friction. It offers durability and reliability, and meets destruction criteria even in harsh field environments. DURACON(R) POM was adopted as an optimal solution following comparative testing with other resins such as PA.

CuboRex’s trolley crawlers can be easily installed on existing trolleys. The increased contact area reduces the load per unit area (ground pressure), decreasing friction resistance and sinking. The force required for operation is significantly reduced, enabling smooth travel even over steps and uneven terrain. Under similar conditions, turning performance also improves. Maneuvers that were arduous with conventional casters become easier, substantially reducing operator strain. Coordination with tow trucks and automated guided vehicles (AGVs) also becomes smoother, preventing time loss due to stops or dropped cargo.

Demand for material handling is growing, with significant potential anticipated even within the Japanese market. The introduction of crawlers for carts eliminates the need to purchase new dedicated transport carts, enabling a dramatic improvement in operational efficiency while utilizing existing equipment. This solution, which simultaneously achieves cost reduction and enhanced safety, holds great potential in the global market as well. Applications across diverse industries, including logistics, manufacturing and construction, are anticipated in the future.

This case study demonstrates that material selection can transform on-site productivity, going beyond mere material supply. DURACON(R) POM served as a key material supporting CuboRex’s innovative ideas, contributing to the efficiency of transport operations.

For more information, visit: https://www.polyplastics.com/global/s/ourapproach/a5nRB000002hUOHYA2/239?language=en_US

About CuboRex Co., Ltd. and about Polyplastics: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/attach/202603185867-O1-v9SRWvjD.pdf 

DURACON(R) is a registered trademark of Polyplastics Co., Ltd. in Japan and other countries.

Lao Government Secures 14 Million Liters of Diesel to Address Fuel Shortage

Lao State Fuel Company station at Sengsawang village, Xaysettha dsitrict, Vientiane Capital, Laos.

The Lao government is working quickly to stabilize the country’s energy supply amid ongoing disruptions in global markets caused by the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

To address a surge in local demand, authorities have secured a deal for 14 million liters of diesel, helping to alleviate long lines and skyrocketing fuel prices. The authorities announced the deal during a joint press conference on 24 March by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Lao Petroleum State Enterprise, and PTT (Lao) Company Limited, which also laid out their strategy to keep the pumps running and prevent a full-blown shortage.

The move follows a challenging few weeks for Lao motorists.

Just earlier this month, fuel prices saw one of their largest single jumps in years, with diesel skyrocketing by over LAK 7,000 per liter, drawing comparisons to the global energy crisis of 2022.

The current instability is being driven by strikes in Tehran that claimed the life of Iran’s Supreme Leader and triggered retaliatory attacks. This has put the world on edge over the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway that handles about a fifth of the world’s daily oil.

With crude prices ranging from USD 85 to USD 98 per barrel, the effects have been sharply felt in Laos, where over 97 percent of fuel is imported from Thailand.

Earlier in March, Thailand reduced fuel exports to Laos by 25 percent, exacerbating the situation.

International Suppliers

In response to the shortfall, Vietnam has stepped in to provide Laos with 50 million liters of fuel.

Laos signed a deal on 21 March with a state-run Vietnamese oil company. Alongside this, Laos and Vietnam have agreed to build cross-border fuel infrastructure and storage facilities to ensure a more stable and cost-efficient supply in the future.

Now, to get ahead of the crisis, the government and industry leaders signed a new contract with international suppliers to secure the 14-million-liter haul.

While the specific suppliers remain under wraps, the ministry confirmed that the fuel is scheduled to arrive no later than mid-April 2026.

Market Controls, Responsible Fuel Use

As part of efforts to stabilize the situation, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has mandated daily stock reports from fuel importers to prevent hoarding and price manipulation.

Authorities have apologized for recent disruptions and are urging the public to use fuel responsibly while they work to secure the nation’s energy future.

The government is also exploring additional long-term solutions, including seeking new suppliers, to safeguard against future shortages.

ZNSHINE SOLAR Supplies Modules for Cherry Valley I PV Project in the United States

CHERRY VALLEY, Ark., March 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ZNSHINE SOLAR, a globally recognized Tier 1 photovoltaic manufacturer, has announced its contribution of 155.735 MW of high-efficiency modules to the 185.035 MW (DC) Cherry Valley I PV Project in Cherry Valley, Arkansas.

The project has an AC capacity of 135 MW and achieved financial close on February 21, 2025, through non-recourse financing and term loan arrangements provided by U.S. Bank. It is scheduled for commissioning on April 22, 2026.

Project Highlights:

  • Total Capacity: 185.035 MW (DC) / 135 MW (AC)
  • Module Supply: ZNSHINE SOLAR (155.735 MW), Hounen Solar (29.3 MW)
  • Inverter Supplier: Sungrow
  • Development: Adapture Renewables & TED Renewables
  • EPC Contractor: SOLV Energy

About ZNSHINE SOLAR

ZNSHINE SOLAR is a BloombergNEF Tier 1 PV module manufacturer and a PVEL Top Performer, with over a decade of global experience in photovoltaic manufacturing and project delivery. The company continues to provide reliable, high-efficiency solar solutions across utility-scale, commercial, and distributed generation markets worldwide.

SMARTIES™ 2026: Where Marketing Excellence Meets Real-World Impact – Thailand, Now Is Your Time to Shine

BANGKOK, March 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Marketing + Media Alliance (MMA) proudly announces the opening of entries for the SMARTIES™ Thailand 2026.

Thailand is one of the few markets where advertising is treated as entertainment. Thai marketers have mastered the craft of turning campaigns into cultural moments. SMARTIES™ Thailand 2026 celebrates the work that proves creativity can drive both conversation and measurable business impact.

SMARTIES™ 2026: Where Marketing Excellence Meets Real-World Impact – Thailand, Now Is Your Time to Shine!
SMARTIES™ 2026: Where Marketing Excellence Meets Real-World Impact – Thailand, Now Is Your Time to Shine!

Marketing effectiveness today is powered by the convergence of technology, creativity, data, and media. The SMARTIES™ 2026 framework reflects this reality with a refined channel structure built for today’s integrated marketing ecosystem.

SMARTIES™ 2026 Channels

Purpose Driven Marketing – For work that leverages brands to drive meaningful societal impact, advancing sustainability, social responsibility, diversity, and inclusion.

Impact Marketing – For work that delivers measurable business outcomes by strengthening brand connections, enhancing customer experiences, and driving growth.

Media and Growth – For work demonstrating excellence in media planning, digital ecosystems, and performance-driven marketing to reach and grow audiences.

Creative & Innovation Impact – For work that harnesses creativity, data, and emerging technologies to create groundbreaking experiences and drive measurable marketing impact.

“Thai marketers continue to raise the bar by combining creativity with measurable business outcomes and have a rare ability to combine cultural intelligence with creative effectiveness that drives real business impact .SMARTIES™ Thailand 2026 honors the work that proves great storytelling can also drive real growth.” says Rohit Dadwal, CEO of MMA APAC & Global Head of SMARTIES™ Worldwide.

Winning a SMARTIES™ Award puts Thai campaigns on the world map- featured in MMA SMARTIES Business Impact Index, RECMA, and the WARC Media 100 Ranking.

Key Details
  • Deadline: Jul 9, 2026
  • Awards: Gold, Silver, Bronze; top honors include Best in Show, Juror’s Choice Award of the Year, Most Resilient Brand of the Year, Advertiser of the Year, National Advertiser of the Year (Country award), Brand of the Year, Local Brand of the Year (Country award), Publisher of the Year, Enabling Technology Company of the Year, Media Agency of the Year, Creative Agency of the Year, Independent Agency of the Year, Holding Agency Company of the Year, Agency Network of the Year (Regional /Global award), Specialist Agency of the Year
  • Judging: Senior brand marketers and industry leaders evaluating innovation, creativity, and measurable impact.
  • Entry Levels:

About MMA: The Marketing + Media Alliance is the global non-profit community of CMOs advancing marketers’ ability to create value, with 825+ members across 16 countries. mmaglobal.com

About SMARTIES™:

SMARTIES™ is the prestigious marketing awards program hosted by MMA, recognizing excellence in marketing effectiveness and innovation. The SMARTIES Awards celebrate campaigns that push creative boundaries while delivering measurable business impact. With programs spanning local, regional, and global markets, SMARTIES has become the industry’s most respected benchmark for marketing that drives real growth.

Helios & Partners Makes Strategic Investment in WhatIsMyAEO.com to Pioneer AI-Driven Brand Visibility Diagnostics

SINGAPORE, March 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Helios & Partners, leaders in the Consumer Ecosystem Investing™ model, today announced a strategic investment in WhatIsMyAEO.com. The platform provides complimentary, AI-driven diagnostics that help B2B brands assess and improve their visibility across leading answer engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.

The resource offers real-time diagnostics to evaluate a brand’s AI visibility. It provides a comprehensive assessment of digital presence across major LLMs, with results refreshed every 24 hours to track the evolving AI landscape.

Key Diagnostic Capabilities:

  • Market Visibility: Measures brand citation frequency against up to 20 competitors.
  • Sentiment Analysis: Evaluates the context and tone of brand mentions across AI platforms.
  • Trust & Authority Signals: Analyzes semantic markup and content structure to assess brand credibility.
  • Technical AEO Scoring: Grades digital assets on AI-readiness, including llm.txt implementation and data organization.

In an era where “zero-click” search is becoming the norm, brand discovery increasingly relies on AI recognition. WhatIsMyAEO.com delivers actionable insights in under two minutes, helping businesses understand how they are cited and interpreted by artificial intelligence.

“Our investment reflects a commitment to a transparent media environment,” said Humphrey Ho, CEO of Helios & Partners. “By providing free AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) tools, we empower businesses to stay visible as AI transforms how consumers and B2B buyers make decisions.”

The platform is available globally at no cost, allowing organizations to optimize their digital presence without complex sign-ups. With Helios & Partners’ backing, WhatIsMyAEO.com will continue to scale its open-source efforts to democratize AI-driven discovery insights.

About Helios & Partners
Helios & Partners is a GFM Awarded Family Office built on the principle of Consumer Ecosystem Investing™, funding and building: growth capital, brand experience, talent, and revenue for consumer brands. The firm serves as a long-term partner to brands, growth stage companies, and marketers, through capital investment and operational support. It takes a stake in the entire consumer journey across AI & Cybersecurity, Media & Publications, Fashion, Luxury, Beauty, and Lifestyle.

Its operating arm, Helios Worldwide, unites media, creative, technology, and communications teams to deliver integrated, results-driven solutions across the consumer journey. Together, they offer a new model for building brands with shared success at the core.

Learn more at https://heliospartnership.com/

Media Contact:
pr@heliosww.com 

Asia Pacific Consumers Lack Confidence to Achieve Economic Goals – Herbalife Survey

HONG KONG, March 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Herbalife, a premier health and wellness company and community and platform, released new findings from its Asia Pacific (APAC) Health and Economic Empowerment Survey 2025, where only two in five (43%) consumers feel very empowered to improve their economic wellbeing, and only one in three are very confident in achieving their economic goals in the next 12 months. In view of this, many plan to reduce their non-essential spending, invest or to start a business to boost their chances of achieving their goals.

“The survey showed lower levels of economic empowerment and confidence among the consumers in this region, and many remain uncertain about their economic wellbeing in the year ahead. However, it’s encouraging to see that people are actively seeking opportunities such as investing or starting a business to improve their financial future. For those seeking to make some extra income or grow a business, Herbalife offers a versatile platform of tools, technology, training and community to help people achieve their goals for greater economic stability,” said Thomas Harms, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Herbalife.


The APAC Health and Economic Empowerment Survey 2025 was conducted in October last year and polled 8,505 respondents, including 2,245 entrepreneurs, across 11 markets including Australia, Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan region, Thailand and Vietnam.

Reducing spend, diversifying income sources key to improving economic wellbeing

Among those surveyed, less than one in three (30%) rate their current state of economic wellbeing positively. This was influenced largely by the uncertain economic climate (47%), as well as the personal financial commitments (34%) that consumers already have. 

In response to this, many are choosing to actively take steps to boost their economic wellbeing in the next 12 months. Almost half (49%) plan to reduce their non-essential spending, one in three intend to explore investing options and one in four (23%) aim to start a business to improve their financial outlook.

Gen Zs, Millennials more optimistic about improving health and economic wellbeing

Looking ahead, there is greater optimism among younger consumers in improving their economic well-being and health in the next 12 months. Two in three Gen Zs (66%) and Millennials (62%) expect their economic to improve in the coming months, significantly higher than the average of 55% across all age groups.

The survey also found a similar pattern when it comes to the outlook on one’s health. Forty-seven percent of Gen Zs and 46% of Millennials expressed confidence in achieving their health goals in the next 12 months, higher than the proportion of Gen Xers (34%) and Boomers (27%) who share the same sentiments.

Majority taking positive actions to realize health goals in the next 12 months

The top three actions mentioned to improve overall health and well-being were exercising more (53%), giving up unhealthy lifestyle habits (43%), and increasing time on wellbeing activities (36%).

The survey also revealed differences in the steps that men and women tend to take to realize their health goals. Men have a higher tendency to turn to exercise while women are more inclined to optimize their diet, choosing to consume healthier foods to boost health.

Strong correlation between health and economic empowerment

The findings showed a strong correlation between health and economic empowerment. Individuals who feel highly empowered to make decisions that improve their economic well-being (95%) are more likely to report higher levels of health empowerment (88%) in tandem.

“This suggests that confidence in financial decision-making may just go hand-in-hand with one’s confidence in managing personal health. In the face of ongoing uncertainties, taking charge of your economic and personal well-being is more important than ever before. Consumers can be more intentional about fostering positive lifestyle habits and diversifying income streams to lay the foundation for a healthier and fulfilling life,” added Harms.

About Herbalife Ltd.
Herbalife (NYSE: HLF) is a premier health and wellness company, community and platform that has been changing people’s lives with great nutrition products and a business opportunity for its independent distributors since 1980. The Company offers science-backed products to consumers in more than 90 markets through entrepreneurial distributors who provide one-on-one coaching and a supportive community that inspires their customers to embrace a healthier, more active lifestyle to live their best life. 

For more information, please contact:
Susan Tan
Director, Corporate Communications, Asia Pacific 
Herbalife  
Email: asiapacificteam@herbalife.com

SMARTIES™ 2026: Where Marketing Excellence Meets Real-World Impact – The Philippines is Ready for the Global Stage

MANILA, Philippines, March 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Marketing + Media Alliance (MMA) proudly announces the opening of entries for the SMARTIES™ Philippines 2026.

The Philippines is one of the world’s most socially active digital markets, where audiences don’t just watch campaigns; they amplify them. SMARTIES™ Philippines 2026 is where the work that turns cultural energy into measurable impact earns recognition.

SMARTIES™ 2026: Where Marketing Excellence Meets Real-World Impact – The Philippines is Ready for the Global Stage!
SMARTIES™ 2026: Where Marketing Excellence Meets Real-World Impact – The Philippines is Ready for the Global Stage!

Marketing today operates at the intersection of technology, creativity, media, and data. Reflecting this shift, the SMARTIES™ framework has been updated for 2026 with a channel structure designed to better capture how modern marketing ecosystems work together to drive business growth and measurable impact.

SMARTIES™ 2026 Channels

Purpose Driven Marketing – Campaigns that leverage the power of brands to drive meaningful societal and cultural impact, advancing causes such as sustainability, diversity, and inclusion.

Impact Marketing – Campaigns that deliver measurable business outcomes by strengthening brand relationships, enhancing customer experiences, and driving growth.

Media & Growth – Excellence in media strategy and execution, demonstrating how integrated media ecosystems effectively reach, engage, and grow audiences.

Creative & Innovation Impact – Breakthrough marketing powered by creativity, data, and emerging technologies to create new forms of brand engagement.

“Filipino marketers have a rare ability to turn ideas into movements, driven by one of the world’s most participatory digital cultures while pioneering  campaigns rooted in genuine consumer understanding that earn attention and deliver real business results SMARTIES™ 2026 is where that energy gets the global recognition it deserves.” says Rohit Dadwal, CEO of MMA APAC & Global Head of SMARTIES™ Worldwide.

Winning a SMARTIES™ Award puts the Philippine campaigns on the world map; featured in MMA SMARTIES Business Impact Index, RECMA, and the WARC Media 100 Ranking.

Submit Today!

Key Details

  • Deadline:Jul 9, 2026
  • Awards: Gold, Silver, Bronze; top honors include Best in Show, Juror’s Choice Award of the Year, Most Resilient Brand of the Year, Advertiser of the Year, National Advertiser of the Year (Country award), Brand of the Year, Local Brand of the Year (Country award), Publisher of the Year, Enabling Technology Company of the Year, Media Agency of the Year, Creative Agency of the Year, Independent Agency of the Year, Holding Agency Company of the Year, Agency Network of the Year (Regional /Global award), Specialist Agency of the Year
  • Entry Levels:

About MMA: The Marketing + Media Alliance is the global non-profit community of CMOs advancing marketers’ ability to create value, with 825+ members across 16 countries. mmaglobal.com

About SMARTIES™:

SMARTIES™ is the prestigious marketing awards program hosted by MMA, recognizing excellence in marketing effectiveness and innovation. The SMARTIES Awards celebrate campaigns that push creative boundaries while delivering measurable business impact. With programs spanning local, regional, and global markets, SMARTIES has become the industry’s most respected benchmark for marketing that drives real growth.

Open-Sourcing to Empower, AI to Lead Medicine: “SurgMotion”, the Best-in-class Surgical Video Foundation Model, Officially Launched

HONG KONG, March 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On 24 March, the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), Hong Kong Institute of Science & Innovation (HKISI), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences unveiled “SurgMotion” — a surgical video foundation model — at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Shenzhen Branch. The launch marks a significant leap in surgical AI, from fragmented recognition toward generalized understanding, providing robust support for clinical treatment, surgical procedures, medical education, and post-operation review.

The press conference brought together renowned scholars, clinical experts, industry representatives, and multiple media outlets. Prof. Hongbin LIU, Director and Professor of CAIR; Prof. Nassir Navab, Member of Academia Europaea, IEEE, MICCAI, IAMBE, and AAIA Fellow, Professor at Technical University of Munich (TUM), Director of Chair for Computer Aided Medical Procedures (CAMP); Dr. Wai-Sang POON, Honorary Consultant, Neuromedical Centre, HKU-SZH, Clinical Professor of Surgery, HKU; Professor of Surgery (fractional), CUHK-Shenzhen Faculty of Medicine; Chairman, SZ-HK Specialist Training in Neurosurgery; Prof. Huai LIAO, Deputy Director of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Director of the Center for Pulmonary Diagnostics and Interventional Therapy, Chief Physician and Professor, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University; Dr. Danny T.M. Chan, Clinical Associate Professor (Honorary) and Head of Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK); Mr. Qiang XIE, Vice President, Wuhan United Imaging Intelligence Medical Technology Co., Ltd.; Mr. Yuanmeng WANG, Deputy Director of the Technology and Talent Department, Hetao Development Authority; and Mr. Hongqiang RONG, Associate Director, Business Development, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), they jointly witnessed this landmark breakthrough in the field of AI surgery.

From Pixel Recognition to Motion Understanding: A Paradigm Shift Through Video-Native Architecture

“SurgMotion” is currently the largest and most comprehensive surgical video general intelligence foundation in the industry, trained on the SurgMotion-15M dataset. This dataset encompasses approximately 15 million frames, representing over 3,658 hours of real surgical video. Given the massive volume of data, “SurgMotion” transcends the limitations of traditional pixel reconstruction by introducing a motion-guided latent-space prediction mechanism. This significantly enhances the model’s ability to comprehend key semantic structures, including surgical instruments, anatomical features, and interactive actions. It lays the foundation for universal surgical intelligence across multiple centres, departments, and procedures.

“SurgMotion” supports 13 major human organ categories and six types of surgical understanding tasks, including workflow recognition, action understanding, depth estimation, polyp segmentation, triplet recognition, and skill evaluation. It has achieved state-of-the-art (SOTA) results across 17 internationally authoritative surgical AI benchmarks. Notably, it substantially outperforms existing methods across core tasks such as surgical workflow recognition, instrument interaction understanding, and fine-movement modelling, demonstrating exceptional generalization capability and precision.

Converging Cutting-Edge Insights to Chart a New Blueprint for Smart Healthcare

In his opening address, Prof. Hongbin LIU remarked that last year, CAIR released the “EchoCare”  ultrasound foundation model and the multi-modal medical AI large model CARES 3.0, demonstrating a sustained commitment to research and development. This year, CAIR continues its momentum with the launch of the “SurgMotion” surgical video foundation model, steadily establishing itself as a leading institution in AI-driven healthcare in the Greater Bay Area. He emphasised that the Centre’s research is consistently guided by the objevtive of clinical application, with the aim of empowering doctors, benefiting patients, and helping to build a healthier, more efficient healthcare ecosystem.

Prof. Nassir Navab, a key collaborator on the project, highly commended the partnership. He described his collaboration with CAIR as highly productive and enjoyable, noting the team’s remarkable efficiency and rapid iteration capabilities. He expressed anticipation for deepening future cooperation to drive further technological breakthroughs.

Open-Sourcing the Model to Build a Foundation for General Surgical AI

During the presentation and promotion of the model, Prof. Dong YI, a researcher at CAIR, formally announced that “SurgMotion”, a foundation model with a billion parameters, is fully open-sourced. He outlined the model’s design philosophy: surgical videos often contain redundant segments or interfering noises, where traditional self-supervised learning methods may waste computational power and model capacity on low-level details. To address this, the team introduced three technical enhancements on top of the V-JEPA architecture: motion-guided latent space prediction, feature diversity preservation, and model stability preservation. These innovations allow the model to focus more effectively on learning motion and mid-to-high-level semantic information from surgical videos, enabling a more efficient self-supervised training approach.

Beyond technological innovation, the research team constructed the largest known surgical video pre-training data set: SurgMotion-15M. This data set aggregates 3,658 hours of surgical video from 50 sources across 13 anatomical regions, covering multiple specialized fields such as laparoscopy, open surgery, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, and otolaryngology. It provides unprecedented diversity to support the model.

Empowering Clinical Practice to Create a Win-Win for Doctors and Patients

SurgMotion’s standardized analytical capabilities can effectively reduce the risks associated with complex surgeries, significantly enhance the standardization of clinical diagnosis and surgical procedures, and provide robust technical support for medical professionals at all levels. In the application case demonstration segment, Dr. Wai-Sang POON, Honorary Consultant Physician at HKU-SZH and Clinical Professor in Surgery at The University of Hong Kong, first presented the model’s validation in neurosurgery training. With 35 years of clinical experience, Dr. Poon noted that HKU-SZH, as a neurosurgery specialist training base, has long been working to overcome the standardization challenges of the traditional apprenticeship model in complex surgical education. “SurgMotion” achieved 90% accuracy on multi-centre clinical data in this validation. In the JIGSAWS surgical skill assessment data set, it achieved a minimum mean absolute error (MAE) of 2.649 and a Spearman correlation with expert ratings of 0.770. Its performance far exceeds that of a similar model. With its precise motion analysis and objective evaluation capabilities, the system is poised to become a reliable teaching aid, assisting young surgeons in standardized surgical reviews and greatly advancing the digitization and standardization of specialist training.

Prof. Huai LIAO, Deputy Director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, then demonstrated the model’s application in the field of interventional pulmonology procedures. He pointed out that interventional pulmonology is advancing toward deeper and more precise procedures. This progression urgently requires powerful AI vision models to provide the necessary technological underpinning.  “SurgMotion” demonstrated exceptional performance, achieving overall superiority in the critical tasks of image segmentation and depth estimation, with outstanding lesion contouring precision and minimal depth error. When tested with real clinical video data from his hospital, the model achieved approximately 85% accuracy in identifying respiratory interventional procedures. Such powerful perceptual capability, which truly understands the surgery, is set to profoundly empower bronchoscopic robotics and significantly enhance clinical precision and safety.

Focusing on Technological Deployment and Exploring Pathways for Industrial Translation

In the media Q&A session, Prof. Hongbin LIU, Dr. Wai-Sang POON, Prof. Huai LIAO, Dr. Danny Chan Tat Ming, and Prof. Dong YI collectively answered questions from the press, engaging in an in-depth discussion of the technical specifics, clinical application prospects, and pathways for the industrialization of “SurgMotion”. The open-sourcing of “SurgMotion” by CAIR is set to accelerate the large-scale deployment of AI in surgery, continuously injecting momentum into medical technology innovation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Established in 2019, the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) is one of the two centres under Hong Kong Institute of Science & Innovation (the only directly affiliated research institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Hong Kong).CAIR is dedicated to integration and  innovation of  artificial intelligence and life sciences, conducting research in three main areas: Multimodal AI Large Model, Embodied Intelligent Robots, and Intelligent Sensing Technologies. CAIR is a key institution supported by Hong Kong’s InnoHK initiative in the field of AI. It is among the few institutions globally that systematically carry out research and development of AI systems for medical and healthcare applications, as well as their technological transformation.