TG0 Co-Founder Dr. Liucheng Guo at CIIE
Summary Translation below:
This broadcast from the China International Import Expo (CIIE) features an interview with Guo Liucheng, the Co-founder and CTO of TG0.
AI Has Brains and Eyes, But No Sense of Touch. This Co-Founder is Fixing That.
We think of AI as an all-knowing brain (like in large models) or a set of all-seeing eyes (computer vision). But for all its intelligence, AI has been... well, numb. It can't feel.
What if your car seat didn't just heat up, but actually sensed your posture and fatigue? What if a robot could give you a genuinely gentle handshake?
At the recent China International Import Expo (CIIE), we met the man making this a reality. His name is Guo Liucheng, and he's the Co-founder and CTO of TG0. His company is solving one of AI's biggest missing pieces: the sense of touch.
The "Third Sense": How It Works
Forget adding dozens of clunky, expensive sensors. Gluce's breakthrough is a software-first solution.
After a decade of development (five years in R&D, five in commercialisation), they've created proprietary AI algorithms that can read and analyse the tiny signal changes within existing materials. This low-cost, low-power approach effectively turns any material—plastics, rubber, glass, metal, and even soft fabrics—into a smart sensor.
As Guo puts it, the vision is simple: "Touch is sensing, all things are interactive."
Why This Is a Game-Changer
Guo explained the applications are virtually limitless, but here are two major ones:
- Truly Smart Cars: Imagine a car interior that is completely sensory. Your seat could recognise your specific posture to provide a customised massage, or even detect driver fatigue. Your car would know you, not just your key fob. It could even be used in an infant seat to adaptively sense a child's state and alert the parent.
- Gentler, Safer Robots: This tech gives robots a "skin." For the first time, they can understand force and subtlety. This allows them to perform delicate tasks or give a safe, firm, and "human-like" handshake, making them truly collaborative partners.
Behind the Tech
This isn't just a futuristic pipe dream; it's backed by serious credentials.
- The Company: TG0 is a deep-tech powerhouse jointly incubated by the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London.
- The Recognition: The company was selected for the UK's "Future 50" program and was even invited to 10 Downing Street to showcase its innovation and a recent GBx Best in British Tech award winner.
- The Co-Founder: Guo Liucheng himself is an Industrial Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and holds a PhD from Imperial College London (on top of a Master's from Peking University).
A Personal Mission
For Guo, bringing this technology to the CIIE is the closing of a loop. He shared that his Chinese name, "Liucheng," sounds just like the phrase "study abroad successfully."
Ten years ago, as a student representative, he made a promise to one day bring his knowledge and technology back home. With this groundbreaking tech, he's doing just that, bringing a new sense to AI and a world of opportunity back to China.
