The HUST is one of the leading universities directly affiliated with the Ministry of Education in China, and listed in the national “211” Project and “985” Project.  The School of Mechanical Science and Engineering (MSE) has 291 faculty and staff, including 71 professors and 80 associate professors, among them there are two academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, three academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, eight Cheung Kong Scholars and eight Chief Scientists in the National 973 Program (State Key Fundamental Research Program in China).

Each year the school enrolls 270 graduates and 80 PhD.  In the past ten years, MSE has obtained seven National Prizes for Progress in Science and Technology and more than 100 prizes at provincial or ministerial level.  Apart from that, more than ten inventions are patented annually.  The number of research papers indexed by SCI, EI and ISTP each year has been maintained at 300 since 2005, and high level research papers are increasing.

The Institute of Rehabilitation and Medical Robotics (IRMR) is within one of the two State Key Labs in the MSE – Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology.  IRMR has an excellent research track record on robotics and human movement monitoring with motion capturing devices.  It has most of the modern equipment in its laboratory, ready for research contribution to the relevant work packages.