Many outstanding inventions and discoveries by final year students of the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment (‘FEBE’) are showcased in the annual Project Design Exhibition (‘PRODEX’). The 10th PRODEX continued with this objective with the theme ‘Exploring Engineering World in the First Chapter’ and it was successfully held on 24 August 2016 at the University College Main Hall in the Kuala Lumpur Main Campus. Datuk Dr Tan Chik Heok, President of TAR UC, was present to officiate this year’s exhibition.
Initiated since 2005, the purpose of PRODEX is to highlight the projects of final year students that are outstanding and capable of providing knowledge to the visitors of PRODEX. “One of the main objectives of PRODEX is to provide a platform for FEBE final year students to present their final year projects, their creations and innovations. It also provides the opportunity for students to receive valuable feedback from third parties such as professional judges and industry experts. This will enable them to view their projects from many other angles and to conceive new ideas or new improvements or hopefully innovative ideas leading to a start-up and creating a new business,” said Datuk Dr Tan Chik Heok in his welcoming speech.
The exhibition was divided into four categories which were the Experimental Approach, Simulation Approach, Prototype Approach and Case Study Approach. A competition was also held to judge the outstanding inventions and findings out of the 83 projects that were being showcased in the exhibition. 5 projects received the Gold Award while 7 projects received the Silver Award.
Lee Yan Fong and Ng Hin Chee were among the Gold Award winners with their project entitled ‘Design Gyro Applications on Daily Digital Device’. “The function of this device is to assist disabled people to control the mouse of a computer or any other electronic devices with any other body movements such as the movement of the head. This will be of great help to the disabled in controlling various electrical devices just like a normal person,” Lee Yan Fong explained. The duo also expressed their gratitude to TAR UC and their lecturers for all the help they received. “In order to develop this project, we needed a lot of electronic components which are expensive in the market. As TAR UC provided all the necessary materials and tools for us, we were able to build this project which currently cannot be found in the market. On top of that, we are grateful to our lecturers for their commitment and dedication in guiding us in the process of working on this project,” Ng Hin Chee elaborated.
Isaac Kong Lian Ung and Mandy Ng Yen Ming were another team of final year students who won the Silver Award in the Case Study Approach category for their case study entitled ‘Machining of Titanium Alloy’. “The case study that we have been researching about is to find the best mechanism to cut aluminium alloy. Besides this, the findings that we hope to discover is how to optimise the cutting parameters for better results,” explained Isaac. The duo also shared that they saw this exhibition as an excellent platform for them to educate others on their research and findings and to stimulate interest among their juniors to carry out further research in the same area.
