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UP Eng'g undergrads build the future at recent innovation competition


An ultra-efficient electric car, construction bricks from plastic waste, and an app that monitors vitals of patients with Parkinson’s disease—these are some of the newest innovative products developed by the engineering students of UP Diliman for the Undergraduate Project Competition (UPC) 2017.

The UPC is an annual event that aims to showcase undergraduate students' research and design skills. Originally just a display for engineering undergraduates' thesis projects, the competition has branched out to include capstone projects from all departments in the college. This year, the outputs were rated on their creativity and design innovation, usefulness, and presentation.

Students who showed that their engineering knowledge was not constrained to a single discipline got extra points from the judges. The applications of the projects ranged from the medical field to disaster risk reduction. The teams presented innovations on current technologies, creating more affordable products and processes for their projects using multidisciplinary methods and techniques beyond what they are taught in the classroom.

 

Judge Engr. Rosario Calderon of the UP ERDFI viewing miniature 3D printed objects fabricated using a new stereolithography set-up developed by Electronics and Communications Engineering student Orville M. Felicano
Judge Engr. Rosario Calderon of the UP ERDFI viewing miniature 3D printed objects fabricated using a new stereolithography set-up developed by Electronics and Communications Engineering student Orville M. Felicano

Eight different projects from varying engineering disciplines vied for first place, namely:

  1. CNaPSe: Caudate Nucleus and Putamen Segmenter for Brain MRI (Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute)
  2. Production of TAPE-gelatin as a Potential Bioadhesive: Characterization and Drying Kinetics (Department of Chemical Engineering)
  3. BRAINSMART: An Ambient Assisted Living Application for Parkinson’s Disease Patients
  4. Designing and Manufacturing of Plastic Bricks  for Construction Application (Institute of Civil Engineering)
  5. Performance of a Stereolithography Set-Up with a Programmable Mask (Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute)
  6. Low-cost Fabrication and Performance Testing of Polydimethylsiloxane Micromixers Using an Improved Print-and-Peel Method (Department of Chemical Engineering)
  7. Cathode Fabrication and Improved Design and Prototype Development of a Portable Metal-Air Battery System for Emergency Applications (Department of Chemical Engineering)
  8. Siglo: An Ultra-Efficient Urban Concept Electric Vehicle (Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute)

 

 

The proponents of Siglo: An Ultra-Efficient Urban Concept Electric Vehicle explain their design and concept to the judges (Undergraduate Project Competition exhibit, College of Engineering, June 2, 2017)
The proponents of Siglo: An Ultra-Efficient Urban Concept Electric Vehicle explain their design and concept to the judges (Undergraduate Project Competition exhibit, College of Engineering, June 2, 2017)

 

Audrey Dei O. Raposa, a chemical engineering student, describing the mechanics of his portable metal-air battery system prototype to judge Engr. Rosario Calderon of the UP ERDFI
Audrey Dei O. Raposa, a chemical engineering student, describing the mechanics of his portable metal-air battery system prototype to judge Engr. Rosario Calderon of the UP ERDFI

For judge Goldy Yancha, Associate Director for Business Development and Partnerships of IdeaSpace Foundation Inc., the projects were examples of what some of the brightest young minds of the country can come up with. She states that it is high time for competitions to be scalable and involve other disciplines.
 
“What these students have conceptualized are relevant to our community and society in the Philippines. It’s good that there are initiatives like this in this college, and hopefully we can have perhaps a cross-disciplinary collaboration of innovation that goes beyond research that goes towards the whole value chain of R&D, up until market identification, up until having it available to market. I think if there is a competition that infuses the folks from business and other disciplines what more amazing things could happen?” she said.

 

Justin Christian Padilla from the Institute of Civil Engineering showing off a plastic brick prototype for construction (Undergraduate Project Competition exhibit, College of Engineering, June 2, 2017)
Justin Christian Padilla from the Institute of Civil Engineering showing off a plastic brick prototype for construction (Undergraduate Project Competition exhibit, College of Engineering, June 2, 2017)

 
The winning team from the Department of Chemical Engineering edged out the other competitors with their research on the production of TAPE-gelatin as a potential bioadhesive. TAPE-gelatin is aimed to be less invasive alternative for sutures for treatment of wounds, such as inguinal hernias, specifically in infants. The TAPE-gelatin bioadhesive is also cheaper to produce at around PhP 28.50 per gram, compared to other surgical adhesives amounting to thousands of pesos per application.

 

Chemical engineering students Angelica Aira A. Ayalin and Bernell Merwyn S. Go, winners of the Undergraduate Project Competition with their study on TAPE-gelatin as a Potential Adhesive (Undergraduate Project Competition exhibit, College of Engineering, June 2, 2017)
Chemical engineering students Angelica Aira A. Ayalin and Bernell Merwyn S. Go, winners of the Undergraduate Project Competition with their study on TAPE-gelatin as a Potential Adhesive (Undergraduate Project Competition exhibit, College of Engineering, June 2, 2017)

According to judge Phil Smithson, Design Thinking Specialist and Director of the On-Off Group, it was a unanimous decision. He said that all three judges chose the winning team based on their perceived impact on the target communities and the world as a whole.

The winning team was awarded PhP 50,000. The team members plan to pursue their research on TAPE-gelatin bioadhesives and expand their study to involve medical trials after graduation. — Photos by Jo Brianne Briones/TJD, GMA News

Tags: updiliman, engineering
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