Several USM Mechanical Teams competiting in the Innovate Malaysia Design Challenge (IMDC) competition 2019 wons multiple awards in the final event which was held on 22 July, 2019 at Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TARUC), Penang. The final event was attended by the Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry, YB Dr Ong Kian Ming. IMDC is the largest design competition in Malaysia, open to all third year or final year degree engineering, computer science, IT, and science/mathematics students. The contest is aimed to promote innovative culture in engineering design work, tackle real-world problems with practical engineering solutions, and churn out brightest talents for product development, further research, and commercialization. This year, a total of 636 students from 29 universities participated to compete in 8 Technology Tracks and 7 Design Challenges. 

A team comprises of Alexander Tan Wai Teng, Gan Zheng Hong and Voon Zhen Liang, supervised by Prof. Dr. Zaidi Mohd Ripin, won the Innovate Malaysia Excellence Award, Dreamcatacher best demo video award and SAS technology track. The team has developed the Combined Upper and Lower Limb Stroke Rehabilitation System Using Machine Learning. The system is capable to determine the key indicators to quantify the recovery of patients, which is the muscle force, resting-state beta coherence, and response time. By incorporating the designed system with SAS, the optimized therapy regime can be determined and stroke prognosis model can be created using machine learning. The results have shown that the prediction model is robust to carry out stroke prognosis.

Also, supervised by Prof. Dr. Zaidi Mohd Ripin, the project titled Development of Ultrasonic Scalpel worked by Ngo Yi Bin, has received First Runner-Up in the SolidWorks Track Awards. 

4 USM Mechanical Teams with their award certificates with Dr. Teoh Yew Heng and Dr. Chan Keng Wai

Another team was led by its advisor, Dr. Teoh Yew Heng from the USM School of Mechanical Engineering, along with team members consisting of Yeo Ying Heng, Yeo Zi Yi and Alexander Ooi Ze Hwan. With the project titiled Smart Traffic Jam Assist System, they won the Continental Design Challenge Award. 

Yeo Zi Yi, USM Mechanical Engineering 3 year student, explaining the project details to the audiences. 

Meanwhile, the team comprised of Chai Yik Zhien, Tan Sak Jie and Khor Chong Hwa, has impressed the judges as they was awardec the IET Green Technology Award and Solidworks track consolation prize. The project was titled Design and Study of Domestic Cooling System through Roof Ventilation Assisted by Evaporative Cooling. This team was supervised by Ir. Dr. Chan Keng Wai. 

Chai Yik Zhien, USM Mechanical Engineering final year student, briefs the audiences on his project.