Our students’ achievements

Recognising our students’ achievements

As a result of the pandemic and strict travel restrictions, many of the international competitions that our students used to participate in were either postponed or scaled down. Despite these challenging circumstances, our students continued to apply their creativity, skills and learning to deliver innovative solutions that improve lives.

NUS Engineering student turned entrepreneur

Kenny Chen Weixiang from Electrical Engineering had co-founded two companies even before his graduation.

The first, Market Boy, an online delivery service for wet market produce; and the second, Phoray, a distributor of ultraviolet sterilisation devices. In both cases, the business were prompted by a desire to help solve problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Market Boy grew out of a concern for the future of his parents’ chicken stall in West Coast Market after the COVID-19 circuit breaker began in April 2020 and sales began to fall. To attract more customers, Kenny started a Facebook page where customers could order chicken from the stall for delivery. As Market Boy took off, Kenny noticed the widespread use of liquid hand sanitisers as well as other cleaning products and the resulting increase in plastic waste. This spurred him to co-found Phoray in June 2020 with a friend from NUS Business School – to provide UVC ultraviolet light sanitisation products and services to safely, quickly and efficiently sterilise a range of items and surfaces with no waste.

Leveraging the technical expertise built up during his studies, Kenny secured sales with NUS and NTU laboratories, as well as a number of local hotels who were looking to sterilise equipment as well as high-touch items like room keycards. Now, fresh out of studies and with the experience of founding two businesses under his belt, Kenny is looking to future ventures and opportunities. In addition to an upcoming traineeship with Siemens, he is discussing new projects with his business partners and planning an extended trip to China next year.

The range of ultraviolet sterilising products from Phoray.

Wand Bag Box Mini Sterilizer

Knee injury sensor wins recognition at 2020 James Dyson Award

Engineering alumni Ricky Guo Ziming and Aaron Ramzeen developed a wearable sensor to assist in knee physiotherapy, using proprietary sensor technology and data analytics to monitor the patient’s knee movements during at-home exercise sessions and throughout everyday activities.

Named KIMA, the invention comprises a flexible lightweight sensor attached to the side of the knee, tracking motion as the patient goes about their daily routine. Information collected can be accessed via an app to help doctors monitor the patient’s recovery and recommend appropriate exercises. The app also gives the patient real-time coaching for their physiotherapy. KIMA saw its co-inventors named as Singapore National Winners of the 2020 James Dyson Award, an international award recognising current and recent students from design and engineering schools for innovative designs that solve real-world problems. The duo was also shortlisted in the James Dyson Award International Top 20.

Engineering alumni Ricky Guo Ziming (left) and Aaron Ramzeen are coinventors of KIMIA and Singapore National Winners of the 2020 James Dyson Award.

KIMIA is a wearable knee movement tracker for patients undergoing physiotherapy or rehabilitation.

The third-generation product is getting regulatory approval and awaiting market launch.