Non academic

23 Oct 2018, Bangi: UTM students once again demonstrate what they are made of when they won two out of five main prizes at MTDC Business Challenge 2018 (MTDC 2018).

Abu Hassan Al-Basri Abd Malek from School of Electrical Engineering and Lai Cong Yan from School of Mechanical Engineering won the second prize with their innovative product, Rubber Tapping Robot. They took home RM 500 in cash, fund for product development valued at RM 7500, mentorship program with MTDC, hamper and also certificates of appreciation. Abu Hassan said his team’s product revolutionizes agriculture sector and their focus is to advance rubber industry in Malaysia to be one of the best rubber manufacturer in the world. “We created ‘Narutobot’, a rubber tapping robot, which it can be installed in the plant. Narutobot has proficient tapping system and high precision. It is controlled by IoT system, so that we do not have to come to rubber plantation every morning. We are thankful for Malaysia Technology Development Corporation (MTDC) and UTM Centre for Student Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship (UTM XCITE) for the creating the platform for us to bring forward our product to the market.”

A.P. Dr. Mohd Zaidi took a selfie with Rubber Tapping Robot Team

A.P. Dr. Mohd Zaidi took a selfie with EduAR team

Another team from UTM, EduAR, bagged home fourth prize with RM 500 in cash, fund for product development valued at RM 4500, mentorship program with MTDC, hamper and certificates of appreciation. EduAR is represented by Tong Xin Jo from School of Civil Engineering and Albert Chong Ming Cai from School of Chemical Engineering.

For Tong Xin Jo, MBC 2018 helps her determine the right and most sustainable business model through thorough validation using Business Model Canvas (BMC). “BMC is very important knowledge for my team as we are also at first uncertain about the right business model for our product. I take this opportunity to thank MTDC and UTM XCITE for organizing such an amazing event for undergraduate students in Malaysia to showcase their talents and skills.”

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohd Zaidi Abd Rozan, Director of UTM XCITE, said 9 teams from UTM including 2 from Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) were selected out of 120 submitted participations. “This is the best performance so far. UTM XCITE through its industrial partners and various agencies are actively seeking ways to ensure UTM students can gain first-hand experiences in innovation and entrepreneurship development.”

He also said that this MBC 2018 also involved 11 UTM students from various schools such as School of Electrical Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Azman Hashim International Business School (AHIBS) as volunteers. “MBC 2018 has provide platform for volunteers to gain experience in organizing event as well as enhance their generic skills.” He added.

Aleeya Mohd Roslee, a third year student from AHIBS, said, “the best experience throughout this program is that I was able to observe how investors identify which products are market-ready based on product value, cost strategy and market readiness.”

MBC 2018 is inaugural competition organized by MTDC in collaboration with UTM XCITE. Committee members of MBC 2018 involved UTM lecturers from various schools: Dr. Umar Haiyat Abd Kohar (UTM XCITE), Dr. Farrah Merlinda Muharam (AHIBS), Dr. Adriana Mohd Rizal (AHIBS), Dr. Adaviah Mas’od (AHIBS), Dr. Zuraidah Sulaiman (AHIBS), Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Syuhaida Ismail (UTM Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology), Dr. Shahrizal Rusli (School of Electrical Engineering).

Arif Tukiman started small with his team Amir Fazwan and Ahmad Fikrizaman during their undergraduate studies in Faculty of Computing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). They have transformed many of their classes’ projects and also their Final year’s projects into applications that are currently being used by many particularly UTM communities.

During their postgraduate studies in Master of IT Entrepreneurship in UTM, they have established a company by the name of Sejuk Studio or also known as Cool Code (coolcode.my), where they started to seriously venture into many projects. Due to that, they have won the Malaysia Ministry of Higher Education Entrepreneurial Awards MOHE (MEA) “Best Enterprise Award” in 2015 under the guidance of UTM Technology Entrepreneurship Centre (UTMTEC), currently known as UTM XCITE. Cool Code is also being incubated under the purview of Media and Game Innovation Centre of Excellence (MAGICX), UTM.

28 August – In the midst of the upcoming Merdeka celebration, UTM Centre for Student Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship (UTM XCITE) had welcomely received a visit by a delegation from College of Islamic Studies (CSI), Prince of Songkla University (PSU), Pattani Campus, Thailand. Even though a journey from Pattani to Johor Bahru took around 16 hours, the 14-strong delegation which were led by Assit. Prof. Suthisak Duereh, Deputy Dean for Strategies and Organization Development, looked ecstatic when they arrived at UTM XCITE. The delegates was welcomed by Assoc. Prof. Dr Mohd Zaidi Abd Rozan, Director of UTM XCITE.

A.P. Dr Mohd Zaidi Abd Rozan had given a brief introduction about UTM XCITE to all the delegates. He also briefed them about activities organized by UTM XCITE for the past years and for the next few months. During the visit, a fruitful discussion between the delegation and UTM XCITE had also taken place. A range of issues including participation of students in entrepreneurial-related activities, entrepreneurial awareness among staff and students and also entrepreneurial culture in UTM were also part of the meeting’s agenda. In his brief speech before the end of the visit, Assit. Prof. Suthisak Duereh thanked UTM XCITE for the willingness to receive the visit. He also stressed that this visit could open up the opportunity for UTM XCITE and CSI to engage in a profound relationship.

UTM XCITE looks forward to deepening further strategic collaboration with CSI PSU. UTM XCITE would like to take this opportunity to thank Prof Mohamad Hassan Osman from Azman Hashim International Business School (AHIBS), UTM Kuala Lumpur for arranging this visit.

A.P. Dr Zaidi welcomed the delegates in his opening remark.

Assit. Prof. Suthisak Duereh, head of the delegation.

One of the delegates listened to the discussion.

Some of the delegation paid attention to the meeting.

Dr Zaidi had a small chat and thanked the delegates for their visit before the end of the visit.

A photo session with everyone involved.

Date: 13 August 2018 (Monday)

Location: (9.00 a.m.) Convention Hall, AHIBS; (2.00 p.m.) Meeting Room, ICC

As one of the most prestigious universities in Malaysia, UTM once again accelerates to full throttle in promoting entrepreneurship among its members. Therefore, on 13th August 2018, UTM XCITE in collaboration with the Malaysia’s Embassy of the United States of America UTM has collaborated with Azman Hashim International Business School (AHIBS) in organising the ‘Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship Forum: An experience from Silicon Valley’. Seven illustrious women technology entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley were specially invited as speakers of the forum. The event which was held at the newly officiated building of AHIBS had attracted a number of audiences from diverse backgrounds including lecturers as well as students.

Dr Suresh officiated the event.

The forum, which was intended to promote technology and social entrepreneurship among the UTM community, was divided into two sessions. The first session delved into the colourful journey as technology entrepreneurs of the invited speakers. The speakers for the first session were Diana Macias (Twitter Inc), Bianca Liederer (Genentech Inc) and Sandra Chen (Facebook Inc). In the second session, the audiences were given the opportunity to listen to three other speakers Rekha Pai Kamath (Fast Forward), Maile Smith (Northgate Enviromental Management) and Erin Keely (Techwomen) discussing on the topic about social entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley from their point of views. At the end of each session, the audiences were allotted times to ask questions. Some of the questions asked by the audiences were about topics ranging from work-and-life balance as a career woman to the working experiences in big multinational companies in Silicon Valley.

First session. From left Dr Aliyu, Diana Macias, Sandra Chen and Dr Bianca Liederer.

Second session. From left, Dr Aliyu, Rekha Pai, Maile Smith and Erin Keely.

Both of the sessions were moderated by Dr Aliyu Isah Chikaji. The forum was officiated by Dr Suresh Ramakrishnan, Deputy Dean Research and Innovation of Azman Hashim International Business School. Tokens of appreciation were presented by Assoc. Prof. Dr Mohd Zaidi Abd Rozan, Director of UTM XCITE accompanied by Assoc. Prof Dr Nurul Ungku Norulkamar Ungku Ahmad, Director of Business Admin (AHIBS), to the moderator and invited speakers, marking the end of the forum.

Assoc. Prof Dr Mohd Zaidi Abd Rozan accompanied by Assoc. Prof Dr Ungku Norulkamar Ungku Ahmad presented a token appreciation to the Ms. Nur Amalina Che Ariffin, the representative from the embassy.

In the afternoon, the guests were invited to a half-day event ‘Science Meets Business’, which was organised by Innovation and Commercialisation Centre (ICC). Investors, entrepreneurs and researchers as well as lecturers were given opportunities to meet the featured guests, presented their ideas and ventures and to get information and immediate assessment on their products.

Sharing session with inventors and entrepreneurs.

A photo session with the participants.

The event also comprised of the networking session between the participants and the guests before ended with a short tour around ICC to showcase some of the products commercialised by ICC.

UTM XCITE would like to take this opportunity to thank Malaysia’s Embassy of the United States of America, Azman Hashim International Business School and ICC for their cooperation and support.

July 9^th 2018 Cyberjaya – Victory for UTM, winning 12 Prizes out of 16 categories in the Innovate Malaysia Design Competition 2018 where four teams were awarded Champion, two teams winning the 1^st place, four teams won the 2^nd runner up and another two teams grabbed the Consolation prizes. This year, the Best of the Best team is also won by UTM, and the team has been awarded the Innovate Malaysia Excellence Award 2018.

Innovate Malaysia Design Competition 2018 is a multi-disciplinary engineering design competition for undergraduates in Malaysia. It is co-organized by 8 technology leaders in the industry, supported by Ministry of Education (MOE), MaGIC and the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia. This has been the largest design competition in Malaysia over the years and a platform to groom and acquire engineering talents; to promote adoption of industry platforms in the universities. In short, this programme prepares the brightest talents in pursuit of careers in high-value jobs, further studies, or technology start-ups. The Innovate Malaysia Design Competition 2018 has received registration of 516 teams consisting of more than 900 students. Only 59 teams were selected as the finalist and from UTM, 12 teams were selected as the finalist.

The Technology Track Award is supported by Google, Intel, KEYSIGHT Technologies, MathWorks, Microsoft, SAS, SILTERRA, SOLIDWORKS and Celcom, Cyberview, Daikin, Exabytes, Telekom Malaysia, and WCS who contributed to the Design Challenge Award. Two special categories are Best Paper from Institute of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) and the Best Video award.

Malaysian Minister of Education YB Dr Maszlee Malik with the Best of the Best Excellence Award Recipients

The team spearheaded by Lim Ji Chen, Chin Linn Kern and Matthias Tiong Foh Thye focusing on problems in construction sites mainly on Workplace Safety and Security using Deep Learning Application, has won the Excellence Award (Best of the Best) and First Prize Award under Google Track. The team won RM4500 and a trip to Google Regional HQ in Singapore for a Machine Learning/AI Workshop. “We provide not only solution to construction industry but also focusing on better business model for them”, said Mr Lim Ji Chen the project leader who is also known as Jason. Jason Lim, Chin Lin Kern and Mattias Tiong have been working hard for the past several months.

“The team has won the heart and confidence of the two groups of judges through its innovative ecosystem of solution. They are able to make significant connection from every solution they provide”, said Assoc. Prof. Dr Ramesh K S @ Mohd Zaidi Abd Rozan, Director of UTM Centre for Student Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship (UTM XCITE). Dr Zaidi and Dr Mohd Shahrizal Rusli are the supervisors for this project.

Best of the Best Excellence Award and Google Track Champion. Lim Ji Chen, Chin Linn Kern and Matthias Tiong Foh Thye from School of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering. Supervised by Assoc. Prof. Dr Ramesh K S @ Mohd Zaidi Abd Rozan (UTMXCITE/AHIBS) and Dr Mohd Shahrizal Bin Rusli (School of Electrical Engineering).

Winners of Innovate Malaysia 2018. UTM grabbed the most prizes in Innovate Malaysia 2018 with 12 prizes that includes the Excellence Award (Best of the Best) in Innovate Malaysia 2018

Tan Pei Seng, Lee Chee Heng & Goh Wai Woon won three prizes; CyberView Design Award, IEM Best paper award and the 2^nd Runner Up under the Google Track Challenge with their project entitled “Development of “Joy”, a Service Robot with Social Interaction Capabilities”, supervised by Dr Yeong Che Fai (School of Electrical Engineering)

Solving ageing population problems are the main goal for the “Joy” Service Robot. With Joy, the feeling of loneliness and depression would be reduced as Joy  is aim to be a companion for the elderly.

Winner of Celcom Design Challenge Award : TaBOT- AI Chatbot for Customer Service by Eric Khoo Jiun Hooi, supervised by Prof. Dr Naomie Salim and Dr Anazida Zainal from the School of Computing, UTM

TaBOT is a project to increase the satisfaction and loyalty of customers through Artificial Intelligence Chatbot and has won the Celcom Design Challenge Award. This project aims to engage and educate customers about the products and services provided by companies.

MathWorks Track 1st Runner Up with their project entitled Automatic Prescription Lens Calculator for Myopia using Machine Vision and Proximity Sensor. Team members are Liew Tian Chin and Albert Sia Kah Dak. The Project supervisor is Dr Amirjan Nawabjan (School of Electrical Engineering)

The purpose of the project is to develop a machine vision solution to perform simple and highly accurate eye examination for myopia patient. A conventional eye care services requires the person to be presence with an optometrist. With this device, a real-time method to estimate the level of myopia is developed. Patients could now perform their own myopia examination anywhere and anytime conveniently.

Microsoft Track 1st Runner Up with their project entitled Machine Learning on Fetal Distress during Pregnancy by Lee Kong Yong, Tew Ken Sam, Cheah Weng Soon and supervised by Dr Yeong Che Fai and Dr Eileen Su Lee Ming (School of Electrical Engineering)

The project title is Machine Learning on Fetal Distress during Pregnancy. “bbCare”, is a portable IoT device which can help a pregnant mother to monitor her the condition of her fetus during pregnancy. Fetal electrocardiogram (ECG) and electrohysterography (EHG) are collected and sent to a smartphone for signal processing and transform into cardiotocography (CTG), and then the extracted features of the CTG are sent to Azure Cloud for Machine Learning and online data storage. This project is also clinically advised by Dr Woon Shu Yuan from Hospital Sultanah Aminah, Johor Bahru. The team members are Lee Kong Yong, Tew Ken Sam and Cheah Weng Soon from FKE. The team is supervised by Dr Yeong Che Fai and Dr Eileen Su Lee Ming.

SAS Track 2nd Runner Up: Robotics Diagnosis System Based on Big Data Analytics and Machine Learning. The team members comprised of Tay Yee Yang, The Zhi Huei, Chin Hung Vui and they were supervised by Dr Yeong Che Fai (School of Electrical Engineering)

With the complexity level and increasing number of machinery in manufacturing plants, this has created monitoring problems. This project introduces four significant features that are visualization, fault diagnosis, optimization through Machine Learning and remote maintenance using Augmented Reality. This is a complete system fully utilizing industry data and it can provide immediate feedback to the user.

Silterra Track 2nd Runner Up with Multiplierless DCT for Fast and Energy Efficient Image and Video Compression. The team members consist of Nurul Nazikha Ab Rahim, Raja Danish Iskandar Raja Kamal Azali and Dr Ab Al-Hadi Ab Rahman (Supervisor)

Multiplierless DCT for Fast and Energy Efficient Image and Video Compression is a project with the aim of producing fast 2D – DCT using KSA with low power and efficient energy usage.

SolidWorks Track Consolation: The Rubbish River Collector by Asyraf Sharif Badar Sharif, Adam Maxwell Doumin, Farah Atiqah Ibrahim and Supervised by Dr Muhamad Noor Harun and Dr Muhammad Noor Afiq Witri Muhammad Yazid (School of Mechanical Engineering)

This project entitled The Rubbish River Collector is aim to reduce the number of rubbish in the river utilizing SolidWorks.

Keysight Technologies Track Consolation Winner: Wireless Power Transfer System for Low Power Electronic Devices. The team members are Teoh Soo Yee, Lai Cong Yan, Cheng Wei Yeap. The Supervisors are Assoc. Prof. Tan Tian Swee (SBHS) and Leong Kah Meng (SBHS)

This project presents a development of a system which transfer power wirelessly, where it enables to charge low power electronic devices without the presence of a cable. This is made possible by using magnetic resonant coupling technique. This is safe for low frequency (700-850kHz) and suitable for low power electronic gadget & implantable medical device application

 Summary of the winners… 

 Reported by:

Ramesh Zaidi Rozan

UTM XCITE

14 Mei 2018 – Program Pengaturcaraan Mikropengawal dan Pemikiran Komputasional kepada Jurulatih Utama Reka Bentuk Teknologi, Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri Johor (JPNJ) telah diadakan pada 13-15 Mei 2018 bertempat di Silka Hotel, Johor Bahru.

Tujuan utama program ini adalah untuk memberikan pendedahan asas dan kemahiran menggunakan mikropengawal (microcontoller) kepada 22 Jurulatih Utama (JU) Reka Bentuk Teknologi (RBT) Negeri Johor. JU yang hadir datang dari daerah-daerah seluruh Negeri Johor merangkumi daerah Kluang, Segamat, Tangkak, Kota Tinggi, Kulai, Pontian, Pasir Gudang dan juga Johor Bahru.

Dr Afnizanfaizal Abdullah dan Prof. Madya Dr Mohd Zaidi Abd Rozan selaku Master Trainer telah melaksanakan program ini dengan kerjasama dari Pusat Inovasi Mahasiswa dan Keusahawanan Teknologi UTM (UTM XCITE), MDEC (Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation) dan juga Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri Johor (JPNJ). Menurut Prof. Madya Dr Mohd Zaidi Abd Rozan, “Program ini bukan sahaja memberikan kemahiran asas menggunakan Arduino dalam melaksanakan pelbagai ujikaji, malah   JU juga diberikan pendedakan berkaitan dengan konsep Pemikiran Komputasional (Computational Thinking-CT) dan aplikasi, khususnya Decomposition, Pattern, Abstraction, Algorithm, Logical Reasoning dan Evaluation. Beberapa Unplugged Activities juga diadakan bagi mensimulasikan konsep CT ini.

Turut bersama dalam program ini adalah En Noor Azam Bin Yusoff, Penolong Pengarah Teknik dan Vokasional, Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri Johor.