The First Monash-Petrosains
Gerontechnology Challenge 2018
By: Jeffery Yeow Teh Thiry and Dr. Teh Pei Lee
Bright
and early on 5th May 2018, the Design Thinking Workshop hosted by
Petrosains was underway, marking the first-time
contestants of the Monash-Petrosains
Gerontechnology
Challenge 2018 were able to meet one another. The Gerontechnology Challenge
is a collaboration between Monash University Malaysia's Gerontechnology
Laboratory and Petrosains in an effort to
encourage
younger people to expend their creativity, expertise or technological
knowledge with hopes of producing innovative solutions to address the needs
of older people. In addition to the main organisers, the Challenge is also
supported by the Health and Well-Being cluster of the
Global
Asia in the 21st Century Platform, and the Malaysian Chapter of the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Technology and Engineering
Management
Society (TEMS).
The lucky ten teams
present on the occasion
were selected from a pool of 35 teams of hopeful applicants from various
high
schools and universities, with several teams consisting of older adult
members as well.
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Director
of the Centre of Learning & Innovation in Petrosains,
Dr. Daniel Loy in his welcoming speech to the
contestant teams.
To
start the proceedings, after some welcoming speeches by the organisers, the
contestants were promptly involved in a large ice-breaking activity to
relieve the nerves and allow the contestants from the various teams to
interact with the event facilitators, each other, and most importantly,
their
eight "Mentors" for the day. As part of the Design Thinking
Workshop, several
older adults from various walks of life, consisting of engineers, lecturers,
inventors, etc. invited to the event served as Mentors to help guide the
contestant teams to reassess and identify how to better improve their
respective innovative solutions.
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The
Attendees in heavy discussion as part of one of the day's numerous workshop
activities.
After
the Mentors' respective introductions, the contestants were provided with a
brief yet informative lecture on the basics of design thinking to get them
started, immediately followed by an opportunity for each of the contestant
groups to highlight their respective innovations through delivering a quick
pitch. Here the contestants were finally able to get a sense of the other
teams' innovations for the first time, with examples including but not
limited to: a solar-powered wheelchair, a specialised-needs networking phone
application, and a smart-pillbox.
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Associate
Professor Dr. Teh Pei Lee, the lead researcher of the Monash
Malaysia Gerontechnology
Lab in her closing speech to the contestant
teams.
As the days activities
and subsequent
workshop exercises went on, it was soon lunchtime, giving everyone a
well-deserved break to gather their thoughts and casually interacts with
their fellow attendees. Here, several attendees were given the opportunity
to
try an "Age Simulation Suit" from Japan intended to simulate
several common
physical limitations often faced by older adults, to better get a sense of
the physicality of movement of their targeted users of their proposed
innovations.
The proceedings then
continued on schedule
with the remaining workshop activities planned for the day, focusing on
various aspects of design thinking, such as a demonstration of prototyping
and other relevant topics of interest. The main workshop activities
eventually concluded with a revised pitch session from each of the
contestant
teams, to showcase all that they have learned and absorbed. Finally, to cap off
the days packed agenda
was a presentation by Associate Professor Dr. Teh
Pei Lee, the lead researcher of the Monash Malaysia Gerontechnology Lab (as
well as one of the main organizing committee of the Challenge), and with
that, the Design Thinking Workshop drew to a close. Hereafter, the
contestant
teams would receive additional time and funding to continue developing their
ideas
for the upcoming Grand Finals of the Gerontechnology Challenge on
4th
August 2018.
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