UTAR wins second prize at international design contest
A team of three electronic engineering students from the Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Perak campus won second prize in the 2012 Intel Cup Undergraduate Electronic Design Contest - Embedded System Design Invitational Contest which was held at Shanghai Jiao Tong University Min Hang campus from 16 July to 22 July 2012.
The trio of Cheong Yuen Kiat, Goh Jia How and Ong Chu En, who was mentored by Dr. Teh Peh Chiong, walked away with a mobile phone charger and a certificate each. "We did not expect to win," said Cheong. He added, "There were so many teams and we barely had enough time to prepare for the presentation of the project." Nonetheless, the students, who are currently pursuing their Masters in Electronic Engineering, were extremely grateful to their mentor for his guidance.
According to Cheong, in March 2012, the university received an invitation from Intel Malaysia to participate in the contest. "I was thrilled beyond words as it presented the opportunity to visit China on all-expense paid trip," reminisced Cheong. Immediately, he assembled his group and submitted a proposal which was given the 'green light' by Dr. Teh. Their project, titled "Autonomous Control and Advanced Traffic Surveillance", produces a device to monitor and ease traffic congestion by activation of the alarm in the absence of human intervention.
A total of 160 teams from 76 universities all over the world were invited to participate in the challenge. The participants came from countries as diverse as mainland China, Hong Kong, Russia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina and the United States of America. The team from the Chinese University of Hong Kong emerged as winner of the Intel Cup, followed by 13 teams for the first prize, 27 teams for the second prize, and 56 teams for the third prize.
Winsome trio: (First, left) Ong Chu En, Goh Jia How and Cheong Yuen Kiat pose with their certificates.