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TKU Student Innovation Wins Grand Prize

Date 2015-05-28 3640 Clicks

Motech

Searching for the light switch in a dark room can be a frustration to everyone, especially if you are in a hurry. Students often find themselves reaching and feeling along the wall in a frenzy so that they can gather their belongings and make it to class on time. One team of students has come up with an invention that could make this issue a thing of the past. For the 2015 Creative Design Competition-Using Solar Cell, TKU students from the Department of Mechanical and Electro-Mechanical Engineering created a laser light sensor electric panel that won first place. The student innovation was praised for it’s outstanding creativity, intuitiveness and design, beating the competition and earning a 100,000 NT cash prize.

The Creative Design Competition is sponsored by Taiwan’s number one company for solar power products and technology, Motech. They’ve provided a platform for university students to utilize their innovative skills for the creation of products related to clean energy. The first competition took place in 2006 and a variety of useful products have been created in its wake, all of which are beneficial for the future of Taiwan. In this competition there were 137 teams and 45 teams entered into the final competition. In the end, there were 16 teams that received awards, honoring two TKU students with first place: Jin-yi Lin and Wei-yan Chen.

Jin-yi Lin expressed, “When I was a freshman I found that the university was so different than high school because you have to run around to different places and your classes are always changing. One time I saw a teacher trying to find the light switch so that she could read a report. She searched for a while before finding it and then had to figure out which switch operated which light. There was another time I witnessed a professor having the same issues with the projector. I began wondering at that time if there was a way to make it easier to deal with these issues.”

Jin-yi Lin explained that the laser sensor was extremely easy to operate. Just point the laser at the control panel and flash it once to turn it on. Then flash it one more time to turn it off. This design allows for convenient use even at long distance. Director of the Department of Mechanical and Electro-Mechanical Engineering, Shung-wen Kang, stated, ““Early on I noticed that these two students were quite special, always actively taking on projects and bettering their understanding of things.”

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TKU Student Innovation Wins Grand Prize
Motech
TKU Student Innovation Wins Grand Prize
Motech
TKU Student Innovation Wins Grand Prize
Motech