Nurturing Innovative Young Minds through Mechatronics

In the age of Industry 4.0, computers and automation will merge together in a novel fashion, with robotics connected remotely to a complicated computer system armed with machine learning algorithms which need minimum input of human beings as operators. With this kept in mind, students must adapt from now to this emerging global trend and thus learn how to deal with this advancement. To encourage innovations and nurture young minds, Sampoerna University that is known as an Indonesian university that applies the approach of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) recently showcased several early prototypes that students of Mechanical Engineering study program had produced. "The Mechatronics class is an advanced class and its purpose is to have the students having the skills and knowledge in Mechanical, Computer and Electrical engineering, combined. The idea was to implement what the students had learned in the class and lab and to stimulate students' innovation," Mechatronics lecturer  Budi Hadisujoto said of the purpose of the showcase. The prototypes exhibited here were made as part of the assessment. "Those were the Final Projects of the Mechanical Engineering junior (3rd year) students who were taking the Mechatronics class," he stated. Budi added that as a follow-up, each project can be further finely tuned, improved and better developed so that they can be showcased for a demonstration for a wider audience. He mentioned each project is unique and has its own attractiveness. There were some promising projects, such as the self-balancing robot, voice recognition technology for cars, and programmable robotic arms. "Hopefully we can have the Mechatronics lab ready and we can combine with IoT (Internet of Things) lab to make more advanced projects which lead to research, senior capstones, to attract funding from internal parties such as Putera Sampoerna Foundation and external parties such as industrial automation, IoT manufacturing for Industrial 4.0, etc.," the academician said. (*/)