"The Secret Formula" Featured On Channel 8 “Super Family 2 (超级一家2)”

One of our school’s past automata entries, “The Secret Formula”, was briefly featured in the Mediacorp's Channel 8 TV Programme “Super Family 2 (超级一家2)”, Episode 2. The automaton, created by a team of 4 students, was one of the top winning entries in the Toy Design Competition (TDC) 2014 organised annually by Singapore Polytechnic's School of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering.

You can catch the programme via this link: http://video.toggle.sg/en/series/super-family-2/ep2/346253

Fast forward the video to 15:40 minutes and observe how the automaton was brought to life with the turning of the crank to produce the desired movements.

Origami Lamp Design Challenge

The biggest lesson we had was that we learnt to be patient when folding origami. It seems that we have under-estimated the art of origami, who knew it would be so demanding! From this competition, we learnt about teamwork and hard work. If we did not have teamwork we would not have been able to complete the complex design in time. Also if we did not work hard,  we would not have mastered the art of decorative paper folding. Origami is not as easy as it seems, you must always have patience when you are in a competition.

~ Merit Award Winner Team 2: Rou Teng, Kar Wai, Jacynthia, Aidan

The objective was to make a lampshade using origami so we had to search for several methods of folding. We had many disagreements but we were able to work together as one ultimately. The lampshade is to be made from A2 tracing paper so it was pretty tough to fold it into an origami .We had several setbacks along the way but we persevered and learnt from our mistakes. We learnt to be patient, to work fast, and to cooperate with one another, learning different methods of folding , creating and designing. This competition showed us that even under time constrain , we can make it happen with teamwork. We were able to gain invaluable experience from this competition. If we were given another chance to participate , we would join the competition to create an even more creative, aesthetically appealing lampshade. It is fun to learn all the folding techniques We would recommend this competition to our juniors as it challenges one’s creativity and they get to experience the fun  we had.

~ Merit Award Winner Team 15: Teresa, Nihal, Shareefa, Ga Chun

Toy Design Competition 2015 (Automata Category)

The annual Toy Design Competition is organized by Singapore Polytechnic’s School of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering and jointly sponsored by Hewlett-Packard Singapore (Sales) Pte Ltd and Autodesk Pte Ltd.

In this competition that is open to all secondary school students in Singapore, participants were required to design and construct Automata toys, consisting of cams, pulleys, gears, linkages, belts and pulleys, ratchets mechanisms.

With functionality, model quality, originality and creativity taking up the most percentage of the judging criteria, Henderson’s entries are of high standards and quality since participating in this annual competition in 2011. This is supported with the positive feedback and reviews from Mr Choy Fook Seng, the Singapore Polytechnic lecturer in-charge of the Toy Competition Automata Category.

This is a competition not for the fainthearted as participants will meet with difficulties and unwanted surprises during the construction process as well as sacrificing most of their June holidays.

However, our students persevered as they are determined to realize their design not only for submission but also the automata they have envisioned.

Their hard work was rewarded annually when they clinched the top and merit prizes. This year one team emerged as the champion and the other teams clinched the merit awards.

Prize Presentation @ Singapore Polytechnic

Champion
Zekeriye Pak - 3E1
Teresa Zaw Tun - 3E2
Nur Sarah Bte Saini -1E1

Merit Prize
Avery Koh Jia Le - 3E1
Tan Cheng Hian - 3E1
Yip Ga Chun - 1E1

Zekeriye
The most memorable experience from this toy design journey are all the days when my group need to stay back to construct our automaton. We had to be committed by putting all our time and energy to realise our vision we had for our automaton to near perfection.

Teresa

The most memorable experience from this toy design journey is coming up with the scenario that would satisfy our decided theme. We had discussions on the different types of scenarios based on the theme and how the characters would move. Another memorable experience is when I attend the prize presentation at Singapore Polytechnic and have the opportunity to view the shortlisted entries.

Nur Saini
Being a junior who joined the Design & Innovation Club just this year, the most memorable experience from this toy design journey is working as a team with my seniors by spending the first week of our June holidays to construct the parts required for the automaton.

Avery and Cheng Hian

We learnt to cooperate with each other and work as one.  We also learnt how light works in a zoetrope. Thinking out of the box has always been one of our most valuable asset. We create and innovate by doing things that no one has ever done.Workmanship is also one of our must-haves.We have to work hard to achieve quality products.

We incorporated our knowledge of art and science into the automaton.The zoetrope utilizes the slits on the side to allow only some light to pass through, creating an illusion of moving pictures. Through the course of making the automata we have learnt a lot more about each other and fostered a stronger sense of camaraderie.

In a nutshell, each of us learnt something new and we will always be sharing our knowledge with ourselves to get better and better.

Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors' Award: Commendation

Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors' Award 2015: Commendation

The Design & Innovation Club pursued the Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors' Award in 2015. This competition seeks creativity and originality among the young generation. This competition encourages young inventors to stimulate their minds to come up with solutions to problems we encounter daily. This promotes scientific and technological research in Singapore. One of our entries was selected for a Commendation Award.

The Easily Tilted Trolley was invented by our members, Goh Ee Xiong and Xie Tianyu. The main objective of the invention is to help make it easier for the janitors, who are quite senior in age, to lift a trolley up a curb. Ee Xiong and Tianyu observed the janitors of our school having a hard time pushing a trolley up a curb. They spoke to them and further researched the problem. They found out that it is extremely difficult and tedious for the janitors to push heavily loaded trolleys up a curb. This inflicts agonizing pain to their joints, causes backaches and makes them slouch for extended periods of time. Therefore, to make their life easier,  Ee Xiong and Tianyu came up with the idea of an easily tilted trolley.

Ee Xiong and Tianyu with their invention

It is extremely easy to operate. All you have to do is apply a little force to the lever attached to the base of the trolley and the trolley would be tilted. It has been proven with Principle of Moments that, with the lever, lesser force is needed to push the trolley.

National Junior Solar Sprint Competition 2015

The National Junior Solar Sprint Competition (NJSSC) is a race competition of mini-solar cars designed and assembled by secondary school students using their ingenuity, innovativeness and creativity. Participants are encouraged to use the principles of mathematics and science in this fun, hands-on educational activity.

We enjoyed participating in the competition and were able to learn and explore new things. I get to learn things such as the weight of the car would affect its speed and during the process of making the car and preparing for the competition,we managed to learn how to control the car properly. The most memorable part of this whole competition was when we managed to take the third prize. Even though we did not win the first prize,we were still happy that we were able to make the school proud and our hard work paid off.

National Earthquake Competition 2015

Singapore Polytechnic's School of Architecture & the Built Environment organised the 7th National Earthquake Competition 2015 for all upper secondary school students in Singapore. The competition aims to generate students’ interests on the importance of Civil Engineering in designing earthquake-resistant buildings and earthquake disaster mitigation. It involves student teams using MDF (Medium Density Fibre) timber strips and boards, glue and cotton strings to design and fabricate models of earthquake-resistant buildings. On the day of competition, models will be tested on a 2-Dimensional Earthquake Simulator to determine the winners according to the technical specifications and competition rules.

We sent two teams to participate in the competition this year and this is what they say:

"On 8 Apirl 2015 we participated in the National Earthquake Competition(NEC). On 27 Apirl we got news that we were placed second. We started training for this competition long before the actual day. Our helpful and patient seniors taught us all the skills needed. Cutting the timber strips and baseboard,gluing all kinds of columns,tying the whole structure together... All these skills are extremely important in building a structure and we, as beginners,under the careful teaching of our seniors,soon learnt these skills by heart through countless practices.

Throughout the time spent, we gradually noticed that, every role is as important as the other. This is because without anyone, the structure will not be strong. If one mistake was made during the building process, the whole structure may collapse in the end. Everyone of us was very serious when working, just in case all out hard work does not pay off.

Communication among team members was also crucial. To prevent mishaps and save time. We must make sure that we manage the time as well as ensure whether that the others are doing the right thing. The communication between us did not just ensures that we do the correct thing, but it also encouraged others. Without realizing, we were growing stronger as a team.

We may have won but we have learnt so much more. Although we have been cut and burned, we could not be more grateful when holding the trophy." ~ Davin, Chenjing, Deriando & Christine

"For National Earthquake Competition we had to sacrifice a lot of our time to practise for the actual competition we worked hard for the competition so that we would get satisfying results. We had to stay back for training during our march holidays. We worked tirelessly and built structure after structure.When it was time to build the final structure, we had to make sure the things we did were up to standard. When we were done with the structure, we were anxious and afraid that our efforts would be in vain. Finally, it was time. We were invited to Singapore Polytechnic for the prize presentation. Our  team won the first prize. We were pleased with out results. It was all worth it." ~ RouTeng, Alexander, Antonio & Fei Tat