I felt like I was never denied the opportunity to learn just because I was an intern. My colleagues were helpful as they took the time to explain foreign concepts to me and helped me solve challenging tasks. The work environment here has really made my internship enjoyable.
Meaningful creations
While creating the soccer robot helped her realise that she enjoyed hands-on approaches to learning and problem-solving, she found that something was lacking—she had yet to find a purpose for her technical skills beyond creating robots.
Wen Hui soon found this purpose during her studies at Hwa Chong Institution, where she noticed new staff and students having trouble navigating around the campus.
“People often had to ask others where to go, so I built a mobile app that used Augmented Reality to guide them around campus,” she proudly shared.
Equipped with a passion for technology and the desire to build solutions for real-world problems, an internship at HTX seemed like a natural next step in Wen Hui’s journey.
Opportunities for creationBefore she started her university journey, Wen Hui applied to HTX’s Robotics and Unmanned Systems (RAUS) Centre of Expertise (CoE) in 2021. Here, she got to do what she does best—building robots.
However, the robot Wen Hui was tasked to build was a whole different beast compared to her soccer robot. To make things even more challenging, Wen Hui was given full autonomy in directing the creation of a complicated tactile robotic gripper.
While some of us may balk at the seemingly insurmountable task of directing the creation of a sophisticated robot, Wen Hui took this challenge in stride. In fact, she was eager and excited to be granted the autonomy to bring her own robot to life. Under the guidance of her mentor, she did just that by creating a string-actuated robotic gripper from 3D-printed parts.
“I enjoyed the challenge as I was involved in every stage of the creation process, from designing the robot to finally seeing it being built,” she proudly shared.
Wen Hui and her colleagues from the RAUS CoE proudly displaying their gadgets. Check out Wenhui’s internship project here. (Photo: HTX)Inspired by the creative freedom she was given during her first internship, Wen Hui applied for the Public Service Commission (Engineering) Scholarship with HTX as her parent agency. While still studying at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), she had another chance to intern at HTX in 2023, this time joining the Sense Making and Surveillance (S&S) CoE.
Her primary project here had little to do with building robots but was heavily focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI). During this project, she developed AI models that could classify the makes and models of heavy vehicles from images alone. Although she had experience with computer engineering in a university setting, computer engineering in the workplace posed its own unique set of challenges.
Her first dilemma arose from the data she was provided. Unlike the straightforward data she was given in school, the data received from the Home Team Departments was real-world data, which comes with imperfections.
“The data I received was not processed or cleaned properly as it is based on real-world data. This sort of data was different from the kind of pre-processed data I was given during my university projects, so I had to write a script to clean and process the data,” she explained.
After processing and preparing the data, Wen Hui encountered yet another obstacle—having to use tools she barely understood. In programming, different tools are akin to different languages, where using a different “tool” to program with is like writing an essay in a language you barely understand!
However, she met this challenge head-on by building up her expertise with the program.
“Despite my lack of experience with Cloud development, I could overcome this challenge because my colleagues were supportive and I engaged in self-learning online,” she proudly shared.
Team supportFor most of us, asking our colleagues or superiors for help might seem like a nightmare. After all, what if we ask a stupid question? However, Wen Hui says that her colleagues at HTX were surprisingly approachable.
“I felt like I was never denied the opportunity to learn just because I was an intern. My colleagues were helpful as they took the time to explain foreign concepts to me and helped me solve challenging tasks. The work environment here has really made my internship enjoyable,” she shared.
Wen Hui and her supportive colleagues from the S&S CoE. (Photo: HTX)Want to further your passion in life? Apply for a scholarship at HTX
here! Applications close on 15 March.