Speech by Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education And Skills) And Senior Minister of State for Defence Mr Ong Ye Kung at the 2016 Singapore Amazing Machine Competition Awards Presentation Ceremony at the Science Centre Singapore

Colleagues, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very happy to be here to attend another Amazing Machines competition. You have worked very hard on this project, so a big round of applause for all of you. This competition is not just to expose you to science and technology and engineering concepts, but to also allow you to work in teams and understand how teams work. When you work with your friends, there’s give and take. If there’s a disagreement, you discuss and come to an agreement and compromise. It is not just technical skills and knowledge, but also life skills that are useful to you when you grow up and work. I also hope that, and I think for all of us here, by exposing you to such competition and working on such projects, we piqued your interest in science and technology and when you grow up, you will consider having a career in science and technology. You could consider becoming an engineer or scientist because it is tremendously fulfilling. If you look at all around us, many of our problems are solved by science and technology. Singapore has no water. Today, through desalination, through NEWater, we can be self-sufficient. Today, we are able to supply more treated water to Malaysia, as they supply raw water to us. All this is made possible through science and technology. Many of you may not know, about half the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, drilling for oil and gas, were made by Singapore companies. All this made possible again because of the science and technology and engineering capabilities that we have. Looking ahead, we live in an era of big challenges, such as climate change, terrorism and security, and ageing. As the new generation, we have to solve these problems. Our best companion in solving all these problems is science and technology. Together, if we use it well, we can solve tomorrow’s problems.

I give you some examples that I came across. Ageing. As people age, we have many illnesses. One of the major illnesses is Parkinson’s Disease. Last year, three engineering students from the National University of Singapore (NUS) – Daniel, Yew Shen and Val – they learnt that in Singapore, 6,000 to 8,000 people suffer from Parkinson’s Disease, so they invented a device. This device monitors a patient’s walking patterns. If you have Parkinson’s Disease, you walk in a certain pattern and the device can recognise your walking patterns. It has multiple sensors so that it can detect something wrong in the way you walk. It can predict when you are going to fall and give a warning to the patient. Basically a device that prevents you from falling if you are the aged patient, or person with Parkinson’s disease.

Another challenge, urban mobility. Here big leaps in technology are happening. A few weeks ago, I was at NUS, visiting the laboratory, a collaboration between NUS and MIT, that is testing autonomous vehicles. Vehicles without drivers. They took me around the campus and I went in three autonomous vehicles. One was a bicycle, autonomous, so I did not have to pedal. Second was a buggy and the third one was a car that was modified. No driver, but there was an emergency driver in case something went wrong. The scientists that put me in these vehicles knew that it was a ministerial visit, so they programmed the autonomous vehicles to be in an ultra-conservative mode. My ride was not very smooth. Whenever it detected an obstacle 10 metres away, it stopped and it refused to go around it. As I was riding the vehicle, there were photographers, so it did not move very much. The scientists realised and changed the parameters. I had a smoother ride after that. This is not science fiction. They are seriously looking at these autonomous vehicles and will be putting it for pilot testing soon in our housing estates, to use them for the first and last mile commuting to and fro MRT stations. There are many other inventions, especially for defence. We inspect buildings and conduct reconnaissance, which require robots that are agile. Here, scientists look towards nature, observing plants and animals and how they behave. They create robots that mimic those animals. I saw one of these robots in the Singapore University of Technology and Design when I visited it some weeks ago. This spider-looking robot was called Systems Technology for Autonomous Reconnaissance and Surveillance (STARS). It was inspired by the Moroccan spider that lives in the desert. When it is threatened, it will jump, flip, and do somersaults. This robot was designed to mimic the Moroccan spider. In fact, I made a recording of it in my smart phone. It was quite amazing. It can jump, do somersaults and all that. Maybe it can be deployed for real-life use, such as monitoring key installations or carrying out the inspection of buildings and machines. So you see, more than ever, because of technological advancements, science will continue to improve our lives.

We will continue to step up our efforts to train you in science and technology and pique your interest in science and technology. Today, we have Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (S.T.E.M) Applied Learning Programme (ALP) in many schools. That way you have an early exposure to science and technology and more opportunities to conduct experiments and participate in projects. By 2017, half of our mainstream schools will offer ALP. Science Centre and its partners, where we are here today, have set up STEM Inc. for students from primary schools to junior colleges to participate in 3D design and printing programmes. We have many other programmes and competitions to expose you to some friendly competition and pique your interest. I hear comments that young Singaporeans do not want to be engineers anymore. I strongly disagree. Every time I attend such a competition and look at the young talent and enthusiasm, and your interest in science and technology, I see the deep interest in there, and we need to make sure we nurture it. I imagine the young today, and the kind of television programmes and movies you watch. Iron Man is an engineer; Han Solo and Chewbacca are all engineers; Star Trek and the entire crew are engineers. One day, I am sure you will be like them, wanting to be an engineer, and making wonderful things that can solve the world’s problems. So be an engineer, pursue science and technology and make life better for all of us. Thank you.