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Every undergraduate has a side project they can’t stop thinking about. Few turn it into a mission.
In this eye-opening episode of Intrigued to Innovate, host Dr Jovan Tan sits down with Justin Seow, Kong Jin Yu and Charly Chandra — Team Pod, 3 NUS Innovation & Design Programme (NUS iDP) students on a mission to put robotic surgery within reach of every medical student for under S$200.
The da Vinci surgical system has been used on more than 20 million patients worldwide. It also costs millions, so surgeons typically reach its controls only years into their careers, and medical students meet it only in textbooks. 3 engineering undergraduates decided that was a gap worth closing.
It began with a Reddit meme about how you would really pilot a Gundam, the space-war robot from Japan’s Mobile Suit Gundam anime. Its punchline, a photo of da Vinci’s console, sent two robotics fans down a path they never expected.
What followed was a project they pitched themselves through CDE3301 Ideas to Proof-of-Concept, with no industry partner, motors that tore themselves apart until Justin became part of the circuit, and a working prototype just 2 weeks before the final presentation. Then a consultant neurosurgeon agreed to put Pod, their controller, through its paces.
Raspberry Pi made computing cheap enough for any student to tinker with. Can 3 students do the same for robotic surgery?
5 lessons to take away:
● Look hard, look everywhere: even a Gundam meme led them to a real gap in surgical training
● Chase leverage, not a better machine: they chose to grow the pool of future surgeons, not build a cheaper robot
● Test it with real users: feedback from medical testers reset Pod’s design requirements
● Compete on value, not price: surgeons pick the system for what it can do, not what it costs
● Listen widely, act selectively: take in every expert view, keep what fits, then act
Whether you’re a first-year student wondering what’s possible, sitting on an idea you can’t shake, or just curious how tomorrow’s surgeons will train, press play and listen to their story.
Guests: Justin Seow Zhi Yong, Kong Jin Yu and Charly Chandra, NUS Innovation & Design Programme (NUS iDP), National University of Singapore (NUS)
Hosted by: Dr Jovan Tan
Produced by: Low Tse Han & Dr Jovan Tan
Managed by: Kashfy Ilxilim Bin Zulkarna’in
Presented by: NUS Innovation & Design Programme (NUS iDP) at the NUS Engineering Design and Innovation Centre (EDIC)