A first-time engineering experience to remember
Author: https://medium.com/@aveekgoswami
Keen for an internship before I entered college, I was privileged to be offered the opportunity to intern at GovTech’s Sensors and IoT Division in mid-2021. I was excited to be assigned to the SmartGym team as I am personally interested in fitness and looked forward to working with a team whose goal is to enhance the fitness experience of Singapore’s gym users and workout enthusiasts. Learn more about the Smart Gym here!
As it was my first internship, I was excited to get my first taste of life in an office, particularly life working in an agile and fast-paced technology organization like GovTech.
Unfortunately, the first day of Singapore’s Phase 2 Heightened Alert period coincided with my first day of work, leaving me to attend my onboarding and meet my new team members remotely. Despite this, my eyes were opened when I realised how diverse the backgrounds and specialisations of my SmartGym team members were. After meeting with my team lead Chin Hiong and my project supervisor Joaquin, I was assigned the project of incorporating a blood pressure monitor (BPM) into SmartGym’s arsenal of smart fitness and health equipment. The eventual goal was to deploy these smart BPM’s in senior activity centres as doctors have emphasised the importance and benefits of keeping track of seniors’ blood pressure.
My task was to create a working prototype of a Smart BPM for SmartGym and to accomplish this, I needed to work on software programming, Bluetooth equipment hacking, application development and 3D design. The project appeared intimidating as it incorporated multiple fields of engineering which I had little experience with. The best advice I received early on from my team lead, Chin Hiong, was to break every sub-task of every task down into reasonably smaller and manageable parts and work from there.
I started with that approach and the toughest task in the project proved to be the first step — getting the data from the BPM to our sensors. We chose to use Bluetooth to communicate with the BPM because newer BPM’s no longer support USB interfacing and many reputable brands had incorporated Bluetooth support for their native apps. I experienced my biggest roadblock at this stage as no matter how many Google searches I made and Stack Overflow answers I read, the BPM just did not seem to want to give us it’s information. Every unsuccessful measurement was a setback and each setback made it easier to lose faith in accomplishing my goals. My first taste of real practical engineering was not going to plan.
However, the real concept I was learning was that every setback doesn’t just set you back, but it sets you up for your next attempt. With every ‘setback’ I encountered, I learned from it, and eventually, after multiple attempts, the solution was found. The hours spent debugging ultimately showed that the root of the error concerned an authentication problem between the BPM and our chosen sensor, a Raspberry Pi. Correcting this error by modifying the Pi’s security configurations allowed it to receive the target blood pressure data from the BPM, and I was euphoric. This breakthrough was undoubtedly the highlight of my internship and I could see clearly that these are the moments that engineers live for.
This momentum carried me on through my next task which was to further transmit the received data through the SmartGym Team’s gateway and backend networks. Following this I then designed app pages to fetch this BPM data and display it for the BPM user to see. Once I incorporated all the parts and elements into a physical setup, the first prototype would be complete. Rather than a simple BPM set up on a table, I envisioned and designed a portable BPM setup which incorporated the tablet and a portable power source because I believed this would be more convenient for seniors to take their blood pressure regularly and conveniently. After some CADding, 3D printing and manual handiwork, the first BPM prototype was born.
Every task had it’s own difficulties and issues given their emphasis on different engineering fields, but it was a huge privilege to be surrounded by so many knowledgeable individuals. I was slow at the beginning to seek assistance, and another invaluable lesson I learnt was the power of asking for help. While I might have been able to solve some issues myself, I’m certain that my project’s progress would have been nowhere near as fast had I not tapped my teammates individual strengths.
Looking back, I’m honoured to have been able to contribute to the goals of SmartGym and I eagerly look forward to seeing what my team continues to develop in the future. Having not begun my college studies yet, I’m incredibly thankful for the opportunity to dabble in so many different domains of engineering as I continue to explore where my passion in technology lies.
My GovTech internship experience has been incredibly rewarding. No doubt I faced numerous issues and problems, but the truth is that I learnt the most when tackling these issues. If you are offered the chance to intern at GovTech be warned, there is no guarantee of a smooth journey. You’re bound to be challenged and tested but remember, the true value of any experience is born in the difficulties faced along the way. So I urge you to go for it and you’ll find yourself developing into a better engineer than you were yesterday.
Find out more about GovTech’s technical products and solutions on Singapore Government Developer Portal
