Sleek and Shiny Shenzhen — Seven Weeks at SZOIL

Thank you SZOIL (and thank you CRCC Asia)! Seven unforgettable weeks as an intern at the Shenzhen Open Innovation Lab were a real tonic during my summer break from studying Mechanical Engineering. My expectations were high — I had done some homework identifying Shenzhen as my city of choice — and it did not disappoint. It wasn’t my first time in China, but it was my first time in Shenzhen and I don’t think it will be my last.

What I encountered on my first day at SZOIL was a warm welcome from Vicky Xie, an enthusiastic group of staff and a slightly nervous group of interns. There was no need for any nervousness. In fact, there was no time for nerves. We quickly learned that there were going to be projects to complete and plenty of them. In a few short weeks, I was exposed to a range of projects involving a self-driving car, a smart beehive (yes really), soft robotics, 3D-printing pens and much more. These were projects aimed at improving existing technology.

So, it’s fair to say that I learned quite a lot in a short period. And I learned by doing, by undertaking my own research, by making mistakes, by asking the knowledgeable and engaging staff and by collaborating with the not-so-knowledgeable, but equally engaging interns, who were benefitting from the same experience.

The research projects were, however, just part of the internship. Apart from a range of innovative projects to exercise the brain cells, my fellow interns and I were let loose in the HuaQiangBei (华强北), Shenzhen’s colossus of an electronics market, to locate essential components for the various projects. To understand the scale, you need to know that on our first outing, despite spending an entire day there, we failed to cover the whole marketplace. (And just to be clear, there is no truth to the rumour that Vicky was trying to lose us!) Within my seven weeks stay, I would become much more familiar with the geography of HuaQuiangBei as I spent some time taking foreign students and business people on tours around it.

I could go on to describe the research projects in intimate detail: how memories about diodes from a gloomy lecture hall back in the UK rescued our project on solar panels for a Smart Beehive; or how, over several weeks, we perfected our soft gripping claw to pick up delicate objects autonomously — persistence does pay off! But I need to mention one other aspect of the SZOIL experience — the fact that we were able to share our newfound knowledge and experience with students. We taught a class on how to build soft gripping claws. And this was not just theory — they actually built them…some better than others!

So, it’s amazing what they pack into seven weeks at SZOIL. Thanks to everyone, in particular Vicky, for helping me to learn more about electronics and robotics, for the opportunity to improve presentational skills and for the enjoyment of working with a tremendous team. Be warned — I’m planning my return trip to Shenzhen already!