Our Road to Science Castle Asia

A Tinta student’s first-hand account of competing in prestigious regional STEM exhibition

Puan Sheahnee

Zara Aaliyah
22 October 2023

CYBERJAYA: The recent Science Castle Asia 2023 was the culmination of a 7-month long journey to develop our prototype for an In-Home Smart Gardening System, powered by ESP 32 and Internet of Things (IoT).

Since April, this project had completely consumed our time, for which we willingly stayed back after school daily until 6pm, assembling, taking apart and troubleshooting our work in efforts to improve it further. Despite having already showcased earlier versions of our prototype in two previous exhibitions, Science Castle Asia would prove to be our biggest challenge yet.

Our journey started when STEM supervisor Ustaz Amirul approached us at the beginning of the school year with an idea to form a team to compete in exhibitions. “I decided to start this team to help the students express their skills and talents in STEM,” he said.

Subsequently, we successfully participated in two national exhibitions: IREx at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in May, and two months later, the SIRIM Invention, Innovation, and Technology Expo in Kulim, Kedah, where our project took home a Gold medal. Each time, we upgraded our project and added new features to make it more efficient.

With Science Castle, we challenged ourselves to take our STEM skills even further. This time, the aim was to build the best version of our project yet for the Poster Presentation category.

Ustaz Amirul also took the opportunity to enter our team into another category of the competition, the Red Planet Rocket Challenge, something we had never attempted before. “I want my students to experience competing at the highest level,” he said, adding, “Here, they can learn more and become more passionate about doing something they love.”

The two-day regional event, which took place on the 21st to 22nd of October saw secondary school teams drive and fly into Cyberjaya, Malaysia from all over the country, as well as from the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

Day 1 of the competition kicked off with the Red Planet Rocket Challenge, an eye-opening experience where we explored the science of how rockets fly. We were then given time to build our very own rocket out of recycled plastic bottles that we named “The Genino” – a portmanteau of the words ‘generation’ and ‘innovation’.

As we made our way to the launch site, we made friends, made d’oa and cheered as teams took turns to launch their rockets at the Obama Oval, a well-known landmark in Cyberjaya. Although ours did not soar the farthest, the lessons we learnt about aerodynamics, propulsion and stability have certainly piqued our interest and galvanized us to compete again in future rocket competitions.

By Day 2 of the competition, we were in full-focus mode. Every moment of our 7-month effort culminated here. For our Poster Presentation, we had brought along our semi-functioning prototype to show the judges. The In-Home Smart Gardening System, a device we designed to take the fuss and worry out of indoor gardening, had three separate automated systems for optimum plant care, plus the beginnings of an IoT-based fertigation system. With a rising demand for sustainable technology, our team aimed to build a system that might help manage food shortages from the agriculture industry.

The biggest challenge we faced was with our prototype. Being lower secondary students with considerably less experience than our counterparts, navigating electronics and coding was not easy, but we gained an enormous amount of problem-solving skills in the process.

Watching our senior counterparts conduct their oral presentations was equally fascinating. Many of the winning presentations included promising new technology. It felt truly special to be among such impressive competition.

When the time came for us to present our work to the judges, we knew we had given it our very best. While we did not bring back any awards this time, the knowledge and experience we gained throughout the two days was invaluable.

Overall, Science Castle Asia was a challenging, motivational, and humbling experience. “The past seven months have been a very long and crazy journey,” said Iris Nadia, one of our team members. “We’ve been through a lot and met new people. I enjoyed all the time I spent with my teammates and educators.”

To Tinta students who are interested in pursuing STEM, Ustaz Amirul says, “Embrace your curiosity, keep learning, and never be afraid to tackle challenging problems, because your dedication can lead to groundbreaking discoveries and innovations that benefit the world.”

We have indeed taken Ustaz’s words and commitment to heart. Someday, we hope one of those innovations will be ours.