Intrigued to Innovate

NUS Innovation & Design Programme (iDP)
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Hosted by award-winning educator Dr Jovan Tan, "Intrigued to Innovate" is a podcast that shares inspiring stories of young innovators developing creative solutions for complex, interdisciplinary real-world challenges. Each episode highlights the valuable lessons, insights, and unique perspectives these young innovators have gained throughout their journeys. From time to time, the podcast will also feature in-depth conversations with esteemed thought leaders on a wide range of topics related to innovation, design, and entrepreneurship. The first season of 'Intrigued to Innovate' debuted in 2025 and is produced by the Innovation & Design Programme (iDP) at the National University of Singapore.

  1. Episode 1

    The Weight of the Invisible: How Two Year 1s Took On a 250M-Patient Problem and Won IDEATE 2025 (feat. Sarah Tan Jing Ren and Tay Hock Jun)

    In this Season 2 premiere of Intrigued to Innovate, host Dr Jovan Tan sits down with Sarah Tan and Tay Hock Jun — two first-year Biomedical Engineering students in the NUS Innovation & Design Programme (NUS iDP), and his own residents at Residential College 4 (RC4). At IDEATE 2025, NUS’s flagship innovation makerthon, they and three teammates took on a condition they knew almost nothing about—lymphedema. A condition that around 250 million people worldwide suffer from, many of them breast cancer survivors. Current medicine only offers them a machine that pins them to a chair for one to two hours a day, or a sleeve so hot and so tight that patients stop wearing it. The team’s answer? Replace air with mechanics. Competing as Team bmETER, they built a motor-driven band that tightens like a zip tie within a lightweight fabric sleeve — delivering the benefits of a clinical machine that a patient can wear and walk with. Building the prototype was a constant clash of variables: a racing makerthon clock versus a delayed risk assessment. In this episode, we unpack the unconventional approaches the team took to get to the finish line. Hear how a desperate trade for sewing machines (involving a puppet show) and a borrowed mannequin (that earned them plenty of stares) became the secret weapons for a winning pitch. More than 80 teams entered, but Team bmETER won — and their work continues through the CDE3301 Ideas to Proof-of-Concept interdisciplinary project course, together with the lymphedema specialist they consulted involved. All of it in their first year of university. In this episode, you’ll discover: · Not knowing the field can be an advantage: Why unfamiliarity with lymphedema gave them an unbiased view of the problem · Starting rough beats waiting for permission: How a puppet show, a borrowed sewing machine and a dismembered mannequin stood in for lab access · Adherence matters more than performance: Why heat, not pressure, is what drives patients to give up on their compression garments · Making people feel a problem beats explaining it: Why a compression stocking and two 1.5-litre bottles of green tea moved the judges more than any slide · Talking to the field early changes what you build: Why the one thing Hock Jun would change is starting those conversations sooner Whether you are a prospective student wondering what is genuinely possible in your first year, an undergraduate weighing up your first competition, or simply curious about how medical innovation really begins, this is what five first-year students built with empathy, borrowed equipment, and a refusal to wait until they felt ready. Guests: Sarah Tan Jing Ren and Tay Hock Jun, Year 1 NUS Innovation & Design Programme (NUS iDP), National University of Singapore (NUS) Hosted by: Dr Jovan Tan Produced by: Low Tse Han & Dr Jovan Tan Presented by: NUS Innovation & Design Programme (NUS iDP) at the NUS Engineering Design and Innovation Centre (EDIC)

  2. Episode 2

    From Gundam to the Operating Theatre: How 3 iDP Students Are Building the Raspberry Pi for Robotic Surgery (feat. Justin Seow Zhi Yong, Kong Jin Yu and Charly Chandra)

    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)

  • 2 Episodes

About

Hosted by award-winning educator Dr Jovan Tan, "Intrigued to Innovate" is a podcast that shares inspiring stories of young innovators developing creative solutions for complex, interdisciplinary real-world challenges. Each episode highlights the valuable lessons, insights, and unique perspectives these young innovators have gained throughout their journeys. From time to time, the podcast will also feature in-depth conversations with esteemed thought leaders on a wide range of topics related to innovation, design, and entrepreneurship. The first season of 'Intrigued to Innovate' debuted in 2025 and is produced by the Innovation & Design Programme (iDP) at the National University of Singapore.

Information

  • Creator
    NUS Innovation & Design Programme (iDP)
  • Episodes
    14
  • Seasons
    2
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Jovan Tan & Low Tse Han
  • Show Website
    Intrigued to Innovate