#glasgowcityofscience

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#ScienceSnaps 41: Raspberry Pi-controlled circuit The science behind this image: The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer where the circuitry isn’t hidden and it’s easy to interface with items in the physical world. Young people on the Glasgow Digital Makers project set up a circuit connected to the Pi by its input/output pins. This contained a resistor to reduce the current flowing in the circuit and an LED. They controlled it using a program written in Python. By altering variables in the program they were able to alter the flash-rate of the LED, making it flash faster, slower or spell out letters in Morse Code. Credit: Claire Quigley Location: The base of Glasgow Tower: 55.859339, -4.296006 #STEAMMS #CityOfScience #DigitalMakers #raspberrypi http://ift.tt/1PeXWjg by glasgowcityofscience @ http://ift.tt/1LVrLRY

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Mamta Singhal

What would you invent?

THE PERSON

Mamta’s interest in science and design began as a small child, inspired by her creative mother and scientific father.  She was drawn to the science and art departments at school, witnessing new ideas come to life and experimenting with different ways of thinking.

Combining the two subjects, she then studied Product Design Engineering, which is the process of inventing objects, assembly methods, or systems that can then be reproduced and sold as a product. Having worked for many impressive organisations like Polaroid, Dyson and Mattel she loves using her creative and technical skills daily while mixing with a range of hugely talented people.

THE SCIENCE

Mamta’s work involves the development, engineering and manufacturing of consumer products, transforming her ideas from drawings to prototypes to real life toys.  It also involves taking examining how things work and making things better.  This can mean making them more fun to use, more affordable or better quality with the customer’s needs being considered at every stage in the process.  The most important elements of this kind of work are the ability to think innovatively and create things or ways of manufacture that no one has ever thought of before.

THE IMPACT

Due to the rapid and dynamic changes within technology the turnover of products and product ranges has become a key element for businesses to remain competitive and successful.  With out product design to hone these technologies into something useful and desirable many opportunities could be missed in creating a product that is truly innovative and life impacting.

THE FUTURE

Currently only 6% of those working in engineering are female and if this imbalance is not corrected in the coming years, the UK's reputation for engineering excellence could be devastated. There are almost endless opportunities in this field but the main issue in the future is a predicted lack of skilled workers, meaning the need to inspire young people to study engineering related subjects is now of great importance.  Mamta herself is very passionate about inspiring women to enter the field, partnering with Women Engineering Society and the Institution of Engineering and Technology to help resolve this imbalance and inspire more women to enter the exhilarating field of engineering and design.

THE FACTS

Full name:  Mamta Singhal

Place of Study:  University of Glasgow/Glasgow School of art; University of Strathclyde Business School

Specialism:  Engineering, Product design, Manufacturing, Innovation

Place of Work:  Mattel

Current Role:  Project Quality Engineer

[glasgowcityofscientists-blog]

Yeshwanth Pulijala

What do you look like on the inside?

THE PERSON

When working as a dentist in India, Yeshwanth was inspired by his love of art and science to move to Glasgow to study Medical Visualisation. This new and exciting field combines the power of 3D imagery with the human anatomy to create astonishing 3D digital representations of the body that can be explored like a game.

THE SCIENCE

Yeshwanth uses state of the art technology to make complex medical topics simple, using video game like graphics to make them easy to access and easy to understand.  His work at the Digital Design Studio is helping to create a full set of training models for future dental surgeons to practice with.  In particular, his work focuses on creating software to help dental students gain experience in giving injections.  

Before the 3D Definitive Human project, this essential part of every minor and major surgical had to be practiced on real patients or even other students! This software can help dentists become experts before having to try real life injections by using mixed reality technology like Oculus Rift and Leap Motion, gadgets that were mainly used for games until now.

THE IMPACT

The project was started by NHS Education for Scotland in association with University of Glasgow to provide validated 3D human anatomy, meaning that each representation is a completely accurate visualization of the human body. The haptic dental injection suite (which using haptic force feedback which gives the user the feeling of real touch in a digital environment) completely changes the way dental students learn.  This technology may also be used in schools or communities, giving people a fuller understanding of the inner workings of the human body.

THE FUTURE

There are still only a very small number of experts experimenting in this field internationally, meaning that future scientists have endless possibilities to explore.  The technology can be used to understand more about the way our body works by exploring bits that are usually concealed from view.  Using virtual reality devices like Oculus Rift will spark a whole new type of encounter with the human body where it can be explored from the inside out, seeing each part in action.

THE FACTS

Full name: Yeshwanth Pulijala

Place of Study: School of Art, Design and Architecture, University of Huddersfield.

Specialism: Medical Visualisation

Place of Work: Digital Design Studio, Glasgow School of Art

Current Role: Research Assistant

Web Link: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/yeshwanthp; https://pathbrite.com/Yeshwanth/uMyS

Affiliations: PhD student, MSc Medical Visualisation, BDS.

Achievements: Awarded full funding for the PhD by the University of Huddersfield.

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Some of the goodies for our stall at the TEDxGlasgowUni launch party tonight. #microbes #RaspberryPi by glasgowcityofscience