USM students win major awards at British invention show

• A group of students from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has bagged four awards at this year's British Invention Show competition held in London from 23 to 26 October.

Ng Poh Sing (24), Meor Muhammad Hafiz Shah Budin (23), Syuhairah Ahmad (23) and Muhammad Razif Abdul Razak (23), presented the country in this annual competition that gathered 400 participants from 20 countries.

Ng Poh Sing won gold for his invention, a vehicle security system that can help trace missing vehicles and take photos of the car thief. He said that this security system, which works with an Internet connection, takes data and the car owner's facial image.  He added that his invention is ready-to-market.

Meanwhile, Meor Muhammad Hafiz Shah Budin and Muhammad Razif Abdul Razak received the diamond and gold awards for their discovery of processing 'kacang kelo tua' or dried moringa) into powder and using it as an agent to treat contaminated water especially in industrial areas.

According to the young inventors, the powder, when sprinkled in contaminated water, will separate the unwanted materials from the clean water.  They added that the process of powdering moringa also produces edible oil that contains nutrients comparable to olive oil.

A final year student from the School of Industrial Technology, Syuhairah Ahmad also won a gold award for his study of glucose syrup produced from discarded oil palm trunks which is rich in glucose, fructose, sucrose amino acids and calcium and can give a unique flavour to food.