Engineering: Built for the Moments That Matter

How does your artwork depict the contribution of engineers to a better world?

My artwork explores how engineering shapes everyday life, especially in moments when people feel limited, disconnected, or uncertain. Many challenges, such as the loss of mobility with age, specific health concerns, or navigating power outages during emergencies, are easy to overlook because they develop gradually, affect people differently or simply don’t seem as important compared to bigger issues. By focusing on these experiences, the work shows how engineering can offer thoughtful, practical support that helps people feel more capable, comfortable, and secure in their daily lives with a sense of humanity.
In the aging-support concept, the artwork demonstrates how engineering can restore independence for seniors through assistive technology.  After living with my grandparents in the past summer, I noticed how joint pain and visual impairment made simple tasks - standing up, walking, or getting a glass of water - difficult and frustrating. Therefore, the solution needed to minimize physical strain, be safe and intuitive, and adapt to users with limited mobility or vision. Most importantly, it needed to preserve dignity and give them a sense of accomplishment by allowing them to actively complete tasks themselves. I ultimately selected a wheelchair integrated with robotic arms and AI-powered smart glasses because it restores independence while minimizing pain and effort. This solution highlights how engineers can reduce physical strain and frustration while preserving dignity and autonomy for elderly and disabled individuals.
The health concept illustrates how engineered environments positively influence physical and mental health. Beginning in middle school, I observed how the absence of natural light in the classroom left teachers and students drowsy and disengaged. Over time, I realized this problem extends beyond schools to those living in northern regions such as the Arctic/Antarctic circle, where prolonged darkness disrupts circadian rhythms and mental health. Therefore, the solution needed to do more than illuminate a room - it needed to support biological processes like vitamin D synthesis and mood regulation where natural light is not readily available. My solution features a ceiling-mounted light that moves along a curved path to simulate the sun’s position throughout the day, paired with LED panels that display clouds based on real-time weather data. It not only simulates daylight visually but also delivers specific wavelengths and intensities supported by research to benefit physiological processes disrupted in environments with little or no natural sunlight. This reinforces the idea that engineering decisions shape not only buildings, but also human energy, mood, and learning.
The energy solution portrays engineering as a tool for resilience. After experiencing multiple tornado warnings during my childhood and learning that nearby homes were destroyed, I became aware of how quickly power and communication can disappear during natural disasters. When infrastructure fails, people are left without reliable access to electricity at the exact moment it is most needed. Individuals need a secure, portable way to generate and store energy so they can power communication devices and reach emergency services during disaster-related outages. The wearable yellow PVDF (Polyvinylidene Fluoride) suit is shown generating and storing energy through movement, emphasizing how engineers can design decentralized systems that function during power outages.

Describe how you think viewers from at least two different audiences might view or interpret your work.

My work serves to inspire other teens, especially girls like me who are interested in both engineering and art. The artwork serves as a form of inspiration and promotion, translating complex technological ideas into visually engaging concepts that spark curiosity and imagination. I often see teens feeling pressured to choose between STEM and art, believing that two subjects perceived as opposites cannot coexist. Through this competition, I hope to help bridge that gap by showing that creativity and technical thinking can strengthen one another. By presenting engineering ideas through an artistic lens, my work encourages young designers to value all of their interests and see art as a powerful way to communicate innovation.
For the general public, my artwork highlights the potential of these technologies by showing how they can be adapted to improve everyday experiences, even for those who may not face extreme challenges. The robotic wheelchair is a flexible system that supports users with motor, visual, auditory, and physical disabilities through assistive features like the smart glasses. The artificial sunlight system can be scaled down and used in schools, allowing classrooms to implement smaller versions that increase student energy, focus, and engagement. Similarly, the wearable energy system demonstrates how motion-generated power stored in capacitors could be used to reduce physical strain from heavy backpacks, making daily tasks feel more manageable. By presenting these solutions in familiar settings, the artwork helps the public envision how engineering can quietly enhance comfort, accessibility, and well-being in everyday life for everybody around us.

Briefly describe the materials you used and the process you went through to create your piece.

For the aging solution, I used LEGO SPIKE Prime motors, sensors, and structural components to build a working robotic arm prototype. I integrated a force/touch sensor that could be replaced with a visual sensor for accessibility, along with externally sourced smart glasses, a microphone, and earpieces connected to an AI system. The process involved testing physical mechanisms while simultaneously refining software logic to ensure reliable and accessible interaction. At first, I also considered other solutions such as robotic exoskeletons and AI robotic assistants. A robotic exoskeleton could support movement, but it risked causing discomfort and additional joint strain; it was also harder to put on and take off. A robotic assistant could perform tasks independently, but it further reduces the user’s sense of achievement.

The health solution was developed through research-driven modeling and visual design. I used diagrams and sketches to plan how UVB/UVA lighting, LED cloud panels, and a moving ceiling track could work together as a unified system. The process focused on translating scientific research on circadian rhythms and vitamin D synthesis into a visually understandable and feasible engineered environment. While I explored other solutions such as LED-light panels and tubular skylights, further research showed that this solution was the best. Most standard LED panels lack UVB wavelengths (280–315 nm), which are required for vitamin D synthesis, meaning they cannot address deficiencies linked to disrupted circadian rhythms. In contrast, studies have shown that UVB LEDs tuned to ~293 nm can produce vitamin D₃ over twice as efficiently as natural sunlight (Nature, 2017). Tubular skylights rely on outdoor sunlight, causing their effectiveness to vary with weather and season (ScienceDirect, Solar Energy, 2023). Clinical studies further support the effectiveness of UVB-based indoor lighting, showing that controlled UVB exposure in office environments led to significant increases in vitamin D levels compared to conventional lighting (PubMed, 2023).

For the energy solution, I relied on material research and system planning rather than physical construction. At first, I considered other ideas like using flywheels and wearable solar  panels. Solar panels suffer from low efficiency, poor durability, and limited power output, especially during storms or at night. Flywheels, while effective for energy storage, require additional conversion systems to change mechanical energy into electricity and are often too bulky for wearable use. I selected piezoelectric clothing with capacitor storage because it allows energy generation anywhere - even during infrastructure failure. I designed the concept of a full-body PVDF (Polyvinylidene Fluoride) suit supported by capacitor storage, mapping how motion in different body regions could contribute to energy generation. I researched to find what changes I could make to amplify the energy harvested, and found that studies showed that standard PVDF can produce around 1–2 mW/cm², but enhanced PVDF composites with liquid metal microdroplets can reach ~353 µW/cm², nearly 1,000 times higher than pure PVDF (Li et al., 2024).

WORKS CITED:

Fernandes, Luís L., and Cynthia M. Regnier. “Lighting and Visual Comfort Performance of Commercially Available Tubular Daylight Devices.” Solar Energy, vol. 251, Feb. 2023, pp. 420–37, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2023.01.022. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

Webb, Ann R., et al. “Ultra-Low Ultraviolet Radiation in Office Lighting Can Moderate Seasonal Vitamin D Cycle: A Pilot Study.” Anticancer Research, vol. 42, no. 10, Oct. 2022, pp. 5101–6, https://doi.org/10.21873/anticanres.16020. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

Kalajian, T. A., et al. “Ultraviolet B Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) Are More Efficient and Effective in Producing Vitamin D3 in Human Skin Compared to Natural Sunlight.” Scientific Reports, vol. 7, no. 1, Sept. 2017, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-11362-2. Accessed 23 Dec. 2025.

Jia, Qiang-Qiang, et al. “Enhanced Output Power Density of PVDF/LM Composite for Piezoelectric Sensor.” Chinese Chemical Letters, Elsevier BV, Sept. 2024, p. 110471, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cclet.2024.110471. Accessed 23 Dec. 2025.

“Batteries.” Apple, 2019, www.apple.com/batteries/ Accessed 23 Dec. 2025.

Explain anything you learned from the process. Ideally include any failures you experienced along the way. Failure and subsequent improvement are critical to engineering design, so please tell us how you failed, how you dealt with it, and how that influenced your submission.

While developing the aging-support solution, I encountered multiple failures that shaped the final design. Early versions of the robotic hand were unstable, requiring mechanical reinforcement to improve grip reliability. I also had to redesign how the arm attached to the user’s forearm to improve comfort, and I learned that lighter materials are essential for real-world usability. On the software side, accidental AI activation led me to add keyword triggers, noise filtering, continuous monitoring loops, and secure API key storage, reinforcing how iteration improves both safety and accessibility. For the health solution, the main challenge was balancing realism with biological accuracy. Early concepts relied too heavily on LED lighting, but research showed that LEDs lack the UVB wavelengths needed for vitamin D synthesis. This failure pushed me to refine the system to include controlled UVB/UVA emission and dynamic movement, strengthening the scientific validity of the solution and reinforcing the importance of research-driven iteration in engineering. In developing the energy solution, I learned that not all promising ideas are practical. Alternative options such as solar panels and flywheels were rejected after evaluating efficiency, durability, and bulk. Research into enhanced PVDF (Polyvinylidene Fluoride) materials showed how material innovation could significantly improve energy output, influencing my final design toward a wearable, motion-powered system. This process taught me that engineering decisions are often shaped by constraints, data, and repeated evaluation rather than initial ideas.