Designing artificial hearts and prosthetic hands
The UC Biomed Heart Hackathon Team.
With a whopping 169 clubs registered on the UCSA website, there is an abundance of excitement going on at all times on campus. Among the Canta-documented club events such as the Curry-Mile and CUBA JIB, there has been a budding club in the works dedicated towards 3D-printing plastic appendages and designing a synthetic doppelganger for the human heart, that being the UC Biomedical Engineering Club
Clocking in at 79 members in 2023, club president Samrath Sood is ecstatic with the revival of UC’s Biomedical Engineering scene. “[The Biomedical Engineering Club] isn’t something that’s huge” Samrath admits, but he and his team remain intent on getting the ball rolling, citing a huge and growing demand for biomedical engineers in the future.
“The club died out because of COVID,” he explained, “This year was groundwork for us… this is just the beginning.”
Samrath is a fourth-year Mechatronics Engineering student – a field of study that covers “anything that moves mechanically and requires electronics,” as he puts it in layman's terms.
“I actually had no idea what I was going to do or end up,” he said, reflecting on his fresher self. UC gave Samrath the opportunity to test out new interests and gave him the clarity to find his passion for Mechatronics and biomedical engineering.
The beauty of Biomedical Engineering is that it isn’t limited to a particular major or degree. The club’s Heart Hackathon team consists of a diverse array of students, including physics majors, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, and mechatronics engineers.
In fact, Biomedical Engineering is without a doubt a team effort and Samrath was intent on highlighting how valuable and vital his fellow club members have been towards the health of UC Biomed. “I have to credit my team more than myself… I’m sort of just facilitating,” he said with great appreciation for everyone involved. “They are the ones running the club.”
UC Biomedical Engineering Club President, Samrath Sood
Every engineering student has a final year project supported by industry sponsors. Samrath discussed two projects he takes great pride in, the first of which was a sleep apnoea device sponsored by the Christchurch City Health Board. The goal was to produce the device faster, cheaper and achieve better outcomes. Samrath and his team knocked the project out of the park, designing a suitable product made of 3D-printed parts that costs ten times less and performs just as well as an industry-standard device.
Another project he has been involved in this year is the UC Heart Hackathon team. The Heart Hackathon is a first-of-its-kind global competition to design and build an artificial heart. Here UC students are competing against student-led teams from the United Kingdom, Australia, Egypt, Romania, Sweden, and the United States to build an artificial heart which will be judged by international experts at the International Society for Mechanical Circulatory Support conference in Dallas, Texas.
Biomedical Engineering Club members building prosthetic hands.
On the evening of catching up with Samrath, the club held their AGM and had a few members stick around afterwards to build prosthetic hands made out of 3D-printed parts. The aim is to supply the hands to children or people in need overseas.
Samrath described making people’s lives easier through technology being part of the satisfaction of Biomedical Engineering. “I would love to do this stuff more next year,” Samrath said of this type of humanitarian work.
Even though he is graduating and moving on to do electrical engineering for Beca, Samrath hopes to still be part of the club moving forward. “With new people and more interest, we can start to build the club up like UC Aerospace,” he said, optimistic of the Biomedical Engineering Club’s future.
