In the afternoon of December 11, the Ministry of Education held the award ceremony for 16th Technical Outstanding Awards of Technological and Vocational Education Competition in the conference room on the 4th floor of the National Taiwan University Alumni Club. In order to commend outstanding technical and vocational students, the Ministry of Education has encouraged teachers and students of technical and vocational schools to actively participate in international technical and artistic competitions for honor, in order to affirm their outstanding deeds and increase the willingness of the public to attend technical schools. The awards ceremony publicly praised the award-winning teachers and students. The awards have the reputation of "Technical Oscars," with two different categories: "Competition Excellence Award" and "Technical Excellence Award."

[The student team of the Department of Creative Product Design of STUST won 2020 the Excellence Award of the 2020 Outstanding Awards of Technological and Vocational Education Competition with their work "HanDo Children's Living Assist Prosthesis.”]

This year, the Department of Creative Product Design of STUST made another great achievement. The work "HanDo Children's Living Assist Prosthesis,” produced By graduating students Feng-Jia Zheng, Kai-Rong Peng, Suan-Yan Li, and Wei-Ming Gao under the direction of Associate Professor Kun Ouyang, won not only major domestic and foreign awards but also won the 2020 Outstanding Awards of Technological and Vocational Education Competition.

[The student team of STUST from the Department of Creative Product Design—Suan-Yan Li (first from left), Wei-Ming Gao (second from left), Feng-Jia Zheng (second from right), Kai-Rong Peng (first from right) and their advisor, Associate Professor Kun Ouyang (middle).]

This time, the production team’s work “HanDo Children’s Living Assist Prosthesis” from the Department of Creative Product Design of STUST was awarded the Excellence Award in the Competition. The team, including the graduating students Feng-Jia Zheng, Kai-Rong Peng, Suan-Yan Li, and Wei-Ming Gao, revealed that "HanDo" is a prosthesis designed for children with unilateral limbs from 6 to 12 years old. Through modular and adjustable design, the kit is designed for learning, sports, entertainment and life to improve the economic problems caused by frequent replacement of entire prostheses as well as meet the needs of children with severed limbs in their daily living and school learning, so that they can grow up healthy and happily.

Team Advisor Prof. Kun Ouyang said that he is very happy that the HanDo team has won major domestic and international awards this year, and has successfully drawn the attention of Taiwan and the world to the issue of child Prosthesis. This product was tried on a 6-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy. During the assembly process, the team felt the positive energy of the family with severed limbs, noting that they never complained during the long scanning and modeling time and that they had been enthusiastically raising questions concerning how to use it properly. Seeing that the “HanDo Children’s Living Assist Prosthesis” can really help users, every member of the team feels a great sense of accomplishment. At present, HanDo users still continue to give feedback and opinions, hoping that in the future they would be able to invite more families and children with severed limbs to participate in the trial to collect data for product improvements. The team will not stop even when students graduate, and the will continue to be developed by the entire laboratory to serve more children and improve their lives.

President Deng-Maw Lu of STUST said that the educational goal of STUST is to cultivate pragmatic and practical scientific and technological talents. The university has actively devoted its resources to training on students' practical ability, encouraged students to participate in various competitions at home and abroad, and provided financial subsidies to help them make improvement. Students’ employment competitiveness and international vision have reached the educational goal of getting employed and starting to work after graduation. The Outstanding Awards of Technological and Vocational Education Competition was first organized in 1994 and has been in existence for 16 years. STUST has won this award many times over the past years. Through the encouragement of this award, it is hoped that universities can continue to show the characteristics of technical and vocational education in the future and cultivate technical talents for life. The attitude of learning has cultivated more outstanding talents with both humanities and professional skills, so that technical and vocational education can reach its peak again.