PTC Trust is always excited to offer our STEM workshops to students and schools. Today Ngaruawahia rangatahi arrived at Waikato university. Full of enthusiasm, they had a go building and developing robotic arms to perform multiple functions.

It was exciting seeing their faces come alive as they explored, discovered and learnt some new skills. Even further excitement was generated when Dr Owen Mahonri – Senior lecturer University of Waikato, School of Engineering joined Dr Hin to share his engineering journey with the group.

Dr Mahonri’s current field of research is ‘biomechanical design principles underpinning anthropomorphic manipulators’ (July, 2022). It is inclusive of Mātauranga Māori and has been applied to broader fields of prosthetics, robotics, neurology and assistive technologies.

Hearing and seeing engineering in action enabled students at the PTC workshop to become aware of the opportunities and possibilities that this field of study can bring for their career aspirations and to whānau.

Youth learnt that medical robots have been a tremendous help to patients, doctors, nurses and healthcare teams. Additionally they were able to comprehend the role they can play as new innovations and advancements in technology continue to revolutionise how we are able to care for our whānau.