Five students from across different faculties at the University of Indonesia have succeeded in creating a 3D facial synthesis method for the manufacturing of a cleft lip physical simulator to improve the quality of cleft lip treatment.
According to a recent press release, the development of the Cleft Lip Synthesis technology was motivated by the slow progress in medical technology innovation for cleft lip in Indonesia.
Cleft lip ranks as the third birth defect in the country.
Creating a replica of the cleft lip
Cleft Synthesis disrupts the old method of creating a physical replica of the cleft lip.
The project integrates the gyro infrared multifunction sensor and three-dimensional edge-modelling reconstruction method to produce a more accurate cleft lip imaging.
The sensor will record the contours of the baby’s cleft face to obtain 7 anatomical points of the cleft lip including the cavity in the patient’s mouth, without the need for any physical contact.
After which, it will be processed and refined with edge-modelling in order to form a 3D model of the cleft lip, which will be ready to print in accordance with the standards of medical personnel.
Hopefully, this technology will boost the planning process of cleft lip surgery and enable medical personnel to practice their surgical skills such as cutting and sewing the cleft lip section without creating risks on the patients.
The development of this kind of medical simulator technology is only available in Canada as of current. This medical simulator technology will be a pioneer in Indonesia.
The technology is currently being tested by the students, together with partners, for the 2019 Student Creativity Program, which is organised by Indonesia’s Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education.
Certified Distance Training Program
In other news, the University’s Vocational Education Program (UI Vocational) launched the Certified Distance Training Program, which is in collaboration with the Open University (UT).
This Distance Training Program was created to expand the expertise training network with competency certificates.
This program can make an important contribution to improving the quality of human resources in Indonesia, especially in remote areas.
It is a fast way to realise community vocational competence recognition with Competency Certification.
Participants will not be limited by time and place as they are given the liberty to take part in the independent activities. Plus they can even take the competency tests where and when they wish to.
This type of learning is made possible by utilising information technology (IT).
During its launch, the Open University’s Chancellor highlighted the criticality of integrating ICTs in the administration of education in three premises. These are:
- Expansion of the reach and distribution of access to higher education
- Digital education services, with online learning mode, are expected to provide opportunities for students and lecturers / tutors to interact more openly and freely
- Digital technology and online learning services are expected to increase and strengthen student participation and student engagement in the learning process.
