THE Penang Island City Council (MBPP) is determined to take its MakerSpace in Balik Pulau to another level following the launch of its RekaRadas@Makerspace (maker facture) today.
MBPP mayor Datuk Yew Tung Seang said less than two years after MakerSpace in Balik Pulau was established on March 7, 2019, the students, with the guidance of trainers, have come out with their first product, an arcade console.”
“Today, after learning coding here, some of them are putting what they have learnt into a hardware.
“That’s why we launched this arcade console which they can play games with. This is a good start.
“Eventually, we want to see more products done here and we hope that one day, MakerSpace in Balik Pulau will become a place to “maker facture” products even for international market.
“There will be more to come from Balik Pulau because we can see that over the last two years, the interest in the community here shows great potential,” Yew said after introducing RekaRadas@Makerspace to the public via online today.
Yew added that MBPP would also set up a digital library at MakerSpace Balik Pulau this year.
“This year MBPP wants to add more facilities at MakerSpace in Balik Pulau, including setting up a digital library here. When it is ready, the Balik Pulau folk do not need to travel far to other digital libraries in Green Lane or Batu Maung.”
Yew said MakerSpace was established at the under-utilised MBPP Complex in Balik Pulau at a cost of RM15,000 in collaboration with partners like Penang Science Clusters, Politeknik Balik Pulau, Intel and the state Education Department.
He said MakerSpace has provided STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) programmes to benefit 52 schools in Balik Pulau.
During the first year, MakerSpace attracted 1,880 students when it ran a series of coding classes. The students range from seven to 17 years old.
Last year, MakerSpace managed to cater to 680 students despite the implementation of the movement control order (MCO).
“Even with MCO, we never stop with our programmes. We loan our notebooks to the community here.
“This is in line with the Penang2030 vision. The feedback we get from parents is very encouraging. They are so happy because during the MCO, their children had the opportunity to learn coding or technology.
“In order to make this project sustainable here, we train the trainers. We work with Politeknik Balik Pulau, whose director is so kind and supportive to help with their expertise,” Yew said.
MBPP, Yew said, also tapped into the experience and knowledge of two Malaysian IT experts, whose return to the United States has been disrupted because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
TomatoCube’s founder Percy Chen Haur Khet and his friend, Jeanne Yee Wai Ying, created the makerfacture programme and help guide the trainers and students through a series of train the trainers programmes to increase the success rate of RekaRadas.
“We’re a technical training provider. What is important is to see that the students apply what they have been learning all along.
“We also ran a couple of classes to train the trainers so that they can eventually keep the centre going on its own.
“The products that will come out from here hopefully can bring in some revenue to at least partially make the centre self-sufficient.
“Penang is lucky enough to be the first and only state in Malaysia to have a city-funded makerspace,” said Chen.
At the RekaRada ceremony, Yew was briefed by Politeknik first-year student Sofea Wan Zahir, who is also one of the trainers, on the flow of the production process.
The arcade console is priced at RM149 each.
Project coordinator Sri Mageswari Pattel, who is also the MBPP’s IT officer, said purchasers can come back to the MakerSpace in Balik Pulau for them to debug if they encounter problems.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Darwina Mohd Daud