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Over fifty student projects offered a glimpse into the future of technology during the end-of-year showcase.

During this year’s Summer Show, ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ from the MSc/MA Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) programme, run jointly by Imperial's Dyson School of Design Engineering and the , presented 55 innovative projects exploring how design engineering can respond to some of today’s most pressing challenges.  

Organised around six themes – Health Autonomy, Body Intelligence, Living Systems, Reformed Matter, Deliberate Thinking, and Future Crafting – the Show celebrated ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½’ final projects, ranging from healthcare technologies and conservation tools to sustainable materials, robotics, and AI literacy. 

The projects reflected the IDE programme’s founding commitment to integrating design, engineering, science and enterprise to tackle complex real-world problems, highlighting not only innovative technical solutions, but also thoughtful approaches to creating technologies, systems and experiences that respond to human and environmental needs. 

Supporting greater autonomy in healthcare 

Projects within the Health Autonomy theme explored alternative solutions to improving accessibility of care and patient agency.  

Bobo, created by Anoushka Sawardekar, is a period companion that bridges the gap between a young person's lived experience and clinical consultation. Rather than selecting a number on a pain scale, users squeeze Bobo to capture intensity – the harder the squeeze, the higher the pain recorded. The device then generates a structured report from each logging session, supporting more informed conversations with GPs. 

Figure 1. Anoushka Sawardekar during the IDE Summer Show. 

Shraddha Sunil’s Mimo is a sensory-aware health monitoring toolkit designed for children with autism and other special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). By passively collecting vital signs through familiar comfort objects, including headphones, Mimo aims to reduce distress during healthcare interactions. Rather than focusing solely on data collection, Mimo is designed to prevent escalation: supporting children to arrive at appointments better understood, improving clinical communication, and helping clinicians make more informed decisions.  

Understanding ourselves through technology 

Projects in the Body Intelligence theme examined how sensing and detecting technologies can deepen our understanding of the human body.  

Hanming Xu’s Checkmylook developed an assistive system that supports people with visual impairments to apply make-up independently. The project uses computer vision and AI to turn make-up application into an intuitive, audio-guided experience. The system provides precise, step-by-step feedback, enabling users to apply make-up with greater independence and confidence, without relying on sighted assistance. 

Jubilee Tai’s Strikee is an in-gym motion capture system that helps both fighters and coaches develop their tactical awareness through detailed kinematic and movement-pattern analysis. The system combines cameras facing the ring with wearables that attach to kickboxing gloves and shin guards, generating personalised sparring analytics and recommendations. 

Figure 2. Strikee Project. 

Designing alongside nature 

Projects in Living Systems looked beyond human design to address biodiversity and conservation challenges.  

Zac Miller-Waugh’s Project Ruru is a connected, low-cost monitoring system designed to detect the earliest signs of invasive predators in New Zealand’s wilderness, supporting efforts towards the country’s Predator Free 2050 initiative. Using a built-in food lure to attract predators, Ruru listens for sounds of predators taking the bait, to then transmit alerts via ultra-low-power edge machine learning and IoT networks, offering a potentially much cheaper approach to predator sensing compared to methods used currently.  

Yuki Abe's Rhizo-X combines automated conservation technologies with per-specimen data management to help expand the capacity of conservation practitioners responsible for preserving endangered species. Its core technology, RhizoNODE, is a sensor system that observes the local conditions and microclimate around individual plants, while RhizoPOD provides a modular greenhouse automation system capable of creating responsive, adjustable growing environments. 

Figure 3. Rhizo-X Project. 

Giving materials a second life 

Students also explored how engineering can transform waste into valuable new materials through the Reformed Matter theme. 

°ä³ó°ù¾±²õ³Ù¾±²¹²Ô&²Ô²ú²õ±è;´¡²ú²ú´Ç³Ù³Ù'²õ Kera Forma addresses a significant problem: each year, over 5,000 tonnes of wool are discarded across the UK, with more than 15% of the national yield burned or buried on farms. Kera Forma molecularly upcycles underutilised biomass into dense, high-performance composite materials, creating new possibilities for sustainable manufacturing. 

Antoine Mehdi El Adib’s Cardwich is a versatile biolaminate made from waste cardboard and starch, formed at low pressures and temperatures. Rather than breaking down the material, Cardwich preserves the structural strength already engineered into cardboard, transforming it into a rigid, lightweight and biodegradable sheet material, opening up new making possibilities at a time when fibres are being depleted faster than they can be regenerated. 

Image 4. Cardwich Project. 

Encouraging new ways of thinking  

As new technologies, including artificial intelligence, become increasingly integrated into everyday life, projects in the Deliberate Thinking theme explored how design can positively shape our behaviours and decision-making. 

±·±ð´Ú±ð±ô¾±&²Ô²ú²õ±è;³Õ¾±³Ù´Ç°ù²¹°ì¾±&°ù²õ±ç³Ü´Ç;²õ GRIT is a set of objects that intentionally introduces productive friction into interactions with AI, encouraging users to keep hold of their own critical thinking rather than defaulting to automated responses. Each device creates moments of deliberate pause, functioning both as a practical tool and as an art object that invites ongoing reflection on what it means to use AI responsibly. 

Image 5. Visitors engage with the GRIT Project. 

´¡²Ô²Ô²¹&²Ô²ú²õ±è;³§²¹±¹±ð±ô&°ù²õ±ç³Ü´Ç;²õ Noded is a hybrid physical-digital learning tool that helps secondary school history teachers introduce systems thinking into the classroom, shifting learning away from simply memorising facts towards a more interactive learning experience. Working in small groups, ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ use a physical board to map connections between events, people, concepts and artefacts, with colour-coded segments indicating social, technological, economic, environmental, political or cultural impacts. Once complete, the map is photographed, and machine learning translates it into a digital record to expose gaps in student reasoning.  

Imagining future technologies 

°Õ³ó±ð Future Crafting theme explored how emerging technologies could reshape future industries and creative practice. 

±á±ð²Ô°ù²â&²Ô²ú²õ±è;¶Ù°ù²¹²â³Ù´Ç²Ô'²õ Proteus is a deployable robotic corrosion intervention tool for offshore infrastructure built to work in the splash zones – one of the most hazardous and least serviceable regions of any offshore structure. While existing tools can inspect or clean structures separately, Proteus is the first tool able to identify defects, prepare the surface and apply a protective coating within a single deployment. 

Image 6. Henry Drayton with the prototype of Proteus. 

´Ü²¹²â²Ô²¹&²Ô²ú²õ±è;´¡³ó³¾±ð»å&°ù²õ±ç³Ü´Ç;²õ Sound Visualisation for Deaf Musicians is a tool designed for musicians who have experienced music-induced hearing loss. The tool listens and analyses sound in real time, detecting the fundamental pitch of each note, reading its frequency content, and mapping that information onto a moving visual field, with pitch, rhythm and intensity driving the field’s motion, brightness and colour. A set of controls then allows musicians to tune the field to suit their own perception and instrument, offering a new means of experiencing sound through visualisation. 

, Principal Lecturer, IDE Head of Programme: "It’s inspiring to see our ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ transform two years of learning into projects that challenge conventional thinking and demonstrate how innovation can be more regenerative and more inclusive."

Audrey Gaulard, Senior Teaching Fellow, said: "It is a privilege to witness our ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½' growth over these two years as they work towards their goals, challenge their own limits, and continuously push themselves further than they thought possible. Seeing them achieve so much and celebrating their success with pride is deeply rewarding. Most of all, it is inspiring to see the hope they carry for a better and alternative tomorrow."

Larissa Kunstel-Tabet, Teaching Fellow and Exhibition lead, reflected: "This showcase has given our ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ a fantastic platform to present their innovations to a diverse range of audiences. Alongside members of the university, they have connected with industry partners, family and friends, summer school attendees, and prospective recruiters. 

"The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and I’m delighted to say this is the best exhibition we have delivered so far. I’m excited to see how our ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ build on this success beyond the Dyson School of Design Engineering and hope they continue to champion and showcase their work in the years ahead."

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To find out more about the other ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½’ projects on display visit the RCA student showcase 2026 .