UBC Engineering students innovate for impact
The complex problems our communities face require innovative, impactful solutions, and UBC’s aspiring engineers are tackling them head-on.
From autonomous robots to lunar rovers, months’ worth of collaborative work by upper-year undergraduate students was on display at Design and Innovation Day 2026. These three capstone projects, just some of the many responding to challenges set by industry partners, show our students are ready to make a positive difference – both in their communities and beyond.
In hospitals and care homes, patients require frequent checks by medical staff, often at 15-minute intervals. These checks are labour intensive and leave high-risk patients vulnerable to observation gaps. Wearable fall detection devices currently exist, however they can cause discomfort and skin irritation with prolonged use. In collaboration with Delta Controls, a team of Electrical and Computer Engineering students developed a prototype ceiling-mounted device that uses radar and a thermal sensor to monitor vital signs and detect medical emergencies.
The device’s thermal sensor detects where the patient is in the room. If they’re lying in bed, the system directs the radar data to a vital sign processing pipeline. If they aren’t, the data is sent to a fall detection machine learning model. Vital signs are continuously estimated and displayed on a visual interface for medical staff. Concurrently, the server monitors whether a patient’s heart or respiratory rates are dangerously out of range. A machine learning model uses historical data to flag abnormal heart patterns for medical staff.
Research into this type of radar in health monitoring is ongoing but limited. “This created a challenge because we had to compare and contrast the limited available research and develop a novel solution,” said team member Luc Mcdonald. Guidance from the team’s partner at Delta Controls helped to fill the gaps while supporting their ability to find inventive solutions. “With the right resources applied to the problem, a functioning, medical-grade device is definitely on the horizon.”
As one team used machine learning to improve patient care, another looked to the natural world for an innovative health care solution.
The problem a team from the School of Biomedical Engineering looked to address is multifaceted. The dressings currently used to cover burn wounds often contain PFAS, use adhesives that can damage fragile skin, and create an environment that delays wound healing. Working with Miha Biotech, the team was challenged to develop a durable bandage that is absorbent, adhesive and biodegradable.
A combination of materials from the sea proved capable of meeting these conditions. Alginate, made from seaweed, is combined with a chitosan solution, which is developed from the shells of crustaceans or fungi. That hydrogel is then layered with a water-repellent, oxygen-permeable bacterial cellulose to complete the dressing. The result is a biodegradable bandage that adheres gently to skin and is cool to the touch.
Finding the right formula took experimentation, but the team pointed to their adaptability as a key part of the project’s success. “Not everything will always be available to you, and it’s good to be able to adapt and seek other solutions,” team member Karina Akhmedova explained. “Our bandage, adhesion and tensile force test setups were not available; the machines were not meant for polymer work. As a team, we brainstormed the possible changes to the existing setups and creative solutions that we could apply.” The team has now turned their results over to Miha Biotech, who will further test the bandage’s feasibility.
The ocean also played a role in another team’s project, with students looking toward the future of Vancouver’s iconic seawall.
Storm-related closures of the Stanley Park portion of the seawall are an increasingly common occurrence, and the path is only going to become more vulnerable to damage due to the effects of climate change. Teams of Civil Engineering students were challenged to envision adaptations that would maintain access to these segments of the seawall 100 years in the future.
Focusing on a 1.1 kilometer segment between Second and Third Beach, one team proposed raising the seawall 1.5 meters through a retrofit. This strategy maintains the well-loved area’s appearance and view while accounting for expected sea-level rise. A series of submerged rubble-mound breakwaters dissipate wave action before swells reach the shore. Between the breakwaters and the path, the team proposed an area to support local species of marine wildlife and vegetation. “We believe one of the unique things about our design is the incorporation of enhancing the intertidal habitat beyond the seawall,” said team member Jenna Lozano. “We’ve developed a sediment and vegetation plan to turn the area that was originally bare bedrock with little habitat value into an area that can support plants, mussels and clams.”
To model the wave conditions at the site, the team partnered with DHI to conduct a spectral wave analysis using their MIKE 21 program. The results clearly showed a reduction in the force of waves hitting, and potentially damaging, the seawall. The project also presented an optimized construction timeline, with the team taking the limited marine work window set by Fisheries and Oceans Canada into account. The result is limited closure time and enhanced infrastructure that will keep an iconic landmark strong for years into the future.
Students at UBC Okanagan’s School of Engineering also participated in their annual Capstone Showcase on April 10. Over 350 students shared their projects in automotive and aerospace, community and humanitarian engineering, infrastructure and construction, innovative devices and systems, software and data systems, and sustainable and environmental solutions with industry leaders and the community.
The ingenuity of these future engineers shows that they’re ready to take on our current and future grand challenges through community-minded collaboration, innovative problem-solving and a desire to make a positive impact.
