Coworking with Yixuan Leow

Coworking is a weekly segment where we spotlight Emerging Tech Brew readers who work with emerging technologies. Click here if you’d like a chance to be featured.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in tech?

I design machines by modeling out their components and deciding their manufacturing and assembly methods.

What emerging tech are you most optimistic about? Least? And why?

[I’m] most optimistic about direct/almost direct brain-to-machine communication interfaces (e.g. AI prosthetics), as they represent the next step in UI after Apple popularized touch-screen gestures, and we’ve seen the impact of convenience of the smartphone.

Least optimistic—not sure—but 3D printing has disappointed, as the baseline technology is very environmentally sensitive, hence inconsistency. [It] needs a lot of technical attention, and may take a long time before they can be the promised “household device” that they were hyped up to be.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile?

It was never my dream to be a design engineer. I just picked it as a good discipline to understand technology development better.

What do you think about when you’re not thinking about tech?

Music!