johan_u

Experiences · 2021 – present

Where the hours went

The projects page covers things I made. This one covers the rooms I was in while making them — the teams, the roles nobody pays you for, and the fortnight abroad that changed which of my assumptions I trusted. Most of what I know about working with other people came from this column rather than the other one.

Current and recent

At SUTD

  1. Oct 2025still on the team

    SUTD Competitive Robotics · VEX U

    Seven months on the hardware bench first — protective casing, motor assembly, sheet metal — and on software since April 2026, writing autonomous routines and calibrating cameras across three robots that each see the field differently. The hardware half is why the software half makes any sense to me.

    The whole of it is written up here
  2. Mar – Sept 2026president

    SUTD Chinese Orchestra

    Marketing executive for the TENacity concert first, then president: budget, sponsorship, procurement, and making sure a room of musicians had somewhere to be on a Thursday. I play dizi, zhongruan, Chinese drums, and a double bass I took from nothing to concert standard in a single term. I handed the role on in September and still play.

  3. May 2026two weeks, Bali

    DIVE · InnovEnt 2026, with Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

    A credit-bearing design programme run with ITS: fieldwork, an industry visit, value-chain analysis, and a fortnight of watching a market I thought I understood behave in ways I had not predicted. I am Indonesian, and I was designing for Indonesia — which turned out to be the part worth examining. Konora came out of it.

    Konora, the marketplace we designed there

Before SUTD

Santa Laurensia

  1. 2022 – 2025both still running

    Two communities, started from nothing

    Fédération d'échecs Santa Laurensia, a chess club, and 中华小天地 — Little Chinese World — for Chinese culture. Neither existed before and both outlived my leaving, which is the only measure of a student club I find convincing. Starting one teaches you recruitment; leaving one that survives teaches you succession, which is harder.

  2. 2021 – 2025photography

    Camera work

    Judges' Choice Artwork at the Santa Laurensia Art Exhibition, and my school's representative at FL2SN. Most of the photographs on this site are mine, which is less a portfolio than a habit — I would rather document the thing I built than describe it.

Competition record

Where it has been tested

Placements, in order. Team results are marked as team results — most of these belong to the people I worked with as much as to me.

  • 2026
    Laurel Award, SUTD Student Achievement Awards — a team award, to the Competitive Robotics Team.
  • 2025
    ASEAN Undergraduate Scholarship — merit award covering tuition and allowances, renewed each term.
  • 2024
    Honorable Mention (Silver), Infinitics 8 Mathematical Modelling — statistical analysis identifying corporate cybersecurity risk.
  • 2024
    15th of 81 nationally, Kompetisi Fisika Pesta Sains Nasional (IPB); school representative at the Olimpiade Sains Nasional Fisika.
  • 2023
    Bronze, INASEC — solar panel design maximising surface area and energy absorption.
  • 2023
    Bronze, ICT Awards, City of South Tangerang — "UNIFI", a university-information application concept.
  • 2021/22
    Most Talented Student in Robotics — where this started.