This inspired him and his schoolmates, Yeoh Zi Jian, 12, and Celeste Tan, 10, to create the “Marbling Robot for Sustainable Future” (MarBot4SF), a machine that merges water-marbling techniques with robotics to create stunning, eco-friendly patterns.
MarBot4SF can help reduce the environmental impact on textile printing by creating beautiful and natural patterns on fabric. The students’ goal was to overcome environmental and health complications caused by the usage of synthetic dyes in the fashion and textile industry.
Water marbling, also known as hydro-dipping, is an art form where patterns are created on a surface of water and then transferred to another item by dipping, floating, or lightly dragging the object across the surface.
“I wanted to make a robot that uses natural pigment dyes instead of synthetic, so it would not continue harming the environment,” Ngui told Bernama at the Malaysia Open House Exhibition Asean 2025 on Wednesday.
Yeoh, meanwhile, said learning about water marbling sparked the idea behind the MarBot4SF. “I wanted to combine art and technology with sustainability to help revolutionise the fashion industry and create a better world,” he said.
Similarly, Tan found inspiration online when she came across articles about how the fashion/textile industry is one of the leading causes of water pollution. That fuelled her passion to create the MarBot4SF.
Behind their success, teacher and project adviser Adrian Ong, 34, said his students inspired him to learn more about robotics and help them realise the project.
“Working with them made me realise that sometimes, it is not just about learning through textbooks … We spent a lot of time, including on weekends and holidays, on the project.
“The students were willing to come back to school and spend time there, rather than hang out with their friends. Their commitment and interest motivated us (teachers),” he said.
Their invention has already taken them places, including to the World Robot Olympiad in Turkey and the World Robot Competition in Indonesia. They also bagged gold and silver at the National Robotics Competition here last year.