Khoo Ri Na may not have been on television, but you have likely seen her artwork. The 48-year-old tech expert was a member of the first team that the Singapore Police Force ( SPF ) assembled to create police cameras ( PolCams ) for the 10, 000 Housing Development Board ( HDB) blocks in Singapore. Her work was crucial in assisting the police in resolving crimes.
She also worked with a healthcare provider to develop a system that tracked lorry drivers and visitors through Singapore’s area checkpoints at the start of the pandemic for their COVID-19 immunization history.
Khoo’s most recent job is also related to care: She is creating a spot monitoring gadget that can be inserted into people with dementia’s footwear to keep them safe.
Her technological solutions address pressing safety and medical issues. Khoo nevertheless, was not fully trained in technology. In truth, she majored in business and marketing while still in college and began her career as a marketing and communications professional at a security solutions business.
FROM NOOB TO Digital EXPERT
Khoo, a Gen-Xer, was born in the 1980s and 1990s, when present systems was still in its early stages. Cellphones were hardly ever mentioned back then.
In those days, listening to music meant lugging around a Walkman, or after, a CD person or Director person. Investing in a DSLR cameras meant taking great photos.
Khoo loved these devices. ” I have always appreciated how systems can improve quality and productivity”, she said.
Her passion for technology even led her to create her own central processing unit ( CPU) for her computer 30 years ago, when she was still in her teens.
Lee hung out at Sim Lim Square, the go-to area for electronic and computer components, to learn how to put a CPU up from business owners and friends because YouTube had yet to be created and there were no how-to videos at the time.
” At the time, you had to either create the CPU yourself or pay a bit for it,” the saying continues.
” So I bought parts such as the processor, RAM ( random access memory ) and a transparent enclosure ( case ) because I wanted to see the parts and lights when using it, and built my own CPU,” she laughed, adding that she continued assembling, modifying and upgrading her CPU for many years.