The PneuDrive Student Competition for 2009, jointly sponsored by SEW-Eurodrive and Festo, has announced the winner of this year’s competition.
Stellenbosch University walked away with top honours. Their Glass Handling Gantry Robot came out tops and was judged a very good all-round project which was backed up with thorough documentation and research. The Maties’ Umshini Khulu Wami (UKW for short) gantry robot was designed to assist in the manufacture and transport of large sheets of glass in and around the factory.
PneuDrive Challenge 2009 winning team: (L to R): Richard Hamman, Theuns Greyvenstein, Thinus Ras, Jacques Visser
The winners earned themselves an all expenses paid trip to Germany and the university will be receiving R100 000 worth of SEW-Eurodrive and Festo equipment.
The University of the North West took second prize with their Waste Management System which focused on ‘green business’. The project showed great business acumen and covered most aspects of machine building. The machine was designed to sort bottles according to their material and could sort four of the most common materials found in waste: glass, plastic, carton and tin.
University of KwaZulu-Natal came in third place with their design for a Cricket Bat Hardening Production System. Judges commented that the project was very innovative and showed high levels of complexity. The project involved developing an automated machine to surface harden the face of a cricket bat, while transporting the bat to the next stage of processing.
“The aim of the competition was to show innovation in mechatronic engineering using the SEW-Eurodrive and Festo products, and I would certainly say that this was achieved,” enthuses Ute Bormann, GM sales and marketing for SEW-Eurodrive.
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