Robot cars excite and inspire

3rd Quarter 2016 News & events

The Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering at the University of Pretoria (UP) recently held the fourth autonomous robot vehicle (ARV) race. The race involves small ARVs that are built by third-year students as part of the Microcontrollers module. The students’ ingenuity is put to the test when they compete against each other to see which team’s ARV can complete a track made up of red, green and blue lines that zigzag across each other, in the shortest possible time. An ARV is able to ‘read’ the track it has to follow through a light sensor that shines down onto the track, from where it is reflected back onto the sensor.

The process of building the ARVs is an excellent opportunity for students to integrate everything they have learnt in a practical way – from writing, testing and implementing the firmware for the designed hardware to building the chassis of the vehicle itself. The idea is the brainchild of Professor Tania Hanekom, who has received several awards including the 2015 UP Innovation and Excellence in Teaching Award, for the innovative teaching methods that she has helped to implement in the department. Through this innovative project, aspiring engineers are guided through a process to develop a fundamental set of engineering skills which include hardware and software design, systems integration, the ability to work and function in a team, time management, perseverance, and the good old indispensable ‘engineering gut feeling’, which comes only with experience in the execution of engineering projects.

For more information contact Liesel Swart, University of Pretoria, +27 (0)82 672 0067, [email protected]

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