MechChem Africa November-December 2022

⎪ Innovative engineering ⎪

or doors. “My grandmother, for example, has arthritis and she finds it difficult to open taps and doors, so she always has to wait for someone to help her. I designed a multi-tool and manufactured it from PLA, a biodegradable plant-based plastic, using 3D printing technology. The tool can latch onto 10 different types of tap and door handles, giving people the leverage they

need t o open them easily,” he explains. “It was real ly neat project be cause of its social impact. We

have donated 2 000 to families living in Khayelitsha and surrounding townships on the Cape Flats. Becausemany families there share taps, the multi-tool can also help stop the spread of COVID-19 via shared surfaces. As well as the social and hygiene benefits, the product is sustainable through the choice of the PLA material,” he says. Goodall goes on to present his currently ongoing UCT Master's project. “I am in the final year of a two-yearMasters. The project is a new and improved version of my solar car, which incorporates autonomous self driving capabilities,” he reveals. As we l l as be t t er so l a r t rack i ng abilities, the vehicle has a sophisticated battery management system (BMS) to get the best out the 15 V, 30 Ah battery. It has controllers for the two brushless DC motors and 3D printed gears and bolts that can accommodate very high torque.

A display of student innovations from Kai Goodall: Right: the award winning self-driving solar car with PV panels that automatically align to the sun using simple light sensors (LDRs); On screen: the new chassis of his currently ongoing UCT Master's project, an advanced solar vehicle with autonomous driving capabilities.

The systemwas designed using 3Dsoftware. To achieve autonomous self-driving capabilities, artificial intelligence and a computer vision system with cameras are being used: “An AI enabled processor com municates with all the peripherals using the cameras as inputs. Intelligent systems need to, sense, think and act. The sensing comes from the sensors, such as cameras; the thinking is done by the microcontroller and its software algorithms, which generate the instructions for the actuators: the wheel or steering motors, for example, to act.”

“I am also incorporating machine learning for lane detection, for example. Once typi cal speed and steering angle data has been collected from driving the vehicle under remote control through different lane con figurations, this data will be fed back into a convolutional neural network (CNN) for behavioural cloning. With time, this enables the car to ‘train itself’ to be able to drive around different tracks autonomously,” Goodall explains. He shows evidence of the outreach as pect of his MSc project, via photos of high school learners from Mitchells Plain on a visit to UCT with Kai Goodall presenting the different design aspects of his new car: the advanced solar PV and microprocessor control technologies and the state-of-the art self-driving capabilities. Brian Andrew, managing director for RS in South Africa says the company is passion ate about young engineers and inspiring them to find practical solutions to solve the many challenges communities in South Africa face. Through our education initia tives we’ve been able to be a sponsor and supporter of Kai Goodall’s projects. “Our g loba l partnership wi th The Washing Machine Project is a key focus when it comes to our commitment to provid ing sustainable solutions for a better world. Globally, RS has achieved a lot in the first year with regards to the project. “From an RS South Africa perspective, Kai Goodall from UCT has flown the flag high. We want to thank everyone who has so willingly supported this initiative, and we are continuing to work together to improve the lives of many more people around the world,” Andrew concludes. q

Kai Goodall’s Pedal ‘n Spin washing machine was modelled in 3D using RS DesignSpark Mechanical software and built by sustainable woodworking company, Forest Creations in Cape Town.

November-December 2022 • MechChem Africa ¦ 43