MechChem Africa September-October 2021

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On Saturday 28August 2021, the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology held its annual TUKS Robot Race Day. TUKS students robot race T he annual TUKS Robot Race Day is back, after being postponed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now in its eighth year, the event,

coordinated by the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology, has grown in leaps and bounds withmore students getting involved and showcasing their innovation, programming, and engineering skills. Professor Tania Hanekom, Function Head forUndergraduateStudies in theDepartment of Electrical , Electronic and Computer Engineering at theUniversity of Pretoria said that, as students are still working remotely due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, paper tracks were designed so they could be printed on A4 pages and pasted together to allow the race to be attempted at home. “Students work in teams on their robots making use of all the online skills they have acquired over the past few months. At this stage, we plan to let every team upload a video of their MARV (Microcontroller-based Autonomous Robotic Vehicle) that navigates a track at home. These videoswill serve as the heats for the competition. The teaching team for the microcontrollers module will judge the performance of the MARVs based on the videos to determine the finalists,” she said. Professor Hanekom added that the COVID-19 pandemic halted many projects last year which forced students and lectur- ers to facilitate lessons online and proved to be quite a challenge. “We were disappointed we could not have aRobot RaceDay amongst

Professor Tania Hannekom and RS Components SA’s Education Specialist, Wesley Hood.

other projects last year, but this year, we’re glad we are still strongly supported by the University’s partnerships with industry, which provides the necessary resources to maintain this flagship event. On behalf of the students and the engineering faculty, I would like to thank RS Components SA for assisting us again with various components for the MARVs and for general support over the years.We look forward to future engage- ments with RS,” she added. Wesley Hood, Education Specialist for RS Components SA, said that nurturing the next generation of innovators and engineers was high on the company’s agenda. “One of the ways we continue to support the TUKS Robot Race is by giving the students access to the necessary components and tools they require tobuild their robots –helping tobring

theoretical concepts to life. It’s amazing to see the talent that the University of Pretoria is nurturing within the Engineering Faculty and each year seems to bring new and excit- ing developments. RSwould like to commend ProfessorHanekomandher teamfor their ef- forts inmaking theRobot RaceDay an annual success,” he said. This year’s Race Day finals took place on Saturday 28 August 2021. Given the pres- ent situation, the event was not open to

the public but was presented online. Spectators can still join in the fun from anywhere in thegal- axy! Simply scan the QR code. za.rs-online.com

A collection of microcontroller-based autonomous robotic vehicles (MARVs) designed and built by TUKS students.

44 ¦ MechChem Africa • September-October 2021