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Empowering the next generation of engineers

September 2024 News

RS South Africa is excited to announce the winners of the inaugural Student Project Fund, an initiative aimed at empowering the next generation of engineers by supporting hands-on prototyping and experimentation. “The Student Project Fund is a product donation programme that supports students who want to advance their projects from just a concept to something physical, and to have the experience of building and testing their innovation,” explains education and social impact specialist, Wesley Hood.

The six selected winners will each receive R10 000 worth of RS products to assist in bringing their ambitious projects to life. These projects span a diverse range of fields, from environmental conservation to advanced healthcare solutions. “We are excited to help these young people advance their projects, as they bring new ideas that will help solve problems in various industries, regardless of how small or big the positive change might look,” says Hood.

Dylan Opperman, from Nelson Mandela University is developing an autonomous solar panel cleaning robot. This project addresses the critical issue of dust accumulation on solar panels, which can significantly impact their efficiency and performance.

Mishay Naidoo and team (Stephanie Paine, Ryan Jones and Tristyn Ferreiro), from the University of Cape Town are working on a project to enhance conservation efforts for the Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill, a species currently facing endangerment in the Kalahari.

Michael Awe, also from the University of Cape Town, aims to revolutionise preventive healthcare through early disease detection. His project involves developing a low-cost, high-accuracy sensor array to identify disease-specific VOC profiles, enabling early diagnosis of conditions like Parkinsons.

Annabelle Bester and Team TuksBaja, from the University of Pretoria are designing and building a small, single-seater offroad vehicle. Their project adheres to the rules set by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), and demonstrates their commitment to automotive engineering.

Shamira Pillay, from the University of Witwatersrand is fabricating and optimising anaerobic biobatteries using banana waste. This research aims to achieve optimal power density, longevity, stability, thermal resistance, and biodegradability for industrial energy storage applications.

Lebogang Moloto from the University of Johannesburg is developing a real-time sensor-based monitoring system to detect and remediate heavy metal contamination in water, addressing a critical environmental and public health issue.

With the Student Project Fund, RS South Africa demonstrates its commitment to supporting students in engineering and technology-related courses. By providing essential resources for prototyping and experimentation, the company aims to equip students with the skills necessary for their future careers. “We strongly believe these innovations could transform our world for a better future,” concludes Hood.


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