Six official entries have been received for this year’s Pneudrive Challenge as follows:
1. Cape Peninsula University of Technology – CPUT students, JP Pepler, Gideon Pool, Gareth Hardman and Willie van der Walt decided that a promising opportunity for development in the food and beverage industry (the theme for this year’s competition) is offering efficient and effective beverages dispensing at special events. They point out that the success of entertaining is often by disgruntled patrons having to queue for refreshments. Their high-speed dispensing design proposes a simple, intuitive machine that takes the minimum amount of time to serve patrons.
2. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University – Kayleigh Bauer, Josh Hodgkinson, Dylan Prinsloo and Stefan van Aardt from NMMU identified the fishing industry as their target, since it contributes a great deal to employment and economic well-being in the Eastern Cape. Their design proposes to improve the fishing industry in the Eastern Cape by optimising a key stage in fish processing. Combining the use of conveyors and powered scaling rollers their semi-automatic fish de-scaler processes the fish quickly.
3. Stellenbosch University – Students JN Geldenhuys, C Liebenberg, DJ Malan and H Scheepers designed a high-speed, accurate and selective apple packer. They noted that because apple packing is currently done by hand, many potential problems are experienced by farmers and distributors. Their proposed packing machine is designed to box ‘red’ apples (any apples with some red colouring) with their best-coloured side facing upwards. Packing apples in this manner produces a more desirable box, an obvious benefit to retailers.
4. Tshwane University of Technology – Greta van der Walt, Charl Strydom, N Nkongolo and S F Baloyi from TUT focused their attention on the egg industry. The problem they identified is faced by emerging farmers trying to comply with the stringent packaging requirements of regulated chain-stores. Their design, an egg sorting and packing machine, offers entry level farmers a more efficient way of presenting and selling their produce.
5. University of Johannesburg – The UJ team of Jason Berry, Warrick Kin, Izak Coetzee and David De Ponte came to the consensus that Festo and SEW-Eurodrive could benefit from a fully functional ‘food and beverage delivery, marketing and presentation showpiece’. Their design showcases precision and energy efficiency in a fun and engaging manner and the ‘Blitz Burger’ is also applicable in the real fast food world.
6. University of the Witwatersrand – Students from WITS, Mduduzi Masuku, Lefa Madire, Meshi Hamese and David Ndeveelo, presented a design that shows how automating a restaurant could replace waiters by mechatronics. The design is composed of sub-systems that raise and convey loads from the chef to their designated locations in a restaurant.
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