The WorldSkills SA national competition took place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre earlier this year. Participants competed in various skills areas ranging from manufacturing technology to IT and business administration. WorldSkills is a global organisation that promotes vocational, technological and service- oriented education and training, and local winners stand a chance to compete in the finals to be held in Brazil this year.
Festo, a proud global sponsor of WorldSkills International, demonstrated three competencies as part of the popular try-a-skills programme: mechatronics, mobile robotics and a new skill – aquatronics. “Our mechatronics DJ robots, mobile robotics Robotino and aquatronics water rig were on display,” explains Daniel Gauch from the product management group of Festo Didactic GmbH.
The purpose of try-a-skill is to interest young people in choosing engineering a career, which is why the competition was open for three days with such a large number of schools visited.
Aquatronics is a new skill globally and was first showcased at WorldSkills Leipzig in 2013. “The skill is based on the water training rig developed through the GIZ and Festo Didactic here in South Africa. This new discipline will contribute to promoting vocational training and education in a field that presents major challenges around the world – the provision of a stable and sustainable water supply,” says Gauch. “To showcase this ambitious new skill in South Africa is very exciting and ties in with the innovation and promotion of new skills that we seek to foster.”
Festo’s experts at WorldSkills Cape Town were Gauch, Chris Oliver: WorldSkills SA expert for mobile robotics and David Setlhake WorldSkills SA expert for mechatronics. This was Oliver’s third WorldSkills Competition and both he and Setlhake will be accompanying the winning team to São Paulo.
“The competition was a great success and everyone brought their A-game. It is incredibly encouraging to see the vast amount of talent South Africa has to offer. The winners will be announced at a later date and we look forward to seeing who will be going to Brazil to represent South Africa,” concludes Gauch.
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