Siemens Southern Africa has launched a competition featuring 10 South African tertiary institutions called the Cyber Junkyard that will give the company direct interaction with the leading young minds in the country.
The competition will present each of the tertiary institutions with a fixed project that they must execute to the best of their ability with the help of a Siemens technical specialist. According to Craig Hudson, Siemens Southern Africa's Automation Systems product manager, the nature of the project is still being finalised, but it is most likely to involve a container hoist application.
Dr Roy Marcus, technical advisor to the National Council for Innovation and the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, and Siemens Automation Systems product manager, Craig Hudson, at the Press launch of the Siemens Cyber Junkyard
"The idea is that the competing teams will have to build a model according to certain specifications and demonstrate how well it can achieve the pre-determined task. We are looking at projects that are relevant to the current industry. Siemens is currently involved in the upgrade of the national ports, so it seems likely that the project will be centred upon this," Hudson said.
Each team will be given an opportunity to purchase R25 000 worth of control equipment from Siemens Southern Africa in order to execute the project. The teams will be limited to using Siemens equipment on the control side, but the mechanical equipment they use will be up to their own discretion.
The registering of the teams as well as their purchasing of equipment and the flow of information will all be performed online through the Siemens Internet portal, hence the name Cyber Junkyard. Siemens will appoint a technical specialist to assist each team with their project and offer them free training on the products they use.
There will be an external launch of the competition, which has the official backing of the National Council for Innovation and the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, in May at the Process Show in Kyalami.
The final will take place in Gauteng in October, where the projects will be adjudicated by an independent panel of judges. Thereafter, the winners will be announced at a gala event and will be presented with a further R100 000 worth of equipment donated by Siemens to the tertiary institution. Two of the team members will also win a trip to the Hanover Trade and Technical Fair in Germany.
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