The students from the participating universities are given the same design problem based on a certain community identified by the EWB. The community which was chosen this year was Maker’s Valley in Johannesburg. Over 7 000 students from all over the world took part in the Challenge and 2 200 of them were from South Africa. The winners of the competition were from Wits.
CPUT had three teams which entered the competition for the South African leg were:
- Terminators – Development of a smart bin, a cost-effective (Internet of Things) smart bin which can identify waste utilising an image recognition algorithm, compact waste and transmit data to the control room when the bin is full.
- Creative Blues – Crime detecting surveillance system
- Special Group - A cost-effective water filter that uses activated bone charcoal.
All three teams reached the reviewer stage which had 32 projects which can be seen here. The Terminators proceeded to the final which was conducted through a presentation and a Q&A session from the judges. The finals were held over Zoom recently.
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering Lecturer, Lungile Nyanga, says this was a great achievement given that it was the first year CPUT entered the competition. The team also comprised of first-year students only, and they were competing with some of the top traditional universities in SA including Stellenbosch, the University of Pretoria, UJ, UCT, NWU and others.
“I believe what made the Terminators achieve this was their commitment to hard work, focusing on their goal of winning the competition and being able to stretch themselves to learn and understand new concepts,” he says.
The group leader, Musuamba Wa Baya, said that there will be a prize money awarded to them. “This was a motivation for us, but we did not only do it for the money. [However], I cannot speak for all my teammates, but personally, I did it for exposure. The amount of knowledge that I have gained from this is indescribable,” Musuamba remarks.
“As an engineering student”, she says, “I got first-hand experience and knowledge about engineering and what it entails. My problem-solving and leadership skills are now more developed than ever. I was able to keep my team together through this and I am extremely proud of that.”
The team anticipates that more opportunities will arise from this, for them as a team and for all future teams to come. “We hope that this motivates others to work hard and believe in their potential and never feel intimidated by others,” she adds.
Nyanga congratulates the Terminators for their achievement and the other teams that reached the reviewer stage. “It shows that CPUT students have what it takes to tackle the problems in our communities at the same level as all other universities in South Africa and internationally.”
He also believes this is the start of a journey for CPUT as the team also intends to participate in the competition next year which will be based on a community in Peru. “Taking the lessons from this year’s competition, we will be better prepared for the competition next year.”
