Tracking important updates and news:
22 February 2012 - WITS Road-Show
Kamil Midor and Frank Kienhoffer, lecturers at the WITS faculty of Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering, generated a great turn-out at the road-show. Some pictures have been posted to the PneuDrive Facebook page.
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16 February 2012
The PneuDrive road-show made its way to NWU in Potchefstroom. Going to be a challenge to keep tabs on all students showing an interest in the competition.
14 February 2012
UJ road-show completed. Last year's lessons were reviewed, and the new theme (Engineering a Better Life for Communities in South Africa) was received with much enthusiasm.
10 February 2012
First road-show visit completed at TUT. Around 100 very eager students attended the PneuDrive presentation and visited the Expotainer. Looks like we're off to a good start.
06 February 2012
Invites and posters finalised for the roadshow and sent out to TUT, WITS and UJ.
Next on the radar, finalise dates for the NWU, NMMU, CPUT and SU.
Also to confirm whether UCT, UKZN, DUT and VUT are keen to observe this year and commit for 2013.
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26 January 2012
3 dates booked for the PneuDrive Road-Show:
1. Friday 10th Feb - Late Morning - Tshwane University of Technology
2. Monday 13 Feb - Mid Morning - University of Johannesburg
3. Wed 22 Feb - Mid-day - WITS University
23 January 2012
Discussions and plans for appropriate dates for the road-show and Expotainer to start visiting universities have started.
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13 Dec - Feedback from Judges, Professors and Students Published
Some interesting, valuable and challenging feedback was generated and has been published.
Click here to review some of the comments that were received.
09 Dec 2011 - Top 4 Entries Loaded to the Website and Good News for 2012
After four successful years of running the competition, SEW Eurodrive and FESTO have once again committed to sponsoring the PneuDrive Challenge engineering student competition in 2012.
Rules and guidelines for the 2012 competition have been reviewed and updated, and are available on the website.
Click here to review a summary of the guidelines.
Click here to download the 2012 Rules and Guidelines.
Summaries of the top four entries have been uploaded to this website:
1. Stellenbosch University - Sunny Side Apple Packer
2. Tshwane University of Technology – AIR-BOT
3. University of the Witwatersrand – Automated Restaurant
4. University of Johannesburg – BlitzBurger
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22 Nov - Pick of the Crop - PR for the Winning Team
Right click, copy and paste into a graphics package for a high resolution image of the PR piece.
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09 November - Stellenbosch Score a Close Win Over TUT and WITS
After two intensive days of judging and a little controversy, the panel of judges concluded and agreed that Stellenbosch University’s Sunnyside Packer was the winning entry. The Air Bot design from the Tshwane University of Technology was a very close second (the first time in the history of the 4 year competition that scores have been so close), and the Automated Restaurant from WITS placed third.
The Blitz Burger from the University of Johannesburg were commended for their innovative ideas.
07 November - Judging Programme is Made Available
A judging programme for Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th November 2011 has been made available:
Click here to navigate to the page on this website.
Details of the panel and sponsor representatives are as follows:
The Judging Panel:
Andreas Keller – Festo AG (Germany)
Tobias Nittel – SEW Eurodrive AG (Germany)
Stefan Molenaar – HG Molenaar
Jacques du Sautoy – Nestle
Chris Oliver - Festo Didactic
Sponsor Representatives:
Russell Schwulst – Business Development Manager - FESTO
Brian Abbott – Pneumatics Product Manager – FESTO
Ernst Smith – Electronics Product Manager - FESTO
Tracey Swart – Marketing Co-Ordinator – FESTO
Ute Bormann – Managing Director – SEW Eurodrive
Rene Rose – GM Communications – SEW Eurodrive
Philip van Rensburg – Projects Engineer – SEW Eurodrive
Norman Maleka – Electronics Manager – SEW Eurodrive
October - PneuDrive Challenge Entries are in – 6 of the best and 2 for good measure
Entries have been submitted and our judging panel, besides their engineering knowledge and experience, are going to have to apply design and entrepreneurial analysis as well.
The list of final submissions are:
• Cape Peninsula University of Technology – Dispense-Here: Automated, large volume, high-speed beverage dispensing unit - submitted by JP Pepler, Gideon Pool, Gareth Hardman and Willie van der Walt.
• Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University - The Semi-Automatic Fish De-Scaler - submitted by Kayleigh Bauer, Josh Hodgkinson, Dylan Prinsloo and Stefan van Aardt.
• Stellenbosch University - SunnySide Apple Packer - submitted by Students J.N. Geldenhuys, C. Liebenberg, D.J. Malan and H. Scheepers.
• Tshwane University of Technology - TUT Egg Sorter - submitted by Greta van der Walt, Charl Strydom, N Nkongolo and S F Baloyi.
• University of Johannesburg - Blitz Burger - submitted by Jason Berry, Warrick Kin, Izak Coetzee and David De Ponte.
• University of the Witwatersrand - Automated Restaurant - submitted by Mduduzi Masuku, Lefa Madire, Meshi Hamese and David Ndeveelo.
Additional Entries for Review and Comment
Two entries, from CPUT and TUT, although not selected as their university's choice - thereby not for competition judging - were considered substantial enough to warrant some time from the judges for review and feedback.
• CPUT – Kebab Machine - submitted by J Van Niekerk, J. Taljaard and J Roux.
• TUT – Air Bot - submitted by Izak Nel, Alfred Barnard, Coenraad Prinsloo and Christiaan Oosthuizen
Click here to access the full Press Release.
October - Festo and SEW Eurodrive ready to adjudicate PneuDrive Challenge entries
A Press Release from Festo reminds followers of the PneuDrive Challenge that this year’s competition will be judged by two judges from each sponsors’ head office in Germany, together with representatives from industry – effectively the students’ future clients (or employers).
Thus far, submissions have been received from Wits, UJ, Stellenbosch and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Universities, as well as from the Cape Peninsula and Tshwane Universities of Technology (CPUT and TUT). Although additional entries from CPUT and TUT were submitted for review and comment, it is understoof that these specific entries will only receive review and comment.
Brian Abbot of Festo highlights that “As sponsors of the competition, SEW Eurodrive and Festo recognise the importance in partnering with higher education institutions to help address the enormous pressures they are under to prepare engineering students for the labour market. We hope that projects like these contribute to developing highly-skilled and creative engineers for future achievements in technology”.
Click here to access the full Press Release.
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02 Sep - TUT Road Show a Success
The PneuDrive Challenge road show team (Rene Rose of SEW Eurodrive, Brian Abbot and Tracey Swart – both of Festo) delivered an overview of the competition on Friday 2nd September at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT).
Although Professor Johan Benade’s students only have less than 6 weeks to achieve what other students have had a chance to design for about 6 months, there is confidence that a strong entry will come out of this group.
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26 August - TUT Roadshow Confirmed
We are excited to annouce that the PneuDrive Roadshow will be visiting the Tshwane University of Technology on Friday 2nd September.
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17 June - Report Template Available for Distribution
When reviewing the range of different approaches to submitting projects, and the difficulties that were sometimes experienced by the judges to work through design information, it was decided to try and present a guideline to students. The template is an attempt to suggest structure to a design project as well as suggest topics that would be interesting and valuable from a business perspective.
Click here to access the guideline / template.
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07 June - SEW Eurodrive Exhibits the well-known KZN Industrial Trade Exhibition
The show which is a highlight among the locals exposes KZN businesses to new and innovative ideas which can be implemented in their market. The coup de grace of the exhibit is the monster Industrial Gear unit which is on display at the SEW stand. Click here to access the Press Release related to this exhibition.
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4 May - SEW Eurodrive and Festo Exhibit at the Process Automation and Information Technology Exhibition at Nasrec.
A working model of a MOVIDRIVE and conveyor belt appropriate for the food and beverage industry is on display and the expo will run until Thursday 26th May 2011.
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26 April - WITS Roadshow Confirmed
We are excited to annouce that the PneuDrive Roadshow will be visiting WITS main campus on 11th May.
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07 April - Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Roadshow Takes Place
Another successful roadshow has just been completed in Port Elizabeth. We look forward to inviting students from NMMU to the energy and ideas being created through the PneuDrive Challenge competition.
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22 February - University of Johannesburg Roadshow Takes Place
The roadshow to UJ was a success with much energy and interest generated. Photo's have been posted to the Facebook page - click here.
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17 February - PneuDrive Roadshow Heading for Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
A Roadshow date has been confirmed for NMMU - 07 April it is.
11 February - PneuDrive Road Show Keeps Moving and Other News
Wits University confirms their participation in the 2011 PneuDrive Challenge. The following dates for the PneuDrive Road Show visiting campuses have been confirmed:
* University of Cape Town – 14 April
* Stellenbosch University – 12 April
* University of Johannesburg - 22 Feb (as updated earlier below)
08 February - Stellenbosch University confirms two teams have entered
Prof Anton H Basson confirmed that two teams will be entering this year (raising the competitive bar certainly because submissions from Stellenbosch have won for the last 3 years). He also confirmed that more than 100 final year students will be present at the road show as part of their Mechatronics course.
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02 February - PneuDrive Road Show to the University of Johannesburg
The PneuDrive Roadshow will be visiting the UJ campus on 22 February.
UJ students will also be visiting a food and beverage company on the 10th of February - we look forward to ideas and feedback.
Roadshows are being arranged for UCT and Stellenbosch are being planned and will be confirmed later.
24 January - The South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE) confirm their participation for the 2011 competition
Stanley Bridgens, Business Director of the SAIEE, has confirmed that they are eager to support and endorse the competition this year. The winners of this year's competition stand to be granted free SAIEE membership (providing there is compliance with rules and regulations).
20 January 2011 - Vacancy - Mechatronic Engineer (SEW Eurodrive)
2011 Greetings PneuDrive Subscribers
This news may be of interest to you.
SEW Eurodrive is looking to employ a qualified mechatronic engineer.
No work experience is necessary.
This person will become the application specialist for the food and beverage industry.
Training will be provided to equip you for this position in terms of product knowledge.
Training will take place locally as well as in Germany at the SEW head office.
The candidate will take over as the SEW SA TASC team member in due course (essentially this person will need to be able to competently represent SEW Eurodrive South Africa at international product meetings).
The position is based in JHB and if you are from any other region, you will need to relocate to JHB. There is also travel involved - local and international.
Please email your CV to info@pneudrive.co.za as soon as possible.
If you do not hear back from us within a period of 3 weeks, please consider the application unsuccessful.
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18 Nov … The Winning Students Have Landed
2010 PneuDrive Challenge winners, students Ivan Deetlefs; Alex Oelofse; Thabo Mofokeng and Ryan du Plessis.from Stellenbosch University, were officially welcomed at Frankfurt airport and on their wat to visit the SEW Eurodrive and Festo head offices in Germany. We’re looking forward to some feedback on how their trip went. You can access the tour schedule by clicking here.
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12 Nov ... We have lift Off! PneuDrive Challenge 2011 Rules and Information Posted
The PneuDrive team has managed to get the 2011 competition rules bedded down before the close of 2010, in order to allow interested universities and students more time to plan for 2011 and their participation in the competition.
Please review the guidelines carefully before considering entering the competition. For more information, access the PneuDrive Challenge 2011 Rules document.
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01 Nov... Kick-off to PneuDrive Challenge 2011
The PneuDrive Challenge 2011 is officially on the go. The rules for the 2011 competition were announced in Johannesburg on 28 October 2010. The competition is entering its fourth successful year and is open to engineering students from all South African universities. “The challenge this year is for students to design innovative applications in the food and beverage industry” comments Rene Rose - National Marketing Manager for SEW Eurodrive and spokesperson for the PneuDrive Team.
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23 Aug ... Last two competition summaries posted:
1. From the University of Johannesburg - Automated Goalkeeper with Return Function - Competing students: Adrian Levy; Stephen Rose; Milan Isvarlal; John Taylor
Click here to download a summary of the design.
2. From the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal - The Automatic Goalkeeper Coach
Competing students: Calvin Cunniffe; Cameron Israel; Leemeshen Naidoo; Friedrich W H Schulenburg
Click here to download a summary of the design.
16 Aug ... Two competition summaries have been posted:
1. From Stellenbosch University - The Tshabalala Soccer Ball Shooting Machine - competing Students - Ivan Deetlefs; Alex Oelofse; Thabo Mofokeng and Ryan du Plessis.
Click here to access a summary of the Stellenbosch University entry.
And a nice touch from the Stellenbosch students was something that could be loaded onto YouTube:
YouTube video ... 01. Tshabalala Ball Shooting Video
YouTube video ... 02. Tshabalala Moving on Track Video
2. From Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University - The Automatic Golf Teeing Machine - competing students Mark Geel; Sebastian Pillay; Jonathan Petrie; and Dylan Townsend.
Click here to access a summary of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University entry.
By the way, the Tshaba touch was nice ...! Dankie Tshaba ...!
Two more interesting entries from the universities of Johannesburg and Kwa-Zulu Natal will be loaded as soon as possible.
05 Aug ... Press Release - Three in a row for PneuDrive Challenge 2010 winners!
The winners have been officially announced to the press. Click here for the Press Release.
02 Aug ... Winners announced
South Africa: The winner of the PneuDrive Challenge 2010 was announced in Johannesburg on 29 July 2010 after two days of intensive judging by a panel of industry experts. The University of Stellenbosch took the top spot for the third time in a row with their “Tshabalala Soccer Ball Shooting Machine”. The design was done by four Stellenbosch Mechanical Engineering students: Ivan Deetlefs; Alex Oelofse; Thabo Mofokeng and Ryan du Plessis.
The University of KwaZulu-Natal, supervised by Anthony Walker came in second. The students were Calvin Cunniffe, Cameron Israel, Leemeshen Naidoo, and Friedrich W H Schulenburg
Well done to the winning team and Professor Basson ..!
Click here to view a summarised description of the entries.
27 July ... Official judging of the entries is taking place
Analysing and evaluating of final submissions will be done by our judging panel, made up of the following delegates:
* Ken Nixon - SAIEE representative and Senior Lecturer (BSc(Eng)(Electrical), MSc, PhD (Wits), SMSAIEE, MIEEE)
* Chris Oliver - Didactic Consultant - Festo
* Norman Maleka - Electronics Manager - SEW Eurodrive
* Antonie le Roux - Bateman (Project Engineer / PR Eng B.Mech)
* Dale Oosthuizen - Technical Director - Abtech Enterprises
Good luck to those who have made it this far. Click here to view a summarised description of the entries.
21 July ...Four entries using “Motion in Sport” as their design theme have been submitted for final judging
The four entries that will undergo judging on the 27th and 28 July are:
• An Automatic Golf Teeing Machine from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
• A Soccer Ball Shooting Machine from Stellenbosch University
• An Automated Goalkeeper with Return Function from the University of Johannesburg
• An Automatic Goalkeeper Coach from the University of Kwa-Zullu Natal.
Click here to view a summarised description of the entries.
Detailed summaries of entries will be posted to the website by the end of July.
06 July ... Additional judge added to the judging panel
A senior lecturer from the University of the Witwatersrand - Ken J. Nixon BSc(Eng)(Electrical), MSc, PhD (Wits), SMSAIEE, MIEEE - has kindly agreed to add his knowledge and experience to the judging panel.
06 July ... Judging to take place on 27th and 28th July
All presentations and projects have been handed in and will be forwarded to the Festo head offices in Johannesburg where the jugding panel will go through the submissions together and discuss their findings. Each judge brings various strengths to the table and scores projects individually. Scores are added up at the end of the two days in order to decide on a winner.
30 June ... The competition is closed for entries
As mentioned on all presentations and correspondence, and noted on this website, the competition is closed for further entries.
19 June ... Crown Publications - Watt Now to publish an advert shortly
With less than two weeks to go, we've decided to generate some publicity to not only encourage competing students to focus their energy on fine-tuning their submissions, but to also update the engineering industry that the competition is closing and that they can start preparing themselves for some innovative student ideas and designs that will be posted onto this site during July and August.
01 June ... Competition judges getting on board
We are pleased to confirm that the following judges have been announced for the competition:
Ken Nixon - SAIEE representative and Senior Lecturer (BSc(Eng)(Electrical), MSc, PhD (Wits), SMSAIEE, MIEEE)
Chris Oliver - Didactic Consultant - Festo
Norman Maleka - Electronics Manager - SEW Eurodrive
Antonie le Roux - Bateman (Project Engineer / PR Eng B.Mech)
Dale Oosthuizen - Technical Director - Abtech Enterprises
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24 May ... PneuDrive Advert placed on the Watt Now website
The web presence of the PneuDrive Challenge has been expanded a little more with Crown Publications, who publish the Watt Now magazine, agreeing to advertise the competition on the home page of their website. We look forward to building this relationship so that they can become an increasing part of the competition next year.
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26 April ... Introducing a Hints and Tips Page
Energy and activity by numerous teams in the PneuDrive Challenge seems to be gaining some decent momentum, so we've decided to create a page for hints and tips that will help students who are registered on this website with some valuable insight and information.
Access the hints and tips by clicking here.
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01 April ... The Festo Fluiddraw software has been made available for free to competing students who are wanting to access and view the Festo symbols library. The download of the software (52 Mb - so ADSL connection is recommended) will be available until 13 April 2010.
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The download for the Festo Fluidraw Software is no longer available.
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