ARTICLE

Dart throwing robot wins PneuDrive challenge

An automated robot, designed by a student team from the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering of the University of Stellenbosch, has won the inaugural PneuDrive Challenge.

The PneuDrive challenge was established by engineering companies SEW Eurodrive South Africa, part of the SEW Eurodrive group of companies, and Festo South Africa, part of the Festo group of companies.

The annual competition is aimed at third- and fourth-year university students in the engineering faculties from mechanical engineering, electronic engineering and mechatronic engineering studies at universities and universities of technology. Students represent their tertiary education facilities and are encouraged to design an automated product that would incorporate the products supplied to the university by SEW Eurodrive and Festo.

SEW Eurodrive marketing manager René Rose reports that although the entry of the University of Stellenbosch has no direct application to industry, it was selected as the winning entry on the basis that the entry was technically accurate

University of Stellenbosch team member Billy de Lange explains that the robot was designed to launch a standard dart, weighing between 25 g and 40 g, towards the dart board 2,37 m away from the robot. The robot’s design includes the ability to rotate in the azimuth, which changes the direction of fire, as well as elevation axis. Speeds at which the dart is launched from the machine vary from 4,4 m/s to 10 m/s.

He adds that every aspect of the robot is mechanised, this includes the reloading and firing mechanism. The only interaction from the user is inserting the input parameters, and selecting the reload or stop options.

He adds that every aspect of the robot is mechanised, this includes the reloading and firing mechanism. The only interaction from the user is inserting the input parameters, and selecting the reload or stop options.

The University of Pretoria, and University of Cape Town were placed second and third in the competition. The University of Pretoria designed a universal autonomous machining platform, while the University of Cape Town designed a fruit-picking robot.

Although the second and third placed entries have more practical use in industry, University of Stellenbosch team member Pieka Grobbelaar reports that practicality was not the foremost prerequisite for the team.

This article was taken from: http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/