Crazy and innovative works of computer and design engineering by students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal were displayed this week at their Annual Design Project Open Day.
The work included everything from a pet feeding machine to devices that improve sight, computer-controlled tankers, software and technologies that could end electricity theft.
The students – who are in their honours year in computer engineering, electrical engineering and electronics – even modified and improved concepts to existing systems used the world over.
Ross Holder, a computer engineering student, developed a “smart office surveillance” system to help companies fight theft. He said although most companies had CCTV cameras, they still required a person to monitor them to detect crime.
Holder’s application would train the system to detect certain behaviour, keeping a trail of all suspicious movements made by people in the work space. “We can even train the system to look out for people who fall asleep at work.
“We can teach the system what movements to respond to and it will take snapshots when the trained movements happen,” he said.
Shivar Dhurgaduh, a computer engineering student, showcased his “smart glasses for the partially sighted” which used computer technology and the principles of a camera to feed images to the glasses.
He is yet to test the device, but said he is looking forward to the results as the hardware was better than what was available.
Tau Bohloko, a computer engineering student, developed a “crowd monitoring with facial expressions analysis” system which, he believed, was crucial for advertisers and marketers to detect how people responded to their products.
Using a hidden camera placed on a digital advertising board at a shopping mall, the system he created would relay information to the client.
“The device will be able to detect happy, neutral or negative facial expressions. After detecting the consumers’ faces, the snapshot is put on a graph to determine how they reacted to the advert,” he said.
“Marketing is important to every company for generating revenue,” he said.
Using the captured images, he said the app could also assist clients to understand more about how certain age and race groups responded to the adverts.
Mayibongwe Zilawe, an electrical engineering student, showcased her “distributor feeder monitoring using SEL 2032” – a replica design that would isolate illegal electricity connections.
Using Zilawe’s design, energy producers would be able to detect and shut down electrical supply to the area where the electricity was being stolen.
Using a satellite system, the energy distributor would be alerted to where the illegal electricity connection was and what time the theft had happened.
“The system would shut down to protect the transformer. We would monitor the system and see where the faults are and, by using satellite technology, the problem is reported with a time stamp and location,” she said.
Robert Mawbey, an electronics student who was part of the team that designed the UKZN Solar Car, developed a computer-operated tanker.
Using wi-fi to communicate with the device, he can operate it from a kilometre away. He modified current computer systems to develop his own code and said his technology could be used in future to implement electric driverless vehicles.