Adelaidean - News from the University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide Australia
December 2004 Issue
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Students engineer tomorrow's ideas today

The State's best young engineering minds were on full display recently.

The University of Adelaide's Mechanical Engineering Project Exhibition showcases the talents of fourth-year students enrolled in the course.

Mr Antoni Blazewicz, the university staff member coordinating the 2004 projects, said the exhibition gave some of the best young minds in the State the chance to display their initiative not only to the general public but also potential employers.

"By displaying these projects in an exhibition like this, the students had the additional benefit of direct contact with industry, providing valuable experience and future contacts," he said.

"Many employers have commented that they see the involvement with the industry-sponsored projects equivalent to another 12 months' work experience. This gives these students an additional advantage when entering the graduate employment market."

Some of the projects on display included:

  • An Artificial Intelligence Robot (or AIBO) that could perform duties due to pattern recognition cards while also recognising the owner's face and voice (pictured with its developer, Rebecca Moroney);

  • An autonomous window-cleaning robot, which operates by a programmed system and follows a predefined cleaning path;

  • And a robotic pool player, created for entertainment purposes, with many of its technologies that can be applied to a wide variety of industrial automation applications.

Mr Blazewicz said he was very happy with the success of the day and many opportunities had arisen for the students.

"It went very well with quite a lot of people. All industry awards were awarded and some students received job offers, which is very pleasing," he said.

"The judging panel was very impressed with the quality of projects and enthusiasm of our final-year students."

The best overall project was by James Driver and Dylan Thorpe who designed, built and controlled a double inverted pendulum, which is used in evaluating and comparing various control theories.

Story by Natalie De Nadai

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Mr Antoni Blazewicz
Photo by Natalie De Nadai

Mr Antoni Blazewicz
Photo by Natalie De Nadai

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