Student expertise on display

Our future engineers and computer scientists will this month showcase their innovative ideas for our society to industry and the general public in a series of exhibitions.

Final-year students from four schools within the University of Adelaide's Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences will exhibit their work at the Adelaide Showgrounds and in the new 6-star Innova21 building on campus.

The Adelaide Showground's Goyder Pavilion on Wednesday 27 October will be filled with projects including a solar thermal air conditioner, a self-balancing electric unicycle, a wind turbine for urban environments and a robotic 'graffiti artist'.

These are just some of the more than 60 projects on display at the School of Mechanical Engineering's 16th annual Honours Project Exhibition, open to the public from 9.00am-4.00pm. This year there will also be an invitation-only launch the evening before, Tuesday 26 October, with a public preview from 7.00pm-9.00pm.

"The exhibition has evolved into a celebration of ideas, innovation and engineering talent," said the Head of the School of Mechanical Engineering, Associate Professor Bassam Dally. "The projects and the exhibition are well supported by industry and government, and attract many high school students, teachers and the general public.

"It gives our students an opportunity to both develop their presentation skills and to show and explain their ideas to potential employers and the public.

"The staff are very proud of the annual exhibition. It demonstrates the skills level and breadth of talent of their graduating students, and the hard work that has gone towards solving real engineering challenges facing our society."

During October, there will be a further four public exhibitions in the exhibition space on the ground floor of the university's new Innova 21 building.

On Thursday 14 October, the School of Chemical Engineering will hold its Research Poster Presentations from 11.30am-2.30pm.

On Friday 29 October, 10.00am-12.30pm, the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering will exhibit final-year projects, including a musically-excited water fountain, a bicycle lane traffic enforcer, and a radio relay system for remote sensors in the Antarctic.

From 1.30pm-3.30pm, the School of Computer Science will hold its Honours and Masters Project Exhibition, including a project in sports computer vision enabling accurate tracking of football players around the field, and software to help collect and combine data from multiple sources to help in emergency management situations.

From 4.00pm-6.00pm, Computer Science will also hold its Mobile and Wireless Networks Exhibition, including mobile phone applications showing the real-time location of buses fitted with GPS trackers - so commuters can tell whether they've missed their bus - and an English language learning aid.

All of the exhibitions are free and open to the public.

Story by Robyn Mills