…and a year later, I was looking at the projects realizing I didn’t even know their names. Last year, during SWEP, we got a front-row seat to the Mechatronics final-year project presentations, where I took my precious time to learn the names of every single project. Was that sudden burst of academic dedication inspired by the MTE SWEP technicians watching our every move? Let’s pretend it wasn’t. Aren’t I a serious student?
This year was no different. Talk about nostalgia. I found myself right back in the crowd, experiencing the chaos all over again.
One thing hit me almost immediately while scanning the room: there was only one drone. If I were to speak like some tech bro, I’d probably say, “The era of quadcopters is dead, and AI has officially taken the drone developers’ jobs.” Never mind me.
Oh, right. Did I stutter? I know all the project names from last year? I don’t remember a single one. In fact, the only thing my brain chose to store from that day was that there were about three drones. And one of them literally flew away mid-presentation, never to return. Wild stuff.
Well… we’re not here to talk about last year. Let’s talk about this year’s lineup. There were about twelve projects in total (can’t state how many exactly) and I actually cannot remember the official name of a single one. Mostly kept them in memory by what they did: there was a hexapod that did something I can’t quite remember, a food-serving robot that served food autonomously, the drone I mentioned earlier that used satellite imagery and mapping to water plants. Or maybe it was mapping and imagery with satellite-assisted precision agriculture. Doesn’t matter. In tech, if you string enough impressive words together, people start nodding.
Onwards, there was also an automatic poultry management system and ironically, the only actual name I remember; don’t ask me why. Chicks Checks out.
Walking down the lane of these exciting projects and wasn’t my interest for mechatronics revived? On downwards I went and there it was; a spectacle you hope to never occur while you’re presenting your project. There was an incubator. The incubator most definitely did something but don’t ask me what. The incubator stopped working. Not yesterday. Not during testing. Right there. During the presentation.
The silence lasted about three seconds before a lecturer from the crowd came to the rescue. The team’s entire defense rested on a lecturer shouting from the crowd, “And it was working just now oo!”. A single sentence carrying so heavy emotional weight. Wilder stuff.
Onwards, there was what I’d like to name “SmartCart”. A supermarket trolley equipped with a scanner designed to tally up your groceries and of course ensure you don’t sneak extra snacks or the wrong goods inside. We don’t like sticky fingers here. There also was this IoT smart parking lot design that measures free spaces in real-time. It could calculate expected vacancy by the time you arrive which was topped up with a gate that opens automatically so you can feel like royalty. Comfortable, yeah?
Closing off the exhibition were a budget-friendly weed cutter for maize farms, an automatic bottling machine, and an unmanned surveillance vehicle. By this point, I think I fully accept that my brain was operating on vibes rather than project titles after continuously trying to remember names and couldn’t. The weed cutter was there to make life easier for maize farmers. The bottling machine was busy bottling things automatically, just as advertised. Then there was the surveillance vehicle, quietly rolling around looking like it was on a mission. What that mission actually was? I honestly couldn’t tell you. Cut me some slack. There were like… twelve projects.
Jokes aside, walking through the exhibition reminded me why I always look forward to these presentations. Behind every project was a group of students who spent months building, testing, fixing, breaking, and fixing all over again. Some projects worked flawlessly, some decided to develop stage fright, but every single one represented countless hours of effort. So, to everyone who presented, well done. And to the incubator team… I sincerely hope it’s working just now.
