Waterford Gets A Self-Drive Car Thanks To Wit Electronic Engineering Students

Eight engineering students at Waterford Institute of Technology from across the South-East recently achieved a first for the Applied Robotics Lab with a Self-Driving Robotic Car.

After just 12 weeks of working on the project students on the one-year BEng in Electronic Engineering, an add on course for the two-year Higher Certificate in Engineering in Electronic Engineering had a Toyota Corolla safely finish a test drive on the institute’s Cork Road campus.

The students are part of the WIT School of Engineering Applied Electronics Stream, a study pathway that allows a student to get an honours degree in Applied Electronics without the prerequisite of Higher Level Maths.

The students were divided up into groups, the Vision team, the Acceleration Systems team, the braking team and the Steering Control Systems team. The Vision team was manned by James Doughty from New Ross and Shane Shortiss, Carrick-on-Suir. Students in the Acceleration Systems team were Adrian Skowron from New Ross and Mark Ormsby from Castledermot. The Braking team included students Mark McManus from Waterford city and Mark Dungan from Mullinavat. Micheal Wall, from Ballinamult was part of the Steering Control Systems team, along with Jenny Ball from Tramore.

“Achieving the ‘White Board to Self-Drive Car’ project in 12 weeks, eight Waterford Institute of Technology Electronic Engineering students have proven that anything is possible, if you keep moving forward. They have just completed a project never before attempted within WIT, in 12 weeks and it worked. One of the coolest sounds we have ever heard on a project was listening to the car increasing revs as its gets ready to go,” said lecturer Jason Berry, the Lead Engineer in WIT’s Applied Robotics Lab (ARL) lectures on the Higher Cert in Electronics, BEng in Electronics, BSc in Applied Computing, Masters in Electronic Engineering and Post Graduate Diploma in Business in Innovation Practice.

“The project is the bread and butter of what any engineer is all about – figuring stuff out for yourself. Third year is a big transition for our students into the world of self =-learning.”

Head of the School of Engineering at WIT, Ken Thomas outlined the prospects for students of electronic engineering.

“Electronic Engineers are in high demand and short supply in Ireland. We in WIT want more Electronics students to equip them with the cutting-edge knowledge and skills that will allow them be very successful – and have great fun along the way with projects like Robo Car.”

The team have since recorded a test drive for IrishTV’s Waterford County Matters show and a video of the initial test drive is also available on www.wit.ie/selfdrivecar2016 and WIT social media accounts.

Previous graduates have been employed by Intel, Honeywell, Ericsson, Dell, Analog Devices, Bausch & Lomb, EMC.

Career opportunities for graduates of this course exist in various areas such as telecommunications, software and computer industry, research and development, electronic and IC design, production, test/maintenance, and control/automation departments.

About Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT)

Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) is a university-level institution in the South-East of Ireland with over 10,000 students and 1,000 staff.

WIT offers tuition and research programs in various areas from Higher Certificate to Degree to PhD.

WIT is the major provider of higher education in the South East region of Ireland and one of the largest IOT’s in Ireland. The Institute’s range and scope reflect the changing needs of the southeast as well as the country as a whole.

The range of academic programs is exceptionally extensive, ranging from Higher Certificate right through to post-doctoral research and covering the Humanities, Health and Nursing, Science and Informatics, Engineering and Architecture, Business and Education.