Unexpected student invention

Contrary to the quiet atmosphere of the university yard on Tet days, the open laboratory of the University of Technical Education in Ho Chi Minh City is located in a deep corner still bustling people in and out. It becomes a 'base' for future mechatronics engineers to research and manufacture machines. They live here 24 hours a day, including Saturdays or holidays to wait for student-built machines.

Vending machines pay by many methods and screens
Student-made touch screen is only a few million VND.

24/7 lab

' Got it, the machine is running well ', after the student 's announcement, all 5 sleeping teachers and students jumped up and ran to the vending machine that could pay in many ways. Put a note in the machine, choose a drink and wait anxiously. Less than 1 minute, the can of water slowly ran out with the extra money. As if to firmly believe in the device, they continued to control on the tiny touch screen and repeatedly tried with smart coins and payment cards . By the time the machine understood and answered the command, not once The flaw of the sky was also bright. Both teachers and students have forgotten about going back to bed, instead, the only concern now is that the test machine has been completed for 5 months.

The group of final year students of the Department of Mechatronics in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Technical Education in Ho Chi Minh City has not yet forgotten the moment the automatic vending machine paid by many successful testing methods. With this topic, for the first time, the vending machine in Vietnam is controlled by a touch screen, making it easy to manipulate and advertise on the screen. Advantages compared to the previous version (also of students of University of Technical Education), the machine is capable of selling many products with more than 34 types of food and drink. It is capable of receiving and rotting paper money or paying with convenient smart cards, replacing the old machine which only pays with inconvenient coins.

Nguyen Tan It, the leader, remembers: ' Seeing the vending machine in the street like a scrap of iron, no one uses it for inconvenient coins, I and the group think of a machine that needs a lot of convenient payment more people buy it . ' Thinking of doing it, the group presented the idea to Dr. Nguyen Truong Thinh, Head of Mechatronics Department and received support and guidance. 4 young people started to buy steel for design, manufacture into a vending machine, and then started to study the control principle.

For 5 months, every day the group was present at the lab from 6-7 am until 10 pm. Particularly on peak days for the test machine to sleep again. The biggest difficulty of the main machine is touch-screen control, so the most difficult problem is to write a connection program that creates ' understanding ', compatibility between the control brain and the machine's action. Finished making the machine, catching the test machine. The machine runs well, I think of the interface, aesthetics for the next version . When the machine is ready to complete, it is time for the group to receive good news when units order with the condition that the machine must be smart and cheaper than imported machine price many times. The group was hard at work to conquer new challenges.

Next to us at the open lab, Dr. Nguyen Truong Thinh boasted: " Students have a lot of good ideas, practical, close to life needs like automatic washing machine paying by coins, Traffic control robots, robots that greet guests . Among the research student groups, there are those who only live in Dong Thap, Quang Ngai but have not visited the house for the whole year . ' about the steel bending machine with magnetic fields to replace the people in the shipbuilding industry into everyday shapes .

The inventions . cheap

Dr. Vo Viet Cuong, Head of Scientific Management Department of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education, said: Students are allowed to create a scientific research environment from year 3, giving them the opportunity to apply their learned knowledge and keep fire with passion for research and manufacturing. Scientific research activities help students have the opportunity to turn ideas into reality, make machines and robots applied in practice, but the price is much cheaper than the market. Only about VND 500,000 to 1 million, students were able to make efficient machines and robots. From the idea of ​​a robot that replaced humans to monitor and control overhead systems, hundreds of students made robots that climb fast rope, to coin-operated automatic washing machines that cost only a few hundred thousand dong.

Lead us to see the students' machines, Dr. Nguyen Truong Thinh shared: All research ideas are rooted in real needs but must meet very 3-in-1 criteria for students: cheap - beautiful - durable. These ideas began to emerge when ambitious teachers and students smashed the idea that robots were iron and steel with a " soft " look on robots. The idea of ​​making biomimic robots has a beautiful shape, simulating real creatures with high applicability. Also derived from ideas unlike anyone, Mr. Nguyen Truong Thinh and his group of students made fish-shaped robots used to study underwater, diving at difficult depths of people with only a few million to study. rescue, manufacture.