Tanaka Mahanya
UNIVERSITY of Zimbabwe Vice Chancellor, Paul Mapfumo, has said the institution’s win at the recently-held Pan-African Robotics competition (PARC) in Senegal will contribute to the development of e-agriculture.
The University of Zimbabwe Robotics Club (UoZ Robotics) were crowned silver medalists.
In a statement, Mapfumo congratulated the students on winning.
“The Vice Chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe, Professor Paul Mapfumo, on behalf of the University Senate, University of Zimbabwe Council, the Executive, Staff and Students, expresses his heartfelt congratulations to the University of Zimbabwe Robotics Club (UoZ Robotics) under the Faculty of Computer engineering Informatics and Communications.
“They became Silver Medalists at the recently held Pan-African Robotics Competition (PARC) at the Dakar American University of Science and Technology (DAUST), Somone, Senegal, from July 23 to 30.
“The team comprised Marlvern Chimbwanda, Phionah Tariro Chikwene, Malvin Munashe Haparimwi and Evans Sabvure and was supervised by Mr Peter Worsnop, Ms Patience Mpofu and Mrs Susan Mupimidzi.
“This year’s competition focused on Agricultural Technologies (AgTech) where University students and young professionals from across Africa were challenged to solve complex real-world problems using Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.”
He said the students came up with state-of-the-art robotics tools to develop an Agricultural Robot (AgRobot) for autonomous farm navigation, weed detection using computer vision and autonomous seed planting.
“The winning innovation will undoubtedly contribute significantly to e-agriculture in our very own Zimbabwean agricultural sector.”