Mechanical Engineering students from IT Sligo collected their Engineers Ireland Innovation Award for 2016 at a special ceremony in Dublin last Friday night.
Colm Morley, Shane Timoney, Caolan Treanor and Conor Walsh won the Innovative Student Engineer of the Year Award, sponsored by Siemens, and a prize of €2000 for their final year project which they designed to help improve farm safety.
Their project, entitled: ‘Automatically fed post driver’ (pictured below) allows tractor operators to drive posts without having to dismount their tractors, significantly improving the safety and efficiency of the process, and was deemed the best innovation by the Engineers Ireland judging panel.
Previously there had been no post drivers that are able to hold, feed and drive a post without the operator having to dismount the tractor.
A human-powered washing machine, an advanced limb prosthesis, a clean-energy inflatable tower, a flexible robotic arm and a safe-release building hook were among other projects also shortlisted for the final.
The Automatically Fed Post Driver, designed by a group of IT Sligo’s Mechanical Engineering students
The Engineers Ireland Innovative Student Engineer of the Year Award is an annual competition that focuses on showcasing innovation excellence.
For the past seven years students from IT Sligo’s Level 7 Mechanical Engineering programme have been shortlisted for the final, winning the competition outright on three occasions, in 2010, 2014 and again this year.
Photo Caption:
The Engineers Ireland Innovative Student Engineer of the Year Award for 2016, sponsored by Siemens was presented to IT Sligo Mechanical Engineering students Shane Timoney, Caolan Treanor, Conor Walsh, Colm Morley by Michael O’Connor, Corporate Communication Manager, Siemens Ltd.