A student from South East Technological University (SETU) was part of a team that achieved a high ranking at the recent International Society of Automation Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (<a href="https://www.isasait.ca/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ISA SAIT</a>) Student Games.
Third year BEng (Hons) in Automation Engineering student Fergal Kelly says he has made “lasting connections” after his team finished in sixth place at the games which were held in Calgary, Canda.
Fergal was one of four Irish students to attend what is the world’s largest annual student-led industrial automation games. The innovative competition focuses not just on engineering achievements but also on cross-college cooperation, where students aim to build meaningful working relationships and friendships with attendees from across the world.
I was delighted to be granted this excellent opportunity by SETU and ISA Ireland to travel to Canada and experience the buzz of Calgary, the competition, and the hospitality of the SAIT Student Games committee and my fellow competitors.”
SETU BEng (Hons) in Automation Engineering student, Fergal Kelly
Challenges
On arrival at the games, participants are placed into randomised international teams of four before being assigned a series of collaborative tasks. The six tasks were: MacGyver (site breakdown), device maintenance, loop tuning, distributed control system creation, SCADApack, and job hazard analysis. Of these, each team is required to compete in four.
Fergal’s team came sixth overall, with just a handful of points separating them and the overall winners. The combined score for each task is taken from a combination of technical knowledge, teamwork, and safety observation scores.
Speaking following the event, Fergal said, “I was delighted to be granted this excellent opportunity by SETU and ISA Ireland to travel to Canada and experience the buzz of Calgary, the competition, and the hospitality of the SAIT Student Games committee and my fellow competitors.”
A 'fantastic three days'
He continued, “It was a fantastic three days of competing, making new friends and travelling to great places such as Banff in the Rocky Mountains for team building.”
SETU’s BEng (Hons) in Automation Engineering is a three-year course which covers all elements of modern automation engineering from electronics to interfacing, databases and robotics. These are highly sought-after skills in sectors such as the pharmaceutical, medical device and food industries. The course was designed in consultation with several principal medical device, pharmaceutical and food industry employers in Ireland’s south east with the aim of producing modern automation engineering graduates.
Praise
Dominick O’Brien, lecturer in Engineering Technology at SETU praised Fergal following his strong showing at the games, noting his role as a “great ambassador for our Automation Engineering programme and for SETU overall.
“Fergal’s a positive and vibrant person, who always strives to do his best. We are proud to have a student like Fergal representing us,” he said.
Picture (L-R): Irish students who participated in the event. Patrick Aherne, Munster Technological University (MTU), Odhran Cantwell, MTU; Fergal Kelly, South East Technological University (SETU); Cormac O’Neill, Technological University Dublin (TUD).
