The Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) has solidified its global appeal following a recent collaboration with United Kingdom’s leading tertiary institution, Oxford University who graced the two day Zimbabwe Laboratory Equipment Hackathon in Harare last week.
The technology event was focused on nurturing students to design low cost laboratory equipment using affordable local materials. The major aim of the hackathon was to give students a platform to design and develop laboratory instruments under the tutelage of experienced scientists from the region and visiting Oxford University.
From the 10th to the 12th of June, over 100 students gathered to produce 12 teams which went through an intensive two day practical session to assemble locally available equipment and develop it into lab equipment. The participants were drawn from undergraduate students across Zimbabwe’s universities and colleges.
Students were challenged to form a team comprised of scientists, engineers, computer scientists, economists, and social scientists who merged to design low cost laboratory equipment using Arduino starter kits and hardware.
All LabHackZim teams managed to design and build workable laboratory equipment using simple materials. The student teams’ projects included digital microscopes, centrifuges, Bioreactors, magnetic stirrers and PCRs. The hackathon also included hands on demonstrations and workshops such as how to make a $10 microscope, working with Arduinos sponsored by Netro Electronics, 3D printing and 3D scanning by local companies; 3DGuys and 3D Kings, using Github for projects.
The winning project was a centrifuge by team SMEVFY which was made from discarded desks. A number of teams from HIT participated and won awards including; Team Bioreactor which won the award for the Most Promising Project, Team EMRECC winning the prize for integrating the most components, and Team BioNova, led by the SANBio Student Ambassador Tendai Gukuta, who won the prize for the Most Frugal Project – a centrifuge made from kitchen equipment.
