For 24-year-old student Moses Joseph Mayimela, designing a winning M2M solution was just a matter of 'using ICTs to solve problems'.
Mayimela, a second year computer science student at Pretoria University, won the Mind2Machine Breakthrough Developer of the Year award for his prototype 'Scoopsome' monitoring system that allows for the tracking of perishable and non-perishable goods that are being stored in fridges and transported over long distances by truck, train or any other moving transport. The system monitors and controls the temperature, humidity, vibration and light impacting goods in transit, as well as the GPS coordinates of the goods. The system provides an early warning prompt to ensure that the goods arrive to their destinations still in good condition, reducing the risk of food damage and waste in transit. Any number of sensors can be integrated into the system, which can be controlled using mobile devices.
The Breakthrough Developer of the Year Award recognises innovations solutions with commercial potential that are not yet ready for commercialisation.
"A friend told me about the Mind2Machine challenge. I went through the categories and when I saw the foods in transit category, I decided 'ok, I think I can solve this one'. I had always wanted to create a solution to track something that is always moving, so the competition was a good excuse for me to put the project together and solve the problem," he says.
"I've always been interested in electronics, and the more you get involved in electronics, the more you realise that at some stage electronics require computing and some level of intelligence."
His first attempt at programming was at age 18, Mayimela says: "I was reading a book on programming, so and the first thing I did was the hello world programme that everyone does." However, his focus is not solely on programming, he says - it is just one of many tools that can be harnessed for solving real world problems. Mayimela plans to complete his degree and hopes to later start his own business working with both software and hardware to solve problems.
Mayemela, who grew up in Daveyton, is the first member of his family to attend university and the first to enter a career in IT. He had not told his parents about the challenge, he said: "I tried to keep the competition on the low so if I don't win anything, nobody would be disappointed."
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