KOC Organizes the 2nd Edition of Science Innovation Competition
Social responsibility figures prominently in the activities of KOC, and every activity in this area is of particular interest, as well as material and moral support from the higher management, as part of its mission.
As the younger generation is a cornerstone of the renaissance and progress of societies, the Company has devoted a lot of efforts and invested many resources to lend a hand to them to utilize their creative capabilities to serve the community and raise the country's position regionally and globally alike. KOC always seeks to support projects and initiatives that enhance the Kuwaiti youth and open up vast opportunities to enable them to fulfil their role effectively.
To this end, the Company has recently organized an award ceremony for the 2nd edition of the "Science Innovation Competition", which was held over three days, in which teams from Kuwait University, the American University of Kuwait, the Australian College of Kuwait and the International Movement for Leisure Activities in Science and Technology, "MILSET". The prototypes and designs that participated in showed that the youth in Kuwait know no boundaries of creativity and excellence in ideas and applications.
The competition was held on the 27th and 28th of January 2020 at Ahmad al Jaber Oil and Gas Exhibition, while bringing together groups of students from different universities around Kuwait to create projects which promote innovation in design and engineering. The competition witnessed the participation of 14 team projects in total. As in all prominent events, here we highlight the details of the competition in terms of organization, competition and creativity that was embraced by the higher management in KOC.
17 projects
17 projects competed for awards, 14 of which are in the universities category and included 5 projects for each of the American University in Kuwait and the Australian College in Kuwait, and 4 projects for Kuwait University, while MILSET participated in three projects in the field of robot and Arduino. All entries included designs and applications in various fields, such as robotics, electrical engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, and computer engineering.
Youth Are the Future
After the first two days devoted to preparing and presenting projects to the jury, an award ceremony was held on the third day, under the auspices of the KOC CEO, Imad Mahmoud Sultan. At the beginning of the ceremony, Manager, Public Relations and Information Group, Mohammed Al-Basry, delivered a speech in which he paid tribute to the attendees, and representatives of universities and institutions whose students participated in the competition, expressing his pleasure at meeting students who represent the young generation, "whom we are confident that they represent the future of our beloved country. We pin our hopes on the distinguished elites, who we look at as a model in today's event, and we look forward to a future in which they would take lead in the productive sectors in our country."
Al-Basry went on to say that last year's KOC Science Innovation Competition was highly successful and well attended. Therefore, the Company decided to organize it for the second time, pointing out that the number of participants increased, as did the level of participation, which showed the great progress achieved by the students.
Al-Basri commended all participants in commendable projects, as the students presented designs that show the substantial efforts they made. He thanked the jury, and emphasized that the mission of its members was very difficult. However, he added that he is confident in their selection of winning projects. He also thanked all participants from "MILSET", which he believed is a pioneer in in caring for youth, as it continues to support their development and involving them in beneficial activities. In conclusion he expressed his gratitude to those who contributed to organizing and coordinating the activities of the competition.
Inspiring Ideas & Designs
For his part, chairman of the jury Dr. Adel Al-Abbassi, delivered a similar statement in which he commended the efforts of the participating teams, expressing his admiration for the future ideas and inspiring designs he tested in the competition.
Al-Abbasi explained how through which creative solutions to technological challenges are sought and developed in all its stages, leading to the achievement of tangible results that benefit the relevant projects.
He also touched on the criteria that are adhered to in evaluating the projects, designs and prototypes in the competitions, pointing to many elements that are taken into consideration, such as the originality of the idea methodology of design and implementation, information gathering, analysis, construction and testing. He spoke of other factors in the process of evaluation, including the results reached, interviewing participants, and understanding their approach to their project, as each of the aforementioned factors has a specific mark awarded by the jury.
Prior to the announcement of the winning projects, Al-Basry honored the jury and presented them with tokens of appreciation. Similar tokens of appreciation were distributed to representatives of the participating universities and entities, as well as encouragement prize to some of the participating teams.
University students, and representatives of MILSET, who participated in the robot and Arduino competitions were also presented with certificates of appreciation for their substantial efforts.
Committee with a Mission
KOC had previously formed a jury whose mission is to evaluate the competing projects, and report its final results, which included Dr. Adel Al-Abbassi, Manager Fields Development Group (West Kuwait) Ahmed Al-Jasmi, Manager Soil Rehabilitation Group Mansour Al-Kharji, Team Leader Talent Management Bashar Al-Khashti, and Team Leader Research & Development Programs Redha Gharbi.
Members of the jury reviewed the participating projects to have an integrated idea about them to evaluate and determine the winning projects. They listened to detailed explanations from participating teams about their ideas, the stages of their implementation, and their possible scientific and practical applications. They asked lots of questions to participants, who spoke in detail about the nature of the projects and the obstacles they encountered and how they overcame them with the help of their supervisors.
Rankings
The “Nano Solitech" project, which aims to enhance the soil characterization of Boubyan Island, was ranked first. The “Autonomous Garbage Collector Robot" project was ranked second, and the “Development of an Automated Drilling Fluid Mixer for Laboratory Applications" project was ranked third.
Projects & Creativity
Following are details about the most prominent:
- “Nano Solitech", Boubyan Soil Reinforcement Project - Civil Engineering Department at Kuwait University:
Boubyan Island soil is muddy at a depth of 30 meters. Nanotechnology was used for the first time, as the team mixed nano silica with the soil to form a sticky substance that strengthens the soil, turning from 0 to 90 kPa in the lab.
Nanotechnology was used because of the presence of shifting sand in the streets, while the areas of Al-Subiya and Al-Wafra contain 80 percent silica, so this material was extracted instead of being imported from abroad.
The team processed the mix through filtering, drying and adding chemicals to extract silica. In practical application, the soil can withstand a building of 5 floors, and the durability can be developed according to the composition. The mixture can be used in oil fields to strengthen the soil surrounding wells. Moreover, the idea to develop this accomplishment in the future seems reasonable.
- The “Autonomous Garbage Collector Robot" - Australian College:
The robot self-collects light wastes such as tissue paper and plastic bags with no human intervention. When turned on, the robot begins to search for waste through two ultrasound sensors, one of which explores the path. If the robot finds an obstacle it changes direction and turns back. The second sensor detects waste on the ground for the robot to collect with a small crane and places it in the waste tank There is a sensor in the tank that signals when it is full.
The robot can be used on golf courses, or, after being developed, to collect heavy objects, such as fruits and dangerous materials that humans cannot approach.
- “Development of an Automated Drilling Fluid Mixer for Laboratory Applications", Australian College of Kuwait,
When someone wants to conduct an experiment in the lab, it takes a lot of time to prepare a sample of drilling fluid, so the team sought to design a prototype that would reduce the time required to prepare the samples. After conducting the necessary experiments, the required time was reduced from one hour to only 5 minutes, and perhaps two minutes. The experiment was carried out in the lab to enhance and refine the future expertise of students in a way that serves practical reality.
- OilyBin Waste Disposal Project:
The project represents a landfill for disposal of municipal solid waste in a healthy, safe and affordable manner, and the waste can be converted into wealth. The team in charge of the project chose a site in Al-Salmi area, which was studied to show that the layers of soil are of medium density. When household waste is brought to the landfill it is sorted into recyclable and non-recyclable waste.
The site covers 6.5 square kilometers and consists of 25 areas, each of which is sufficient to absorb waste for a whole year. Each region has 365 cells, which are in line with the days of the year.
When waste decomposes, it either turns into fumes and gases or into liquid materials. Then, fumes are transferred to a station that converts them into electricity to illuminate the area, while the liquids are collected and transferred to tanks for treatment and return again to the landfill to be used for various tasks. The land of the landfill can be reused after 25 years due to the protection of the soil and the development of inter-cell insulators.
- DriMix Bridge Development Project - Australian College:
This project aims to develop shock durability of bridges when trucks collide with them, where damage or collapse occurs. CFRP was mixed with concrete in a specified way to absorb shock or reduce damages. After conducting several experiments, it was found that the mix increase the durability of concrete twice fold. The team, then, worked on developing an idea to present the project to the concerned authorities to be applied to reduce the damage resulting from collision of trucks with bridges.
- Interactive Robot, The American University of Middle East:
The robot interacts with people in some emotional aspects such as happiness and sadness, where images of the brain are used to reveal the emotional state of the person. Then the robot reads the thermal image of the brain, and based on the result; it offers some solutions to the user like playing music or doing some exercise.
- The Smart All-in-One Electricity Meter:
The project seeks to improve the pre-paid electricity meters in Kuwait, by adding some functions to be used by different categories of people, including those with special needs and businessmen. These functions serve to solve problems of paying bills and unexpected power cuts.
The meter shows, via an interactive screen that contains the date, time and weather information, the number of hours of consumption remaining in color. It interacts blind, hearing-impaired, elderly, uneducated people, and uses emails and audio messages to alert the user.
- Robotic Submarine - Australian College of Kuwait:
The submarine is designed to work in difficult underwater locations, and is equipped with a waterproof camera inside an enclosed box.
The submarine uses propellers for mobility and transport, and is connected to the surface via a cable, where the operator controls it and sends signals.
The submarine is equipped with arms to capture, move or transport things. The hull is made of special plastic, and the 3D printing technology was used to help making some of its components. Moreover, the necessary tests were performed according to underwater work conditions, where it turned out that it is completely stable as well as excellent in performance. It is also possible to monitor the surrounding environment underwater via a screen at the top.
- Improving Analysis and Mixing of Crude Oil in Gathering Centers, Australian College:
Gathering Centers in KOC areas of operation receive different types of oil and these are mixed for export with a density of up to 30.5 API. In the project, software was designed to determine the best appropriate ratios for mixing crude oil, then different samples were obtained from 13 gathering centers. The samples were then mixed to get the optimal mix with the lowest percentage of sulfur and asphalt and the highest density by controlling mixing ratios.
Following several steps and tests, the team made a mix of high quality, where revenues from exports are expected to increase to $ 1.28 billion.
- The Mechanical Bed - Kuwait University:
It is a project that aims to overcome power-cuts and emergency situations in hospitals and health centers, through a hospital bed to transport patients manually. The project adopts mechanical engineering concepts to offer a solution to a real problem that occurs constantly when moving a patient with a spinal or neck injuries becomes harmful. The bed provides the patient with stability and balance, regardless of his angle of dip or direction.
- Oil Exploration Robot - MILSET:
The project simulates the exploration of oil fields, which is done through the so-called "Robo-Lego". Robo-Lego are mechanical and electronic parts that are programmed to perform certain functions in this regard. KOC has supported the project this year, especially as the subject of the competition relates to its areas of action.
Line Tracking
In the line tracking competition, students design and program the robot themselves, under the supervision of their mentors. The most important thing is that the robot does not derail and reach the end point as quickly, where it flies the flag of Kuwait and displays slogans on it.
An auto-control timer was used, which in the end stops and gives the real result. The robot reached the finish line within 13 seconds. In the future this invention can be useful if developed and provided with the tools used by KOC.
For its part, "MILSET" displayed a system for oil extraction using the Arduino Board that included a vacuum pump, a fluid sensor and a well pump. After programming, the system works in an integrated way to extract oil and transfer it to tanks, which in turn carry it to a main tank where it is processed before transferring it to export pipelines. About 40 students and 20 intermediate school teachers in Kuwait participated in the project.
