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Winter 2014
4
TAKEOUTS
The Waikato-Tainui College for Research and
Development has created a digital resource
which enhances school students’ access to
tribal knowledge. The web-based resource
was created in partnership with the Science
Learning Hub and is a repository of Waikato-
Tainui traditions, histories and practices
pertaining to the Waikato River.
The resource, titled Tooku Awa Koiora to
reflect the tribe’s connection to the Waikato
River and its surrounding environments,
features information about the history of
raupatu (confiscation) and the Waikato-
Tainui settlements, information on tikanga
and kaitiakitanga (guardianship) as well as
video interviews with tribal members and
iwi scientists.
Tooku Awa Koiora will be hosted
by the Science Learning Hub website –
The
Science
Learning Hub promotes student interest
and engagement in science and is managed
by the University of Waikato and funded
by the Ministry of Business, Innovation
and Employment.
The National Centre of Literacy and Numeracy
for Adults, based at the University of Waikato,
is developing a strategy to lift Māori adult
literacy. An international survey completed
in New Zealand in 2006 found that 70%
of Māori adults did not meet minimum
world standards for literacy and numeracy.
Centre Director, Professor Diana Coben,
says as Māori continue to become a much
larger part of New Zealand’s workforce,
the future wellbeing and prosperity of
New Zealand will be dependent on the ability of
all New Zealanders to participate fully
in society.
Over the next three months there’ll be
a series of hui in Auckland, Christchurch,
Wellington and Rotorua to engage with
employers, iwi and Māori organisations,
community groups and educators to identify
the key priorities.
The strategy will enable better and
more informed decision-making on policy,
planning and resourcing to support Māori
adult literacy and numeracy initiatives.
A chance meeting on Robben Island, outside
the prison where Nelson Mandela was held
for 27 years, has led to a profitable and
rewarding collaboration for Waikato law
Professor Neil Boister. He has been awarded
a Freidrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award by
the German-based Alexander von Humboldt
Foundation in recognition of his achievements
in international and transnational criminal
law research.
Professor Boister was nominated by Dr
Florian Jessberger, Professor of criminal law at
the University of Hamburg, Germany. They met
by chance when visiting Robben Island in 2001,
got talking and since then Professor Boister has
visited Hamburg and they are now planning to
work on a project on the EU’s influence on the
development of transnational criminal law.
The Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel award is
worth €45,000 a year and award winners
are invited to carry out research projects
in cooperation with specialist colleagues
in Germany.
Digital resource draws onWaikato-Tainui traditions
Improving Māori adult literacy
German award forWaikato law professor
Hydraulic rescue tool set to save lives
A UNIVERSITY of Waikato mechanical engineering student has
come up with a hydraulic rescue tool which could be an alternative to
the Jaws of Life.
Rather than cutting through the vehicle, Andrew’s Gerbich's car
spreader is designed to straighten bent steel back to its original shape.
“Car versus object impacts tend to bend the vehicle around a
roadside installation such as a power pole, leaving the driver and any
passengers trapped inside. The current method of getting passengers
out is to use hydraulically powered cutters and spreaders (the Jaws of
Life) to disassemble the car's structure,” says Andrew.
“While this method works, it can be dangerous to the passengers
and the rescue team. Another problem is that modern cars are made
from stronger steels and can contain high current electrical cabling and
airbag propellant tanks which can make it unsafe for first responders to
cut a car apart.”
Andrew began with a machine concept from Pukekohe company
Belcher Industries. Along with workshop space, the company also
provided supervision from Engineering Manager Kael Roberts, who
was a co-supervisor of the project alongside Waikato University’s
engineering Lecturer Dr Rob Torrens.
With a concept in mind, Andrew quickly moved into the design
phase, during which stress calculations were completed in parallel with a
SolidWorks model to find required dimensions and material strengths.
When it came to putting the tool together, Andrew fabricated and
welded the device in the Belcher Industries workshop, with guidance
from the company’s tradesmen and managers.
“The heart of the machine is a hydraulic ram capable of a 10 tonne
retracting force. The frame was profile cut from G350 Mild Steel
and is arranged around the ram with adjustability to suit a range of
small vehicles.”
Following pre-testing with beams of steel, they then tested the
spreader on a Ford Telstar sedan that had recently been in a side-
impact collision.
The force pushed the left and right pillars backward, while pulling
the centre of the car outward as expected.
Andrew says testing showed that the pressure required to bend
the car was significantly lower than the limits of the machine, which
indicates that future prototypes could be produced using smaller
components and lighter materials to increase usability.
RESCUE TOOL:
Fourth-year
Waikato University
mechanical
engineering student
Andrew Gerbich has
created a rescue
tool to be used as
an alternative to the
‘Jaws of Life’.
Rat trap technology a winner for students
A
CONSERVATION
management
system designed by University of Waikato
computer science students has won a major
prize at the New Zealand finals of the
Microsoft Imagine Cup.
Jourdan Templeton, Nathan Holland
and Stephen Quayle call their management
system Ohiti – the watchful eye on wildlife.
It involves a small transmitter being
connected to a trap that records each time it
is triggered. That data is relayed in real-time
to a base unit. It is then uploaded to a server
on the internet and processed.
The Waikato students entered the
Imagine Cup in the innovation category
where they were runners up, winning
$2,000 and some job offers too.
“We had to make a formal
presentation in front of five judges and
then run a showcase, like an expo, which
generated a lot of interest,” says Jourdan.
“There were a lot of people who came and
talked to us and were keen to get involved
with the project. We were really happy with
the result.”
The management system provides
valuable information. “We can collect a
wide range of data every time a trap is
activated and use that data to provide
information about the environment
and the impact of pests in the area.
For example, Ohiti can alert you when an
area of forest has more pest activity than
normal. Knowing this, we can target these
areas immediately. We can become more
proactive than reactive,” says Jourdan.
The third-year students trialled
their system in the Hamilton Gardens,
setting up a chain of three Goodnature
A24 rat traps roughly 50m-70m
apart in a gully area.
“Our goal was two-fold. First, we
wanted to make it easy to maintain
the traps without sending people on a
hike to check each one and secondly we
wanted to provide a portal that
would enable conservationists to be more
proactive in protecting native species.”
The actual traps are designed by a
Wellington company Goodnature. Their
RAT TRAP: Jourdan Templeton in a
Hamilton Gardens gully with the
Goodnature A24 rat trap in place.
humane traps are now being used by the
Department of Conservation to kill possums,
rats and stoats. “They’re self-reloading and
don’t use poison, but rather a CO
2
gas-
powered pneumatic bolt which fires killing the
animal instantly.”
For the Imagine Cup, entrants are required
to create an original technology project,
coming up with the idea, developing a plan,
building the project and submitting it in the
competition. “We didn’t win the big prize – a
trip to the world finals in Seattle in July – but
we’re still pleased with our result and can see
potential to develop it further,” says Jourdan.
At the moment the transmitter
technology works best in parks or bush-land
near built up areas because of its operating
frequency but Jourdan says as the technology
evolves it will be able to be used in a
broader range of environments. “Ohiti
demonstrates the potential for technology to
aid the conservation and preservation
of kiwi.”
(Jourdan Templeton)
CLEVER THINKING: Computer Science Lecturer Bill Rogers, left, with students Stephen
Quayle, Jourdan Templeton and Nathan Holland.
