Welcome to the Tuks Robot School webpage!

Have you ever wondered how a robot is built from scratch? Or how it is possible that a dead piece of electronics is able to detect phenomena in the world around us? Join the Tuks Robot and Sensor Schools for one of two mini-courses that will take you through all the basic steps of building a simple self-navigating robot or explore the wonderful world of sensors. The courses each comprise eight lessons. Robot School classes cover 3D design and printing of the robot chassis, constructing the electronics of the robot, assembling the robot, programming an Arduino microcontroller development board to make the robot follow a track and testing the robot. Sensor School classes cover the basics of how sensors are able to detect natural quantities. If you have always dreamt of following a career in technology, this is your chance to start the journey!

Taking hands to serve the community 

The Robot and Sensor School is a joint initiative among

• the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering,
• the EBIT Faculty-wide second-year community service module JCP203,
• the University's Unit for Community Engagement,
• KTG, and
• the Department of African Languages who joined us on a journey to make the Robot and Sensor School material available in the languages spoken by the people of our beautiful country.

The project, which was inspired by the popular Annual Third-Year Robot Race (see below), was initiated at the start of 2021 and aims to provide a platform through which EBIT students can serve the community by presenting fun STEM education activities to school learners.

The curricula were designed by University staff in collaboration with postgraduate students and centre around low-cost hardware platforms with accessibility in mind. Apart from the postgraduate students, some of our senior undergraduate students also help to create the hardware and are involved in training the junior community service students who present the course content to the learners. 

Robot School in session

Who may join?

The Tuks Robot School consists of two sections: free-of-charge community engagement courses and paid courses through Enterprises University of Pretoria (Pty) Ltd.

Community Engagement

The community engagement curriculum is targeted at grade 8 to 11 learners from high schools that do not host robotic programs.