According to author Moffat Machingura, ‘The first step is the hardest in every journey of dreams.’ It was no different for Project Milk and Tea (MnT). We began the drafting process with a multitude of ideas. From interactive maps to automatic bird feeders to sensors for visually-impaired people, our ideas were aimed to help make an aspect of people’s lives easier. We explored different demographics of people as our target group, narrowing down on solutions for the difficulties they encounter regularly.
After days of discussion and generation of ideas, we eventually decided to go forward with an automatic cell culture feeder. Cell cultures are important for research, especially in the biological science department, to investigate cells and diseases mainly. This idea was inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic as cell cultures require media changes every few days which forced scientists to be present in laboratories despite the raging pandemic. We aimed to create a machine that reduced the need for manual work by scientists in order to allow them to continue with their research while staying at home.
(Credits: Lifeline Cell Tech)
However, when we pitched our idea, we realised that the cell culture feeder required a significant number of motors and movement that would complicate the project beyond our capabilities. Hence, we changed our project once again, ultimately deciding on a drink dispenser.