A few lucky students at the Stellenbosch University’s Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department have the opportunity to get up close and personal with one of the shyest big cats in our country, the Cape Mountain Leopard. Working with the Cape Leopard Trust, these students help to develop the technology to capture, collar and track these rare and beautiful cats. For more information, see http://capeleopard.org.za

Even the most sophisticated robots tend to exhibit the same behaviour towards different people. But imagine programming robots in such a way that they can exhibit bonding behaviour towards regular users. Impossible? No – this is exactly what Prof Johan du Preez and former student Dr Ludwig Schwardt have managed when they developed ‘Communi-kat’. Using patented pattern recognition, this prototype toy recognises its owner’s voice and responds accordingly. It also has a built-in forget function, which means that if the toy is tossed aside for a few weeks, it will ‘forget’ its owner to some extent, or perhaps even start ‘bonding’ with a new user. And it’s so clever that it can tell when you’re trying to impersonate someone else, and can pick out its owner’s voice in a two-person conversation. At this stage Communi-Kat is still in its infancy. The prototype is just a basic furry toy, with a speaker and microphone system pushed under its striped hoodie, which is then hooked up to a computer. More information: Hi-tech leopard knocks spots off other toys Matieland..