qr code is accessible at https://qr.page/g/leQK0r6g6q
Updates for Robotics in Nigeria. Who is involved? What are we doing? How can you help? What is driving our plans?
| REALTIME UPDATES | COLLABORATION | NEEDS | RESOURCES | PLANNING |
| Github Repo | Website | Change Log |
This section introduces key people in the project.
This table to be populated with key contacts globally who are supporting the project, starting in 2022.
| Person | Contact | Involvement |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. Nzebuka | nzebuka2013 | Key person in FUTO in Nigeria |
| Dr. Olalekan | Responsibilities in USA and Nigeria. The SCUTTLE Nigeria project will be initiated in certain tertiary institutions in Nigeria, one of which is Covenant University and I will be playing a key role in setting up stakeholders in the academic space (that includes Students, Professors, lecturers, and university management) to embrace the learning opportunities in the field of robotics that will be provided by SCUTTLE | |
| Philliip McGee | phill@scuttlerobot.org | Leading the planning for SCUTTLE Nigeria within the technical team in Texas |
| David Malawey | david@scuttlerobot.org | Operating in Texas, supporting as needed, providing info from Malaysian Implementation |
In the above table let's add the Github usernames to connect our realtime updates with the authors behind them. -DM
Why Nigeria? (by David): Our SCUTTLE goals are centered on making the biggest impact, achieving a sustainable ecosystem for STEM learners to help each other, and making tech skills available to everyone. I see the continent of Africa as the next step to enabling the global community of makers to find help in every time zone around the globe. My experience in Southeast Asia taught me that students in developing regions are an incredible force in forging new technology. By late 2023, our Malaysian research teams have outpaced our counterparts in Texas where the designers have more credentials, more funding, bigger campuses and more tools. It's exactly the opposite of what I expected. Perhaps the passion and motivation is the biggest barrier and perhaps the phenomenon of being a little fish in a big pond is an intense drawback for the students in major universities.
In 2022 I met Dr. Nzebuka, a professor in Nigeria and a visiting researcher at Texas A&M. By his account, his students back at FUTO are eager to explore robotics but need some simple guidance on where to start. FUTO and Covenant university are universities positioned near the economic focal point in Nigeria, a city called Lagos which hosts manufacturing, oil & gas, and employers of STEM graduates. So the key ingredients which drove a successful start in Malaysia are also ready in Nigeria:
- students with existing STEM background
- an economy pursuing automation and tech advancements
- faculty & colleges actively teaching with hands-on projects.
Our efforts are most successful in teach-the-teacher interactions. Sharing our free & open technology is done organically with human interactions, and is almost never successful through traditional marketing. The robot design is affordable & accessible, but the curriculum must be adapted to meet students at their level. So, the path to success is to connect with one leader at a time and let them inform the process based on their group's expertise areas, equipment, infrastructure, and motivations. Robotics, just like Personal Computers in 1990, can benefit all types of learners and it starts with adapting the experience for the student. We can only achieve this adapting and teaching with the help of a local champion. All of our dreams of building the future begin with a few bold people, in one geographic hub at a time.
Let's aim for quarterly updates in this section - what changes took place in the previous quarter and what anticipated changes are planned for the next quarter
Still waiting on team updates!
- DM produced a fun video about robotic reforestation in Africa's Desserts!
- Meeting with Enactus to form next steps to engage young students with a competition program. view meeting on youtube
Waiting on team's updates!
Profiling of Nigerian robotics education began. More than 20 interveiws conducted.
A placeholder for updates here.
data from TAMU course implementation
- self-evaluation for incoming students, spring 2019 Experience_Survey.xlsx
- Engineering skillsets for robotics outcomes, 2022 Robotics_Engineering_Skillsets.xlsx
- Course Schedule for Labs, 2019 Mobile_Robotics_Lab_Outline.xlsx
Sample image from "engineeering skillsets" worksheet
key sources for background information
- Federal University of Technology - Owerri - FUTO has a mechatronics department with capable students & researchers.
- Dr. Nzebuka at FUTO - link to faculty profile for Dr. Nzebuka
- Covenant University - Covenant is a national leader in education, a private university with a strong and stable reputation.
links and summarized info for onboarding new team members and for recalling data in more detail.
- SCUTTLE Tech Guide - our SCUTTLE engineering guide, beginning 2023 and publicly edited.
- SCUTTLE Homepage - the SCUTTLE website