Africa Business Communities
First Robotics workshop for Namibian youth at NUST’s FABlab

First Robotics workshop for Namibian youth at NUST’s FABlab

Last week the 4th Annual Institutional Technology Day of the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) took place on the 26th of October 2016.

The day saw presentations from faculty and partners covering subjects like mobile technologies, the Digital Fabrication Diploma through MIT’s FABrication Laboratory (FABlab) network from NUST FABlab, the Toyota Prius and NUST’s very own Solar Taxi from the inspiring Director, Professor Lumaga of NUST IDL Centre.

FABlab’s Director and Co-founder, Kirstin Wiedow, said “The day was a true experience in new technologies with skills and knowledge sharing taking place between scholars, students, faculty and outside stakeholders. Technology is a key driver of global trends and competitiveness in global markets and is a vital element which must be ingrained into the teaching and learning components within all education”.

The afternoon sessions hosted practical and hands-on workshops from FABlab with UNISA I-SET programme from South Africa and a collaboration with two Fulbright Professors from NUST and UNAM respectively. The classes focused on teaching the student’s and youth about robots and the Arduino Microcontroller and how this technology can be coded and be used to operate sensors and LED lights. The sessions received support from the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Dr Niikondo, in order to provide kits to the learners so that they could continue to experiment with the Arduino technology after the classes had ended in the form of “technology lunchboxes” which was an exciting addition to the days offerings.

FABlab, the Design and Technology Centre of NUST, facilitated these practical sessions on robotics and Arduino alongside their own workshop on laser cutting technology at their innovative container building within NUST’s Innovation Village Campus. “For the first time, robotics featured as a major focal point of our Institutions Technology Day with learners building their own Lego Mindstorms NXT robots and programming them in teams to complete tasks from saving a blind man to picking up items in order to unlock jars of honey on the “AnimalAllies” robotics course mat, which was really exciting to see. Many of the people who participated came from backgrounds like office administration and business which formed interesting teams with other students coming from engineering backgrounds, this proves that anyone can experiment and learn to use new technology.

FABlab is working with UNISA’s I-SET team, Ms Patricia Gouws and Kabelo Pheeha, creating the first Namibian robotics team at NUST, who will go on to represent the country next year at the South African Regional Championships and the World Robotics Championships in 2017.

It is all very exciting, robots are by no means just the future; they are becoming an integral part of everyday life and can and do help in improving our lives. FABlab at NUST is fully embracing this. We are excited to start planning for this highlight in the Institutional calendar for next year with the colleagues from COLL and TLU at NUST” said Wiedow, Director of the FABlab Design and Technology Centre. 

www.nust.na

 

Share this article