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MY EXPERIENCE IN ROBOTICS BY BRAMBIFA DAWN IMMANUELA (SS3 BETA)

True to Albert Einstein, “The only source of knowledge is experience.” My experience in robotics started in August 2021. In the long holiday of that season, my mother registered me in a four-week summer coding and robotics training. This training was hosted by the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Laboratory (AIROL) in the University of Lagos, sponsored by Coderina and directed by Dr. Chika Yinka-Banjo. The training was for kids aged 9-16 years and it was held on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Coding: Coding is the process of translating instructions from human language to a format that can be understood by machines. In coding, you write a set of instructions to guide an electronic device to perform a task. During the training, we were taught how to build and program a LEGO robot using the LEGO EV3 software. We also learnt more about flowcharts and algorithms. During the program, I was able to interact with other kids of my age with whom I shared the same interest in robotics. We were about 50 in number so we were split into teams of 5 and each team had their own cool name and team leader. My team was the Al Squad and I was the team leader. At the end of the program, each team was expected to build an innovation project which would help solve a problem in our immediate environment. The projects were presented on the last day and the functions of the robots were explained to our parents, the other teams that were present and the University of Lagos top management members, led by the Former Vice-Chancellor, Professor, Oluwatoyin Temitayo Ogundipe.

At the end of the program, about 15 of us who showed great potentials were selected to be a part of a robotics team that will participate in various competitions and represent AIROL. The name of the team is the Contechs. Mr. Joel, one of the coaches, briefed us on the first competition we were going to participate in. It was the First Tech Challenge (FTC). We watched the game-play video that shows participating teams the objectives of our robot during the competition. We then sketched some suitable robot designs and started building and programming. It was a bit of a hassle to get the required materials and kids for the competition but after reaching out to a few sponsors, we were able to get everything that we needed. We also learnt how to build and program using the FTC and REV robotics kit.

We went for the competition that was hosted at Vivian Fowler Memorial High School for Girls in March 2022. We were two teams from Lagos State that participated in FCT (The Contechs and TechnoBots). The other teams that were present participated in the First Lego League (FLL). The competition was for two days and the first day was for presentation. The presentation was done in front of a camera with a mic in hand to talk to the judges who were at the main arena in Abuja. During the presentation, some members of each team were required to introduce the team, present the teams engineering notebook and portfolio, the designs of the robot, problems we faced while building the robot, how we programmed the robot, how we raised funds and the outreach programs we carried out in preparation for the competition.

The second day was the game day. On this day, teams used their robots to complete tasks and score as many points as possible within the given time frame. Before the real matches, there were friendlies to warm up for the real deal and so the team members could detect the faults in their robots and correct them on time. There were four matches and for each match, our team was paired up with another to form an alliance. There are two alliances during FTC; red alliance and blue alliance. Alliances were made so that two different teams can work together, interact with one another and score points together during the competition.

At the end of the competition, we placed second in Lagos State and third in Nigeria. We also won the Think Award and the Former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos gave us the sum of N100,000.00.

In August 2022, I took part in the summer robotics training again where I learnt game design using GDevelop software. After this program, we also recruited some more members into our team as some of the members who were with us in the previous season had moved on to greater pursuits.

With the help of some of our coaches; Mr. Lukman, Miss. Anu, Mr. Jude and Mrs. Blessing, and some of our members; Abdulazeez, Peter, Pamela, Fiyin, Imole, Ife, Elijah, Nnamdi, Mfom and Ubong, we were able to participate in FTC hosted by Vivian Fowler on the 14th and 15th of February, 2023. This year, there were four teams competing in Lagos; The Contechs form Unilag, TechnoBots from Vivian Fowler, CIS Nexus from Children’s International School, Lekki (CIS) and Team Blink from the National Library.

The events that took place on the two days of the competition were the same as those of the previous year but, there were a lot more fun stuff to do while we were less busy such as: Basketball, Volleyball, Table-Tennis, Scrabble and Chess. Refreshments were also provided. It was a nice and exciting opportunity to interact with other kids’ of my age from different schools and countries. This year, our team placed first in Lagos State.

Our friends from Children’s International School, Lekki invited us to their school on the 16th of February to have a showcase of our robot to entertain the students on the last day of their annual STEAM week. We showed some students the different parts of our robot, how our robot works and how it is controlled. We also had a chat with the Principal, Mr. Stewart King, who seemed delighted to have us present that day.

Robotics has been a great experience for me as it helps me think better, solve problems with a more logical approach, develop my mindset and improve my character and behaviour.

Thank you.