Nigeria Excels in First Global Robotic Challenge, Wins Bronze Medal

Emma Okonji

The Nigerian team that participated in this year’s First Global Robotic Challenge in Geneva, Switzerland, from October 13th-16th, has showcased Nigeria as a country of talented people with digital skills that could be improved upon, if given the enabling environment.

Team Nigeria from selected secondary schools, participated in the global robotic competition with other students from over 40 countries.

Team Nigeria was sponsored by the Managing Director of Aramex, a delivery service company, and joint venture partner of Aramex International LLC in Nigeria, Mr. Faisal Jarmakani, a philanthropist that is associated with multiple corporate social responsibility initiative focused on enabling the education of underprivileged youth.

Team Nigeria had five students, which include: Tofunmi Olusodo of Supreme Education Foundation schools; Abdul-Qoyyum Oyadeyi of Oxbridge Tutorial College; Samuel Olaiya of Igbobi College Yaba; Famidah Yussuf, and Taimiyyah Abdullahi-Aliyu, both of Heritage Home Schools.

The theme for this year’s competition was ‘Carbon Capture’, designed to re-affirm the common goal of capturing and reducing carbon from the environment through simulation method.

For exemplifying the values of the First Global Community, demonstrating professionalism and building bridges with fellow teams from various countries, Team Nigeria, came third place and was awarded a bronze medal for the Dr. Mae Jemison Award for International Unity. 

Narrating their experiences with the Nigerian media after they returned from the global robotic competition, the students were thankful to their sponsor and school management that selected them to represent Nigeria at a global robotic competition, as well as their coach and mentors who prepared them for the competition.     

“It was an honour and privilege to represent Nigeria at a global robotic challenge. We started with over 40 students drawn from various secondary schools, but only five of us got to the final selection stage to represent Nigeria and we were proud being ambassador of Nigeria. One great lesson for us is the ability to work as a team in developing project that addresses existing challenges,” the students said. 

Giving details of their project, the students said they were able to develop a robotic solution for extracting harmful carbon from the atmosphere, and storing the carbon for the conversion into various forms of energy, through a simulation method. Through their robot, they were able to capture some volume of harmful carbon balls from the atmosphere, through simulation gaming method, store them and recycle them into a useful source of energy.   

First Global is a US-based non-profit public charity established by the founder-For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), Dean Kamen. Its mission is to inspire leadership and innovation in youth from all nations by empowering them through education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — also known as STEM.

By nurturing cross-cultural communication and cooperation among high-school students around the world through STEM, the initiative empowers people to collectively tackle the world’s most pressing challenges and come up with solutions that improve quality of life for all.