Uganda has emerged 4th out of 33 countries who have completed a pan African Robotics Competition in Senegal.
The win has also placed Uganda in the first position in East Africa ahead of Burundi and Kenya who also participated.
On top of the bronze win, the team has won ‘Most Innovative team’ award.
Eight Children from Young Engineers Uganda, who were recently nominated for this year’s competition to represent Uganda in Dakar, Senegal were flagged off last on June 27, 2022 by Nyabushozi County MP Wilson Kajwengye at Hotel La Verna in Seguku, Wakiso District.
Young Engineers Uganda is Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) educational programme of the African School of Innovations Science and Technology (ASIST) Ltd.
The ‘Team Uganda’ of 8 are:
Queen Ankunda Kajwengye (15)
Lowena Mwiza Rugyendo (14)
Gabriel Josephat Kawalya (12)
Pearl Ayebare (11)
Ethan Samuel Kazoora (10)
Celine Nyonyozi (10)
Leona Pauine Ainemukama (9)
Aleem Israel Mangalji (8)
To win the Bronze, the Ugandan stars built a robot that helps ease climate change adaptation challenges.
The robot was programmed to pick sand balls to create flood protection barriers.
“Our drone was programmed to communicate with the robot in plantation of resilient crops. That is how our team made it to the finals out of 33 countries. The finals had 17countries and these kids made it to the 4th position,” announced Ms Allen Nanyonjo the Head of STEM at Young Engineers Uganda.
“This means that the Ugandan stars generally put Uganda in the 4th position in the whole of Africa and the 1st in the whole of East Africa,” said Maureen Karamagi, who headed the delegation.
According to Ms Karamagi, the robot was programmed to conserve water by closing the leaking water taps and also helping to harvest water by collecting as many soft water balls in the tank as possible.
“Thereafter, it was able demonstrate recycling of water by putting the waste water balls into the recycler to be harvested again into the water tank,” she revealed.
Dubbed ‘PARC 2022,’ the competition was organised at the Dakar Arena by the Dakar American University Of Science and Technology. The competition had three leagues: The Techs League: For middle school students, who worked on improving the availability of safe drinking water, sanitation, and energy. The Stars League: For high school students, who worked on Adaptability to climate change. Finally, the Makers League: Also for high school students, who were challenged to end hunger in Africa.
The teams were judged on their robotics performance, poster and oral presentations.
Each of the Teams were given robot kits, which they will be able to keep at the end of the competition.
The general performance was as follows
The Techs League
1. Mali
2.Ivory Coast
3.Gambia
4. Uganda
The Stars League
1.Mali
2.Gambia
3.South Africa
4.Uganda
The Team Uganda stars are expected to jet into the country on Sunday.
The Young Engineers Uganda founder, Journalist Arinaitwe Rugyendo, expressed his gratitude and saluted the stars for an excellent performance.
“This was our first time to participate at the level and I am proud of these kids. They are the future Ugandan technologists in our quest to build a critical mass of future scientists,” he said.
The competition was sponsored by the World Bank Group, Vex Robotics, Freedom Robotics, MathWorks, Deloite, Carnegie Mellon University- Rwanda, the Republic of Rwanda, MasterCard, UB.Tech, among others.
Mr Rugyendo particularly thanked the following individuals and institutions for the support rendered thus far:
Galaxy International School
Kazaire Health Products
King Caesar University/King Caesar Mulenga
Housing Finance Bank
Kampala Standard Primary School
H.E Quillino Bamwine- Honorary Consul of Eswatini
Mr. Ghulam Raza Badriwala
Mr. Raymond Karamagi
Ms Peace Kyampaire (a.k.a Pretty Kontagious)
Victor Karamagi
Hotel La Verna
Mr. Mercellino Bwesigye
Parents
About Young Engineers Uganda
Founded in 2016, Young Engineers Uganda is part of the worldwide Young Engineers educational enrichment programme Founded in 2008, in Israel.
Globally, Young Engineers operates Engineering after-school activities in over 50 countries. Its mission is to prepare 4-15 year -old students for the changing demands of the 21st-century workforce. With over 30,000 happy students globally, Young Engineers has been recognized by the Harvard School of Education and the European Union Commission.
“At Young Engineers, we believe in engaging our students’ education processes while developing their learning skills. We understand that every child has a different technique for learning and retaining information; yet, we have found out that making learning fun is the lowest common denominator for a successful education. We have meticulously generated hands-on curricula, which combine education and entertainment, creating our unique “edutainment” method, using a LEGO and Robotics curriculum,” Rugyendo says.
In Uganda, the programme runs in partner schools and educational centres around the city of Kampala.
