The students from St. Mary’s College Kisubi and Gayaza High School have developed models of a two heavy equipment robots which can be used in manufacturing and construction industries.
SMACK students Alvin Kabwama (C) and Nigel Okot ( R) showcase the model crane
The two robots are a heavy load carrier called NXT Robot created by Gayaza students and a remote controlled crane developed by Kisubi students. The students displayed their robots at the Makerere University last week. They were successful in assembling robots with some help from engineering students from the University. Through their success the students have shown that Uganda has the human resource potential to assemble and programme such advanced machines, provided the resources are made available to them.
One of the team members from the Gayaza School mentioned that these robot models are just samples of their capabilities; if they are given more time and needed resources, she was confident that they could build a mega robot. Some of the difficulties the students faced were programming hassles, inaccuracy of sensors, little time and lack of proper resources. The University had introduced an internet-based project, called :iLabs@Makerere in 2003; these robots are the result of the efforts put into by the project. The project is funded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from US and the Presidential Innovations Fund for the College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology at Makerere. The funding allocation takes care of the facilities required for first class research and undergraduate science study which encourages innovative inventions from Ugandans. The fund would run up to 2014. The engineering students at the Makerere University are working on the Kiira Electric Vehicle, supported by the fund. The vehicle is capable of providing an alternative transport option to expensive diesel and petrol cars. They expect to have the first car running by 2015.