A student in Tanzania builds a solar-powered robot

Graciouz Ephraim, a sixth grader at Ilboru High School in the northern Tanzanian city of Arusha, built a robot using local materials, including an aluminum box, wires, tin containers, pieces of metal and a memory chip for the brain, the local Daily News reported.

The solar-powered robot cost a science student 200,000 Tanzanian shillings (US $ 89) and took 12 months to assemble.

According to the student, the robot has a memory chip component that contains some voice memos recorded remotely in order to make the robot answer some questions and sing some songs.

“Tanzania is focused on industrialization, which means that factories and other production lines have to run 24 hours. But people cannot work around the clock, so it is beneficial to have robots working at night and use human labor during the day. This will reduce the cost of paying employees overtime, ”said Efraim.

Tanzanian students are taking part in a robotics development program that began earlier this year and was organized by the Korean company E3-Empower Africa.

They are currently training 30 students from two secondary schools in Arusha to build robots that can clear roads, warn of hazards during incidents, and pick or deliver items.

Source: http://www.africanews.com/2017/04/25/tanzanian-high-school-student-builds-robot-powered-by-solar-energy/