Vodacom’s robotics training for students, a step towards Nigeria’s technology evolution

Vodacom Business Nigeria has reiterated its commitment to ensuring that Nigeria keeps pace with the evolution of telecommunications technologies. To achieve this, Vodacom organised the second edition of the annual Inter-School Robotics Training Workshop for students across nine Lagos secondary schools.

Wale Odeyemi, managing director for Vodacom Business Nigeria, says: “As an organisation, our aim is to help empower the next generation, with relevant technical skills in order to drive positive change in the Nigerian economy through the use of communications technologies.”

Odeyemi says: “As the world progresses further into the fourth industrial revolution, there has never been a better time to infuse some much needed STEM training in the education sector through such initiatives as the annual Inter-School Robotics Training initiative. This initiative further demonstrates Vodacom’s support for education at the grass root level to encourage further budding of aspiring youths who are interested in participating in the digital revolution.

Among the schools that participated in the one-day workshop were; Dansol High School, Avi-Cenna, Holy Child College, Edgewood College, and Adrao International School. Others were; Rainbow College, Greensprings International School, D-Ivy College, Halifield College and Chrisland College. The participating students ages 12 to 15, received firsthand opportunities to immerse themselves in the complexities that surround the Internet of Things (IoT) and how these will shape society in the near future.

As part of the programme, students were taught how to build, program, and control various kinds of robots which are being used to perform numerous functions in today’s world. This demonstrated the essential use cases of such technologies in everyday life, ranging from manufacturing to transportation, as far as even securing lives and property.

The inter-School Robotics Training Workshop provided participants the opportunity to explore various ways in which technology is shaping the world around them. The training covered areas such as Robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IOT) and Virtual Reality (V.R.). The students were also equipped with useful mechanical and programming skills which can be honed and developed as they progress through the various levels of education. Edgewood College Lekki came top in the competition that took place after the training, while Holy Child College Obalende and ADRAO International School, Victoria Island were first and second runners-up respectively.