Students invent robot to assist frontline workers fight COVID-19
Students invent robot to assist frontline workers
In a bid to enhance the operations of frontline medical personnel who are most vulnerable to coronavirus, the students of Glisten International Academy, Jahi Abuja have invented a robot named “Mairabot”.
The school’s robotics team reffered to as Glisten makerspace education came up with the innovation in response to the increasing numbers of Covid-19infection cases, and how it affects especially the frontline health workers.
Marabot which is a collaborative effort of the Glisten makerspace education team was created virtually with the help of coaches and brilliant design ideas uploaded by students on robotics learning Management System platforms.
The coaches who are Adeniyi Ogedengbe, Pius Emeka, Mayowa Taiwo and Engr. Abba Saidu, the school’s executive director, supported the students to innovate Mairabot as a contribution to the global fight against the pandemic.
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In an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Nabila Abbas, a student of the school talked about the general features of the robot.
She said It takes and records temperature readings, and carry up to 5kg drugs for distribution to patients in isolation wards.
She added that Mairabot which is remotely controlled had the capability to navigate in between beds in an isolation ward.
Another student of the school Yasmin Ali elaborated on the artificial intelligence features of the robot.
She said the robot comprises six artificial intelligence features that aids movement, memorization, interaction, navigation, capturing and courier. ” It supports saving recorded video sessions, life video interaction between doctors and patients in their isolation. ” It is a prototype invention and it is self disinfecting, ” she said.
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Ali disclosed that Mairabot behavior is customized using Google Blocks programming software and it can be remotely controlled from a distance of 120 feet using an android based application.
She noted that the innovation, Mairabot would aid the federal government in its fight against virus and also the UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3) in achieving ‘’Good health and well-being’’.
Another robotics team member and student of thr school, Hamza Bappa explained the decision behind the choice of Mairabot’s physical outlook.
He disclosed that the robot was made from Eco friendly household waste materials.
Bappa said an outward Nigerian cultural outlook was adopted for the robot to reflect a rich cultural heritage.
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The Students had also constructed several pieces of the face shields in other to ensure that the safety measures against Covid-19 are achieved, called on the government for support.
They called on the government, relevant agencies and private institutions to support their so that the robot can be improved upon to a standardized and globally accepted level.
They said with the required support, Mairabot can be used in hospitals, supermarkets, airports post Covid-19 and it would aldo address the imminent and avoidable risk posed on healthworkers during this pandemic.
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) began a capacity building workshop on entrepreneurship for primary and secondary schools teachers in Bayelsa on Wednesday.
Its South-South Coordinator, Mr Egbuna Iloba, said the agency was introducing entrepreneurship to primary and secondary schools across Nigeria under the National Schools Entrepreneurship Programme known as “Mind Shift’’.
He represented SMEDAN’s Director-General, Dr Dikko Radda, at the opening of the workshop.
Iloba said that the agency was collaborating with states’ Ministries of Education to prepare teachers to teach entrepreneurship as a subject.
He said inculcating entrepreneurship into schools curricula from the basic level was fundamental to redirecting the mind set of school leavers and graduates from being job seekers to entrepreneurs.
This would enable them to seize available opportunities to solve problems and create jobs, he added.
“Children are expected to unleash their innate wealth-creating potentialities by exploiting opportunities that abound in their respective communities as well as engage themselves in productive economic endeavours while in elementary school.
“What we are doing at this stage is to enhance the capacity of teachers who will in turn prepare pupils and students and convert them into entrepreneurs.
“In addition, after the training, schools are expected to create entrepreneurship clubs and schools enterprises.
“The clubs will compete for laurels at the regional and national levels where cash prizes will be given to the best three schools that will represent the country at global youth entrepreneurship events outside the country in 2022,’’ Iloba said.
In his remarks, Director in charge of Secondary Education in Bayelsa, Rev. Jacob Osusu, urged teachers to take advantage of the opportunity to pioneer the programme and lay a solid foundation for youths.
He represented Mr Gentle Emela, Bayelsa’s Commissioner for Education at the occasion.
Osusu also urged teachers to look beyond the immediate benefit of the workshop to embrace entrepreneurship and propagate same to their pupils and students.
He noted that the benefits of the training were life-long and would also prepare them for retirement life after the classroom.
Mr Tiamiu Ibrahim, a SMEDAN resource person at the workshop explained that the curriculum had 12 modules and was developed by the agency and the state’s Ministry of Education which is expected to take the programme to all schools in the state.
Mrs Lilian Kakiri, a participant and Head Teacher at Ebisam Group of Schools, Yenagoa, applauded the policy for involving private and public schools and hoped that it would contribute to tackling youth unemployment.
Also Mr David Singabelle, a teacher at Government Model School, Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa said the programme was long overdue and would lay a foundation for refocusing the school system beyond issuing certificates.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that100 teachers drawn from private and public schools in the eight local government areas of Bayelsa are participating in the three-day workshop.
Gov. Babagana Zulum of Borno has suspended the Rector of Ramat Polytechnic, Dr Modu Kyari and other management staff of the institution.
Zulum wielded the big stick when he paid a surprise visit to the institution on Tuesday in Maiduguri.
He expressed disappointment with the condition of things in the polytechnic, where he served as rector from 2011 to 2015.
“As far as I am concerned, this polytechnic is dead, nothing is working.
“The workshops are not in existence, the mechanical workshop is not working, the agricultural workshop is not working, likewise the entrepreneurship centre is not working.
“The school is facing myriads of problems, ranging from lack of funding and commitment.
“As a former student and rector of this polytechnic, I have moral stakes in it and will not allow this institution to rot during my era as Governor of Borno State,” Zulum vowed.
He directed the Commissioner of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Babagana Mallumbe to take over the affairs of the institution for the next six months.
The governor also directed the ministry to put all the workshops and laboratories in the polytechnic back to proper use, as soon as possible.
Zulum further ordered the Ministry of Water Resources to drill two deep boreholes and carry out reticulation of the water to address the dearth of potable water in the institution, to prevent spread of waterborne diseases.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governor later addressed students of the polytechnic, where he assured that the payment of their scholarship grant would commence soon.
Dettol Nigeria says it will be introducing hygiene education curriculum in Lagos schools to encourage good hygiene among students and their families.
The General Manager, Reckitt Sub-Saharan Africa, Mr Akbar Ali Shah, made this known in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos.
He said that the initiative was part of the 2021 Dettol School Hygiene Education Programme, a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 initiative under the Dettol Clean Naija campaign.
Shah said that the campaign was aimed at creating awareness, educating and encouraging primary school students to inculcate hygienic practices in their daily lives.
He said that the Dettol School Hygiene stakeholders’ workshop was held last Thursday to intimate the Lagos State education sector on the 2021 programme vision and implementation.
According to him, the 2021 edition will feature the specially developed Hygiene Curriculum created by the Dettol international team, consisting of comics and worksheets that aims to convey the hygiene message to pupils in a fun and engaging manner.
The general manager said that the programme would also involve impact assessment, using scientific measurement tools to determine the impact of its hygiene education on the students, their teachers and parents.
He said that Dettol had partnered with the Lagos State office on SDGs, Dean Initiative, World’s Largest Lesson, and Slum and Rural Health Initiative (SRHIN) to help drive the programme implementation and adoption.
“With Dettol, our purpose is to protect life by making good hygiene simple to adopt. Since 2015, we have directly reached over five million primary school children in Nigeria with our hygiene education.
“However, with the need for an intensified hygiene consciousness due to COVID-19, we are evolving from a model where we had just a one-off contact with the students, to one where there would be repeated interactions based on lessons from the hygiene vurriculum.
“Our aim is to emphasise on the need to enable a sanitised environment and to create the importance of water, hygiene and sanitation in preventing the spread of infections amongst children,’’ he said.
Shah commended its partnership with the Lagos State Office on the SDGs, Dean Initiative, World’s Largest Lesson and SRHIN.
Mr Lekan Fatodu, Senior Special Assistant to the Lagos State Governor on SDG, commended Dettol Nigeria for its efforts to ensure the overall well-being of pupils.
He urged stakeholders and school executives to help ensure the success of the Dettol initiative.
The Chairman, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mr Wahab Alawiye-King, said that the state government would collaborate with Dettol Nigeria to ensure workability of the hygiene curriculum.
Alawiye-King said that the Dettol School Hygiene Education Programme would tackle the challenge of making the schools Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)-friendly.
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