STEM Schooling in Africa: Engineering Scholar’s Story

The bundle containing the ArduCopter 2.8 board lastly arrived from China, bearing the load of our anticipation. I keep in mind selecting it up, the cardboard field weathered barely from its journey. As I tore by way of the layers of tape, it felt like unwrapping a long-awaited reward. However as I lifted the ArduCopter 2.8 board out of the field, my coronary heart sank. The board, which was to be the cornerstone of our challenge, regarded worn out and outdated, with seen scuffs and bent pins. This was simply one in all a cascade of setbacks my group would face.

It began after I was assigned a challenge in machine design at Obafemi Awolowo College (OAU), situated within the coronary heart of Ilé-Ifẹ̀, an historic Yoruba metropolis in Osun State, in southwest Nigeria, the place I’m a mechanical engineering scholar getting into my last yr of a five-year program. OAU is one in all Nigeria’s oldest and most prestigious universities, recognized for its stunning campus and structure. Some folks I do know check with it because the “Stanford of Nigeria” due to the numerous variety of good startups it has spun off. Regardless of its popularity, although, OAU—like each different federally owned establishment in Nigeria—is underfunded and affected by college strikes, resulting in interruptions in teachers. The shortage of funding means college students should pay for his or her undergraduate tasks themselves, making the success of any challenge closely depending on the scholars’ monetary capabilities.

Dr. Oluwaseun Okay. Ajayi, an professional in computer-aided design (CAD), machine design, and mechanisms, gave us the liberty to decide on our last challenge. I proposed a analysis challenge based mostly on a paper titled “Advance Simulation Methodology for Wheel-Terrain Interactions of House Rovers: A Case Research on the UAE Rashid Rover” by Ahmad Abubakar and coauthors. However as a result of computational assets required, it was rejected. Dr. Ajayi as an alternative proposed that my fellow college students and I construct a surveillance drone, because it aligned along with his personal analysis. Dr. Ajayi, a passionate and pushed researcher, was motivated by the potential real-world functions of our challenge. His fixed push for progress, whereas typically overwhelming, was rooted in his want to see us produce significant work.

As my group completed scoping out the preliminary ideas of the drone in CAD designs, we had been able to contribute cash towards implementing our concept. We performed a value evaluation and determined to make use of a third-party vendor to assist us order our elements from China. We went this route on account of transport and customs points we’d beforehand skilled. Taking the third-party route was supposed to unravel the issue. Little did we suspect what was coming.

By the point we finalized our value evaluation and began to collect funds, the value of the elements we would have liked had skyrocketed on account of a sudden financial disaster and depreciation of the Nigerian naira by 35 % towards the U.S. greenback on the finish of January 2024. This was the genesis of our downside.

Initially, we had been a gaggle of 12, however as a result of excessive value per particular person, Dr. Ajayi requested one other group, led by Tonbra Suoware, to merge with mine. Tonbra’s group had been planning a robotic arm challenge till Dr. Ajayi merged our groups and instructed us to work on the drone, with the purpose of exhibiting it on the Nationwide House Analysis and Growth Company, in Abuja, Nigeria. The merger elevated our group to 25 members, which helped with the person monetary burden but additionally meant that not everybody would actively take part within the challenge. Many simply contributed their share of the cash.

Tonbra and I drove the challenge ahead.

With Dr. Ajayi’s consent, my teammates and I scrapped the “surveillance” a part of the drone challenge and raised the cash for creating simply the drone, totaling roughly 350,000 naira (roughly US $249). We needed to reduce down prices, which meant straying away from the unique specs of a few of the elements, just like the flight controller, battery, and power-distribution board. In any other case, the associated fee would have been far more insufferable.

We had been set to order the elements from China on 5 February 2024. Sadly, it was an extended vacation in China, we had been advised, so we wouldn’t get the elements till March. This led to tense discussions with Dr. Ajayi, regardless of having briefed him concerning the state of affairs. Why the stress? Our faculty semester ends in March, and having elements arrive in March would imply that the challenge could be lengthy overdue by the point we completed it. On the similar time, we college students had a obligatory academic-industrial coaching on the finish of the semester.

Oluwatosin Kolade, a mechanical engineering scholar at Nigeria’s Obafemi Awolowo College, says the drone challenge taught him the worth of failure.Andrew Esiebo

However what selection did we now have? We couldn’t again down from the challenge—that might have value us our grade.

We received most of our elements by mid-March, and instantly began engaged on the drone. We had the body 3D-printed at a value of fifty naira (roughly US $0.03) per gram for a 570-gram body, for a complete value of 28,500 naira (roughly US $18).

Subsequent, we turned to constructing the power-distribution system for {the electrical} elements. Initially, we’d deliberate to make use of a power-distribution board to evenly distribute energy from the battery to the pace controllers and the rotors. Nonetheless, the board we initially ordered was now not out there. Compelled to improvise, we used a Veroboard as an alternative. We linked the battery in a configuration parallel to the pace controllers to make sure that every rotor acquired equal energy. This improvisation did imply further prices, as we needed to hire soldering irons, hand drills, scorching glue, cables, a digital multimeter, and different instruments from an electronics hub in downtown Ilé-Ifẹ̀.

All the pieces was going easily till it was time to configure the flight controller—the ArduCopter 2.8 board—with the help of a software program program known as Mission Planner. We toiled every day, combing by way of YouTube movies, on-line boards, Stack Alternate, and different assets for steering, all to no avail. We even downgraded the Mission Planner software program a few instances, solely to find that the board we’d waited for therefore patiently was out of date. It was really heartbreaking, however we couldn’t order one other one as a result of we didn’t have time to attend for it to reach. Plus, getting one other flight controller would’ve value an extra sum—240,000 naira (about US $150) for a Pixhawk 2.4.8 flight controller—which we didn’t have.

We knew our drone could be half-baked with out the flight controller. Nonetheless, given our semester-ending time constraint, we determined to proceed with the configuration of the transmitter and receiver. We made the ultimate connections and examined the elements with out the flight controller. To make sure that the transmitter may management all 4 rotors concurrently, we examined every rotor individually with every transmitter channel. The aim was to assign a single channel on the transmitter that might activate and synchronize all 4 rotors, permitting them to spin in unison throughout flight. This was essential, as a result of with out correct synchronization, the drone wouldn’t be capable of keep a secure flight.

“This expertise taught me invaluable classes about resilience, teamwork, and the tough realities of engineering tasks finished by college students in Nigeria.”

After the ultimate configuration and elements testing, we got down to take a look at our drone in its last type. However a couple of minutes into the testing, our battery failed. This failure meant the challenge had failed, and we had been extremely upset.

After we lastly submitted our challenge to Dr. Ajayi, the deadline had handed. He advised us to cost the battery so he may see the drone come alive, though it couldn’t fly. However circumstances didn’t permit us to order a battery charger, and we had been at a loss as to the place to get assist with the flight controller and battery. There are not any tech hubs out there for such issues in Ilé-Ifẹ̀. We advised Dr. Ajayi we couldn’t do as he’d requested and defined the state of affairs to him. He lastly allowed us to submit our work, and all group members acquired course credit score.

Resourcefulness just isn’t an alternative choice to funding

This expertise taught me invaluable classes about resilience, teamwork, and the tough realities of engineering tasks finished by college students in Nigeria. It confirmed me that whereas technical information is essential, the power to adapt and improvise when confronted with unexpected challenges is simply as essential. I additionally discovered that failure, although disheartening, just isn’t an ending however a stepping stone towards development and enchancment.

In my college, the calls for on mechanical engineering college students are exceptionally excessive. As an example, in a single semester, I used to be typically assigned as much as 4 completely different main tasks, every from a distinct professor. Alongside the drone challenge, I labored on two different substantial tasks for different programs. The fact is {that a} scholar’s capability to attain properly in these tasks is usually closely depending on monetary assets. We’re always burdened with the prices of working quite a few tasks. The nation’s ongoing financial challenges, together with foreign money devaluation and inflation, solely exacerbate this burden.

In essence, when the world, together with graduate-school-admission committees and trade recruiters, evaluates transcripts from Nigerian engineering graduates, it’s essential to acknowledge {that a} grade could not totally replicate a scholar’s capabilities in a given course. They will additionally replicate monetary constraints, difficulties in sourcing gear and supplies, and the broader financial atmosphere. This understanding should inform how transcripts are interpreted, as they inform a narrative not simply of educational efficiency but additionally of perseverance within the face of great challenges.

As I advance in my schooling, I plan to use these classes to future tasks, understanding that perseverance and resourcefulness shall be key to overcoming obstacles. The failed drone challenge has additionally given me a sensible glimpse into the working world, the place sudden setbacks and finances constraints are frequent. It has ready me to strategy my profession with each a sensible mindset and an understanding that success usually comes from how properly you handle difficulties, not simply how properly you execute plans.