Will these Mombasa kids conquer robotics world?

A double staircase leads you to a double-room on the second floor of the Qubaa Muslim School tuition block in King’orani, Mombasa.

This is where the 16-member Robotics Club has been doing its practical lessons.

“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind,” is the quote that welcomes you to the room, by scientist Albert Einstein.

Being a Muslim school, Qubaa is trying to infuse religion with science, hence the management has been encouraging the students from Form 1-3 to take part in the robotics classes.

Another poster inside the rooms reads, “Dream big, work hard and make it happen.”

The 16-member club is also trying to fight off the outdated stereotype pegged on Coastal people that they do not value education.

Their love of science and robotics has earned the school a lifetime opportunity to showcase their talent and innovation at the global stage.

The team is expected to represent the East African region in the First Lego League Challenge, which will be held late this month in Texas, USA.

Qubaa Muslim School’s Robotics Club were the winners during the national competitions held in Nairobi in February. They will join other schools from West, South, North and Central Africa in the world competition on April 20.

HOW THEY DID IT

First Lego League Challenge, which was founded in 1998 by Dean Kamen, an American engineer and inventor, is a robotics-related games sporting competition for elementary and middle school students.

Children are tested in different categories, including co-values, team work, robot design, innovation and creativity.

Mohammed Liban, 17, who joined the Qubaa Muslim School Robotics Club this year, says he has long harboured an interest in computers.

“When I joined the school, I took some time to observe the clubs and activities available. Later, I decided to join the robotics club,” he says.

He always looks forward to the robotics classes as they give him an opportunity to nurture his creative and innovative ideas.

“I have always been interested in computers since I was young. The robotics classes usually give me some sense of enjoyment and also an opportunity to be creative,” he explains.

The Form 2 student, who loves mathematics and physics classes, expresses confidence that they will win the global title in Houston, Texas.

In his wildest imagination, Liban never thought one day he would fly out of the country for such a mega competition.

He remains hopeful he will be among the four students out of 16 who will be selected to represent the Kenyan school and East Africa in the US.

His classmate Mohammed Kassim says he was convinced to join the robotics club by his class teacher.

“I became so interested in joining the club when I heard my class teacher explaining to us about it,” he says.

Kassim was among the four students, including Liban, who represented the school during the Lego competition in Nairobi in February.

“That was my first robotics competition to ever participate in. I was very nervous at first, but I managed to recollect and compose myself as time went by,” he explains.

Abdirahman Rijal is the school’s project coordinator and robotics coach. He took charge of the team early this year and is behind the recent success of the team.

“We are ready to compete and showcase our talent on the world stage. I believe in these kids and their talent. They have the potential to go far if well nurtured,” he says.

LIMITED FUNDS

The team is facing financial problems in travelling to the US. They are hoping they can secure support before the actual date of travel.

During the region’s competition in February in Nairobi, due to financial constraints, the team only managed to send four students instead of the entire 16 members.

“If we had a bigger team, we could have come home with a better performance and more points. Due to financial challenges, we only managed to send a lean team of four,” Rijal says.

In the first round of the competition, he says, the team lacked confidence as other schools brought in bigger clubs. However, they managed to become the overall winners.

The Lego Challenge normally takes two months to prepare after getting the competition guidelines and regulations.

Rijal took over the team in January. This, therefore, means they had only one month to prepare for the competition in Nairobi.

Despite the challenges, they beat 19 other schools to emerge overall winners.

“By the time we went for the event, we were not fully prepared. Our confidence was so low, but we managed to compose ourselves after the first rounds of the competition,” he says.

The school got wind of the competition in 2018, though it started in Kenya officially in 2016.

They enrolled for the competition, but failed to attend due to lack of finances. It was until last year that they managed to send a team to the competitions.

The competition entails the students solving ‘missions’ on a special board called the Cargo Connect Board.

The board has 17 missions that the students are supposed to complete within two-and-half minutes.

Students have to program the instructions into the machines for the robots to complete them within the set time. The ones with the most points after the time elapses are declared winners.

Rijal says that the students have managed to strike a balance between their studies and the robotics practice. They get an hour every Tuesday and Thursday to train.

“Now that schools have closed, we train every day for about two hours to ensure that we are ready for the world competitions,” he says.

PREVIOUS COMPETITIONS

This is not the first time the school is competing in such a high-level competition. In 2016, they sent a student to China to compete in the Infor Matrix competitions.

They have participated in several other competitions in the recent past, including the Gisu Tech, Genius Olympiad, Mastratec, ESI, The World Scholars Cup and Owlypia IFLC.

The school won gold medals in the 2017 and 2018 Infor Matrix competitions in the country.

Rijal says they go for robotics competitions locally and internationally because the students will get the chance to interact with other skilled learners.

“We participate in all international events, be it robotics or debating, as long as they are international. We know that it will polish these learners because they will get to learn from others with more experience,” he says.

Tazie Oldemir, the school’s clubs president, says this is the fourth time the school is taking part in an international competition.

He says they have been taking their learners to such competitions every year so they can learn and see the new technology being used in other parts of the world, hoping they will embrace it in Kenya, too.

“We normally ask ourselves what kind of technology we have out there that we can't have here, too?” he says.

He believes Mombasa is poised to be a technological hub in the country.

The team recently received a certificate of recognition from the Mombasa county government for their outstanding performance in robotic competitions.

Edited by T Jalio