Berekuso (Eastern Region, Ghana) – August 13, 2012 – Ashesi University College today announced the winners of its inaugural robotics competition, the Ashesi Robotics Experience (ARX). The four winning teams were culled from a field of 62 high school students from across Ghana participating in the program. The event, hosted in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation, aimed to encourage greater interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) among African high school students.
“Infrastructure continues to be an enormous challenge across Africa,” said Patrick Awuah, Founder and President of Ashesi University College. “As a result, we believe it’s critical that future engineers are educated using practical, hands-on methodologies. The students that participated in ARX are a shining example of the energy and enthusiasm for STEM learning here in Africa.”
The program culminated in a competition that challenged students to design task-oriented prototype robots. The competition focused on the mock harvesting of pineapples (a popular crop farmed near the Ashesi campus) arranged along a path and in a grid pattern. Teams of 2 - 4 students built and programmed robots to locate, collect and remove the pineapples from a model field in a lab. Students were divided into two groups, intermediate, for those who had some experience using computers and programming and novice, for those who had no prior programming experience.
The winner for the intermediate group was a team called "Determination" (photo above) made up of team members Rhoda Tano-Menka (Aburi Girls Senior High School), Marese Abdul Kaleem (Notre Dame Girls Senior High School), Dennis Mensah (St. Augustine's College) and Ebenezer Asamoah-Gray, (Ghana Secondary Technical School). The second prize in the group went to Joseph Sabie (St Francis Xavier Junior Seminary) Daniel Tetteh (St. Augustin's College), Eunice Owusuaa (Notre Dame Girls Senior High School) and Grace Asiedu (Arch Bishop Porter's Senior High School).
The winning team from the novice group was "The Sharks", made up of team members Henrietta Gborgblorbu (S.O.S. Hermann Gmeiner High School), Josephine Aklgo (Navrongo Senior High School) and Oti Foster Asante (St. Joseph's Secondary Technical School). The runners up in the novice group were Edem Akorli (Abor Senior High School), Charllote Owusu-Ansah (Abakrampa Secondary Technical School), Rhoda Adu-Boafo and Christian Torker (Obuasi Technical High School).
"This week was totally beyond my expectations," said Henrietta Gborgblorbu, from "The Sharks" team. "The program really challenged us to solve problems and use our critical thinking skills. I never knew I would be so excited about robotics but I really loved it. I want to see if I can start a robotics club in my high school from here, so I can do more."
Ashesi Founder and President, Patrick Awuah used the event to announce the launch of a partnership with The MasterCard Foundation which will support scholarships for over 200 students to attend Ashesi over the next 10 years. Patrick Awuah stated, "We are very excited about the opportunity to work with The MasterCard Foundation. This scholarship program will provide support not only for tuition but for room and board, as well as laptops for forty students a year. The MasterCard Foundation is helping us make sure that scholarship students have the same resources as any student that attends Ashesi."
The Mastercard Foundation’s involvement with the Ashesi Robotics Experience(ARX) competition reflects the Foundation’s mission focused on youth learning. The Foundation is specifically focused on finding innovative, market-driven solutions to fostering employment opportunities for youth around the world.
Visit the ARX page for more information about ARX, profiles of participating faculty, staff and students and details of the 2012 programme.
Click here for more photos from the final day of the Ashesi Robotics Experience.