By Tilda Acorlor
The Young and Safe Project for Healthy Cities of Adolescents program in the Ho Municipality has held a boot camp for 40 young people to learn about robotics and virtual reality.
The boot camp took place at the Ho Technical University Basic School. It was aimed at creating a fun teaching-learning environment for youngsters in science.
They were taught practically how to build traffic lights and streetlight control systems using LDR sensor gadgets like Arduino, an open-source electronics platform.
A Tech and Robotics enthusiast, Felix Sam Nanor, who was the facilitator at the boot camp, urged youngsters to explore beyond their limits and have more interest in learning about technology, which could boost Ghana’s economy and the tech industry.
“I want to encourage young people to explore beyond their limits and be curious to learn more about technology,” Mr. Nanor said.
“The only thing that can help right now is technology and industrialization. If we are producing technological components in the country, it will cut down on costs, and most people will be employed and be masters in the particular thing they have studied,” he added.
“They see traffic lights with no idea of what is going on, this is what we Africans are lacking, it’s an eye-opener when they are exposed to this stuff and arouses their curiosity to learn more and get inclined like the Western world,” he said.
The Data Science Specialist added that it’s important for young people to be guided to make better career choices in science as they arouse their curiosity to learn about technology and how it’s evolving our way of life.
“Many children don’t have an idea about sensors, most African kids lack basic technological knowledge compared to white kids,” he said.
“In our part of the world, we don’t get to see much of this stuff, we don’t see robots and have an idea about how they work and how to join components to perform certain actions,” he said.
The youngsters were also introduced to Virtual Reality (VR) and the virtual reality headset that aids a person to tour and interact with virtual features in a virtual environment to generate realistic images, sounds, and other sensations.
Mr. Nanor, who is also a Tech YouTuber, said technology is fast advancing and is making a difference.
Emmanuel Selassie, a student and beneficiary of the boot camp, revealed how excited he was about the knowledge and impact made,
Selasie, who is exploring the world of robotics and VR for the first time, is convinced to pursue a career in science and Robotics.
This is the second Robotics and Virtual Reality Bootcamp under the Young and Safe Project.
The maiden boot camp was held at the Sonrise Christian International School in December.
The Young and Safe project is an initiative of Node Eight, an Innovation Hub in Ho, and supported by Fondation Botnar, a Swiss philanthropic foundation working to improve the health and well-being of young people living in growing cities around the world.
Other partners include the Ghana Education Service, the Ho Municipal Directorate, the Ho Municipal Assembly, and the LoveAid Foundation.
The Young and Safe project is aimed at making Ho a youth-friendly city that safeguards the wellbeing, health, and participation of young people (between the ages of 13 and 23) in city governance.
