[ 2016-11-23 ]

Ashesi University junior selected as judge for World Robot Olympiad 2016
When a lecturer at Ashesi asked Kojo to describe
himself in a word, he didn’t have to think long
about it?—?“robotics” was the natural and
apt response.

Several years earlier in high school, after
stumbling upon the robotics club in his first
year, Kojo’s interest was immediately piqued.
Since then, Kojo has fully immersed himself into
robotics, working towards a career in robotics and
artificial intelligence.

“Robotics keeps me on me on my toes,”
explained Kojo. “Essentially, how a robot
functions is a reflection of the builder or
programmer, so I’m constantly challenged to
optimize solutions: what is the most efficient way
of accomplishing a task? Robotics also helps bring
your logic, intelligence and imagination alive,
and that excites me.”

This year, Kojo is one of two Ghanaians selected
to be on the panel of judges for the World Robot
Olympiad 2016 to be held in New Delhi, India in
November. For three days, Kojo alongside fifteen
other judges will coach, mentor and coordinate the
Robotics Football World cup, one of the highlights
of the Olympiad. At nineteen years, Kojo is also
one of the youngest judges at the competition.

I’m very excited about this,” said Kojo.
“The opportunity to learn from and coach some of
the brightest brains in robotics; understanding
how they think and build their algorithms is truly
exciting. I also want to build my network with
other robotics enthusiasts and professionals from
around the world. I’m very grateful to my
parents for helping make this possible.

Having the kind of support from my mentors at the
Ghana Robotics Academy Foundation and Dr. Korsah
at Ashesi has been tremendous. It’s truly a
blessing, and I’m thankful to God.”

The World Robot Olympiad, an event for science,
technology and education, brings together young
people from across the globe to build on their
creativity and problem solving skills though
challenges and educational robotic competitions.
Participating teams, design, build and program
robots to participate in various sporting
disciplines.

Outside school, Kojo is at the frontline of
teaching kids how to build and program robots.
Working with the Ghana Robotics Academy Foundation
(GRAF), he has been instrumental in starting up
robotics clubs and running boot-camps in high
schools across the country. At Ashesi, through
volunteering with Tech Era, a community engagement
initiative, Kojo is able to reach out to children
in underserved communities.

“Due to very limited exposure, kids in deprived
communities may never get the chance to experience
robotics, and there are some talented kids in
those communities,” said Kojo. “Teaching them,
and watching them build and program the robots
makes me happy. Once more people are equipped with
the knowledge, it actually broadens the scope of
robotics in Ghana and it’s only exciting to see
what they will do with it.”

Source - Ashesi

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