The girls were picked from the secondary schools around the foremost federal university in the nation’s commercial hub, Lagos and educated in robotics as a way of giving back to the community and preparing them for an empowered future.
Eleven young schoolgirls selected and trained by the University of Lagos Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Laboratory (AIROL) have performed excellently at a national robotics competition.
The girls were picked from the secondary schools around the foremost federal university in the nation’s commercial hub, Lagos and educated in robotics as a way of giving back to the community and preparing them for an empowered future.
According to the statement on UNILAG's website on Monday, all the eleven young secondary schoolgirls emerged the best above their competitors from other schools in a Robot Design contest at the First Leggo League (FLL), a national robotics competition.
Competing under the ‘Team AIROL’ they clinched the best prizes as 1st in Robot Design, 3rd in Robot Performance, and 3rd Overall Best in the competition.
These UNILAG-trained girls, therefore, are expected to represent Nigeria at an international robotics competition scheduled to hold in Greece later this year.
They emerged the best in the competition out of 132 teams picked across the 6 geo-political zones of the country.
The names of the girls are Lois Akere and Adebimpe Adefala from UNILAG Women Society School; Adekile Aderinsola, Pamela Fasona and Imisioluwa Folami from International School Lagos; Chisom Dora Nwachukwu from Rola International School, while Peace Onyinyechukwu Okpah, Adewuyi Oluwadamisola, Ayomikun Familusi, Adekola Tanitoluwa, Iyun Ifeoluwa are from are Queens College Lagos.
“A team of eleven young secondary schoolgirls trained by the University of Lagos Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Laboratory (AIROL) took the first position in a Robot Design contest at the First Leggo League (FLL), a national robotics competition.
“Out of 132 teams drawn from 6 Geopolitical Zones, 1, 320 team members and 8, 000+ Learners, UNILAG’s Team AIROL: Emerged 1st in Robot Design, Emerged 3rd in Robot Performance, Emerged 3rd Overall Best in the competition.
“On account of their performance at the competition, the girls will be representing Nigeria at a virtual international robotics competition to be hosted in Greece later in the year,” the statement on the university’s website read.
The Unilag Team AIROL also has its coaching crew of Victory Yinka-Banjo as Coach I, Joel Adebayo as Coach II, and Dr. Chika Yinka-Banjo as the Lead/Principal Investigator.
The FIRST LEGO League Challenge (formerly known as FIRST LEGO League) is an international competition organized by FIRST for elementary and middle school students (ages 9–14 in the United States and Canada, 9–16 elsewhere).
Each year in August, FIRST LEGO League Challenge teams are presented to a scientific and real-world challenge for teams to focus and research on. The robotics part of the competition involves designing and programming LEGO Mindstorms robots to complete tasks.
The students work out a solution to a problem related to the theme (changes every year) and then meet for regional, national and international tournaments to compete, share their knowledge, compare ideas, and display their robots.