The Prime Coders, a Ghanaian robotics team trained under the guidance of the Mikrobot Academy, KNUST College of Engineering Innovation Centre and supported by the Responsible AI Lab (RAIL) at KNUST, has made the nation proud by securing top honours at the prestigious Robofest World Championship in Michigan, USA.
The team, which is part of the Mikrobot Academy Robotics club, was trained by Dr. Michael Wilson (Research Scientist, CSIR-INSTI), Dr. Kwame Oteng Gyasi (RAIL Robotics Trainer), Jonathan Darko, Michael Nkema, and Caleb Alhassan, students from the KNUST College of Engineering Innovation Centre.
The delegation was led by Dr. Yaw Okraku-Yirenkyi, Founding Member and Country Director of GRAF, who facilitated their participation in the competition.
The Responsible AI Lab (RAIL), in partnership with the KNUST Engineering Education Project (KEEP), supported the Kumasi chapter of the Mikrobot Academy through robotics kits, training facilities and technical mentorship. This collaboration is formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between RAIL, GRAF, CSIR-INSTI and Mikrobot Academy.
Ghana was represented by four institutions in various categories, with one team from Mikrobot Academy excelling in the “Unknown Mission Challenge”, where they won 2nd place and another team winning a special achievement award in the “Game” category. As part of their prizes, the team members received a $3,000 scholarship each to Lawrence Technological University, Michigan, certificates and medals.
Mikrobot Academy has branches in Accra, Tema, Tarkwa and Kumasi. The Kumasi chapter of Mikrobot Academy offers free robotics training to students from primary to Junior High School (JHS), and calls for sponsorship to continue nurturing the next generation of innovators.
The Ghana Robotics Academy Foundation (GRAF) was founded by Dr. Trebi-Ollennu Ashitey, a renowned NASA engineer, and has been running for the past 14 years under the leadership of Dr. Yaw Okraku-Yirenkyi with support from Ing. Leslie Joppa, Dr. Michael Wilson, Asabea Mintah, Kojo Nyamekye and Dr. Kwame Oteng Gyasi.
The RAIL team, led by Prof. Jerry John Kponyo (Principal Investigator and Scientific Director), played a crucial role in supporting the Mikrobot Academy delegation. Other key members who attended the competition included Dr. Selassie Agbemenu (Project Engineer, RAIL), Dr. Kwame Oteng Gyasi (RAIL Robotics Trainer) and Mrs. Betty Kponyo (Assistive Devices Team, RAIL).
Congratulations to Mikrobot Academy and all partners involved in this remarkable success!