AfriGadget

If you’ve been reading AfriGadget for a while, you know of a name that keeps popping up over and over – William Kamkwamba. He was first written about by another blogger friend Mike McKay and then subsequently covered here on AfriGadget a good 3 years ago. His windmills and the story behind it are an inspiration for many. There is now a book, a documentary and a foundation all set up around the inspired story of windmills from Malawi.

Win a copy of “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”

As luck would have it, I have 2 extra copies of William’s new book. I’d like to share that with you, the readers of the blog. To do that, I want to challenge you to send in an AfriGadget-like story, picture or video. Just write it and attach the pictures in an email to main@afrigadget.com. I’ll review them and pick the ones that I think best fits the blog. It’ll be posted here with attribution to you.

We’ve got two weeks until Oct 31, so I’ll give one book away each week. Let’s see what you’ve got! And, yes, I’ll mail the book anywhere in the world.

Note: the best AfriGadget stories come with pictures, so make sure you send those in as well.

William in the news

He’s been doing his book tour in the US this month, hitting some pretty big shows, including ABCs Good Morning America and the Daily Show with John Stewart (videos below).

William Kamkwamba on Good Morning America

First Peaks

The Ministry of Higher Education and Technology has organized a Robot Contest (RoboCon), between Kenyan Universities and middle level colleges. The regional competition is taking place today at the Kenya Polytechnic. Here are the first looks at the Robots from institutions taking part in the competition.

University of Nairobi Robot

Kiambu Institute of Science and Technology Robot

Nairobi Technical Trainin Institute Robot

Kenya Technical Training Institute Robot, The Winner

Machakos Institute of Technology (MIT) Robot

Some video will come soon…

For more information on RoboCon click here.

This is a proposed way to maximize the usage and efficiency of the KVA Flexible Solar Portable Kit by Dominic Wanjihia. Dominic was awarded one of the Flex Kits at the recent Maker Africa Faire in Accra after showing off some amazing new ideas.

One of the cheapest form of transport in Kenya is the “Boda Boda” literally meaning “Border-to-border”, a bicycle ride from one countries boarder immigration offices through no-mans land to the immigration offices of the bordering country customs office.

This mode of transport is non discriminatory and is used by people of all walks of life. from school children, market goers, workers, business persons, etc. The popularity is partially due to the speed and convenience as one does not get stuck in traffic. In the Lake basin town of Kisumu there are estimated to be over 500,000 BodaBoda’s. In the whole county, in excess of 1,500,000

The BodaBoda rider normally works from as early as 4.30a.m. to as late as 10.00p.m. depending on security in the area. He relies greatly on his mobile phone for clients to call for his services. His peak cycling times are early morning, lunch hour and dusk as persons head home from school and work. Translates to 4 – 5 hours in total daily riding time.

Due to the lack of know how and the complexity of electronics, the lack of power storage (i.e. a battery, and the cost) the Cycle dynamo is only effective for charging items and lighting while he is riding. Also, due to space or lack of, cost, insecurity and theft, attaching “Hard” Solar panels to the bikes has never been a viable sustainable option.

However, with the introduction of the Flexible Panels I believe wearing the panels on his back eliminates all these constraints. It also means he is generating power from sun-up to sun-down, an average of 12 hours a day.

Attaching the flexible panels on his back ensures:

1. His phone is always charged guaranteeing customer accessibility
2. He has light at home from the LED’s so saves on heavy power bills
3. He always has an emergency light with his – LED
4. The panels will not get stolen
5. One can also offer charging facilities to client being carried

Other users
The BodaBoda is not the only potential user of the Flexible Panel by wearing it. Anyone spending long hour’s outdoors is a candidate. The farmer, fisherman, hawker’s and peddlers, city council outdoor workers, tourists, campers and hikers – just to mention a few.

Attaching the Panel
It can be attached in a variety of ways. Velcro, Pop Buttons or simply attach Rucksack like straps so it can be worn with any garment. In the latter case the small pouch containing the controller and battery is attached to the back of the panels with Velcro.

If you would like to get in touch with Dominic, you can reach him at dwanjihia@yahoo.com or by phone at +254722700530

After all these fascinating AfriGadgets from Maker Faire Africa, here’s another invention as seen by our friend Cedric Kalonji, a Congolese journalist in Kinshasa (D.R.C.):

For the lack of a cheap power supply in the City of Kinshasa, smart mechanics came up with this little stove that speeds up combustion by adding a little electric fan (hidden inside this tube that looks like being part of a flat spring). The fan itself is powered by (Chinese!) batteries and with the burning of charcoal, this quick stove obviously isn’t the greenest solution. But it works and does the job for those who will otherwise have no alternative.

Cedric also mentions on his blog post that it’s difficult to identify the inventor of this device. A perfect example of how low-cost technology easily gets adopted and/or modified (and why intellectual property rights are still a major issue in many places).

I’m a sucker for radios and antennas, and was just so excited to see the guys from Accra Polytechnic at Maker Faire Africa. Hayford Bempong, David Celestin and Michael Amankwanor are three members of the National Society of Black Engineers who have created a full radio with their own funds and brains.

They showed up at the event and setup the local Maker Faire Africa radio station, running at 101.7 FM. In conjunction with the speakers that they setup for the close proximity announcements, the radio was used to transmit up to a couple thousand meters away and spread the word about upcoming activities.

Basic electronics

David Celestin has been building power inverters and other electronic devices from scratch since he was a teenager. Below is one of his first power inverters, that still works, and which runs out of a little box. You can tell it is all fabricated from scraps and locally available materials.

Here is their home-brew VHF SWR meter:

Antennas

The team also creates their own antennas from scratch, including the “slim jim” below, “ground plane and a circular antenna.