A 25-years old man from Thika’s Makadara Estate has developed a military robot that can detect land mines and gather intelligence 300 metres away.
The robot which resembles a toy vehicle could be controlled using a remote or a computer programme and has a memory card chip for recording information.
Once it detects a landmine within that range, it produces an alarm sound, signalling security personnel of eminent danger.
The innovator, Brian Kimani, has taken years of research to finally come up with the technology.
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The robotics engineer plans to sell the technology to the Kenya defence Forces and other security organs as a security solution.
The part-time tutor at Safaricom’s M-pesa Foundation in Thika, studied Diploma in Information Technology course majoring in Computer Programming at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
He later joined Thika Technical College where he studied Engineering on Circuit.
The skills gathered in school coupled with his passion in robotics has propelled his command in ICT innovations.
“When young, I used to repair the family radio. Neighbours would bring their electronic appliances at our home for me to do repairs. This gave me the interest in pursuing ICT in school,” he says.
After completing college education, Kimani was lucky to be absorbed by M-pesa Foundation to guide and train young learners on ICT.
In his house, he has a room filled with several cables, radio capacitors and transformers which he uses to improve on his technologies.
Despite having such knowledge in ICT, Kimani lives a humble life with little pay.
He believes his innovations if embraced, could improve security, streamline public transport and increase efficiency in our day to day operations.
Through research, he plans to improve on the technologies to have a bigger impact on the society.
“I’m planning to come up with an air surveillance robot to detect the enemy during war time. It will be able to capture details several kilometres away, such as in faraway locations and countries,” he said.
He has called for support towards accessing expensive hardware to improve on his technologies.
“Affording some materials to craft my technologies is expensive. Given enough support, I will be able to improve the technologies which will be able to help the country moving forward,” he said.
