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Kenya: Creative Mind Finds Another Use for Cellphone
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The Nation (Nairobi)
1 May 2008
Posted to the web 30 April 2008
George Omondi
Nairobi
It is this year's science time again, and the universities and technical institutions have pitched tent at Kenyatta International Conference Centre to showcase their innovations.
This year's event was unique because it was the first one to be organised by the newly created Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology.
However, for those familiar with such conferences and exhibitions, nothing else was new about the conference. As is always the case, universities, polytechnics and other technical institutes have each been provided with equal size of space and time to showcase their technology.
Was uncovered
When the Nation team visited the venue, nothing seemed remarkable about a small stall operated by the Mombasa Polytechnic students until the invincibility of determination that built the simple technologies on display was uncovered.
One of the two inventions was particularly interesting. Having observed people's obsession with mobile phones over the years, Stanley Otieno Oyugi, 24, an electronic engineering student, says he was determined to make the gadget even a better companion to man.
"I began to ask myself, now that mobile phones are part our lives, can it also represent us when we are away attending to other businesses?"
But he didn't have to scratch his head for too long. All the young man had to do was to relieve his childhood days when he first had encounters with a remote control.
"I used to marvel at the contraption a lot. I would open it up each time my father was away and would get startled just how that simple gadget was able to operate a large television set," he said.
He was not struggling in a vacuum. His father, who has since died, was an electrician, and had exposed him to the workings of simple circuits from his early childhood.
His prowess
By the time he reached high school, his prowess in electronics was already visible. His physics teacher would confiscate all pocket radios smuggled to school and destroy them using a hammer. To his great advantage, the teacher would grant immunity to anyone who was able to pick up the pieces and repair the radio, something Oyugi relished.
So by the time mobile phones took the country by storm, Mr Oyugi was old enough and a master of simple circuits. He struggled with technologies until he got a breakthrough.
At this year's National Science and Technology Exhibition, it was no coincidence that he had one of the most startling technologies to display.
Going back to his obsession with remote controls and simple circuits, the young man invented a technology in which a mobile phone can play the role of househelp in case one is away.
"The technology is very simple. A mobile phone (receiver) which is connected to the circuit translates the calls, SMSs or beeps into on or off commands. So when the technology is connected to the TV cable, the TV set is turned on or off according to command relayed by the circuit." He said.
He has also tried the system successfully at home to switch security lights on and off.
Mr Oyugi says the more times he displayed the technology to people, the more they came up with ideas about the sectors of its application.
Busy elsewhere
At the Nation Science and Technology Conference, Mr Oyugi was showcasing how a farmer can rely on the simple technique to feed his animals in case he is busy elsewhere, even out of the country.
Each time the receiver mobile phone rings or beeps, animal feed begins to flow out from the funnel attached to the feeds store. Another call or beep automatically stops the system from releasing the food. The farmer only needs to determine the rate at which the funnel discharges feed to ensure that the animals are not underfed.
Mr Oyugi says the system can be used anywhere in the country as long as there is a mobile phone network. Besides electricity, the circuit system can use battery and solar power.
The national event is not his only attempt to sell his skills. He says he once improvised a radio and TV transmitters and tried to set up his own TV at the polytechnic.
Adequate exposure
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When the former no-nonsense Transport minister John Michuki was transferred from the ministry and rowdiness of the matatu sector began to rear its ugly head, the young man approached the stakeholders to buy into his idea of restoring sanity.
He had developed a gadget that would count the number of people getting into a matatu, which would automatically shutdown the engine if the number exceeded the recommended vehicle capacity.
Oyugi is currently on attachment at Kaluworks in Nairobi where he says the company's maintenance department team has sharpened his skills and given him adequate exposure.
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