In a world that’s embracing new technology, inspiration is
being found in bug behaviour. The hard-bodied dung beetle is now key to
robotics research, in Africa too.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



Under a scorching African sun in the Kalahari Desert, 70kms
outside Vryburg, a town situated in the North West Province of South Africa,
researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits in South Africa) and
Lund University, Sweden, monitor the movements of a dung beetle in windy
conditions.



The insect, with a rotund body and metallic luster,
resembling a miniature cyborg, is expertly rolling away a ball of dung,
oblivious to the gaze of science.



The researchers aim to explore more about what influences
the dung beetle’s movements.



They find that it uses visual cues such as the sun,
polarized light, color gradients, intensity gradients in the sky, and even the
Milky Way, as external reference points.



The insect uses the sun as a direction tool but what happens
after dusk? The researchers find that in windy conditions, the dung beetle
switches from using the sun as a navigator to using the wind.



Astounded by this discovery early this year is Marcus Byrne,
one of the researchers from Wits.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="932" height="618" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/marcus.png" alt="" class="wp-image-41746" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/marcus.png 932w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/marcus-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/marcus-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/marcus-768x509.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 932px) 100vw, 932px" /><figcaption> Marcus Byrne, one of the researchers from Wits. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure>



Having studied dung beetles for over 20 years, he believes
that this new knowledge from a tiny being could influence the bigger world of
artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics.



“We have gone from massively complicated to as simple as
possible, using insects as a model,” he says.



In Byrne’s office at Wits, dozens of dung beetle replicas
sit on his bookshelf that’s also heaving with thick volumes and encyclopedias
on entomology.



A large poster of a dung beetle, almost in flight, hangs on a wall. To tech geeks and film buffs used to the sci-fi genre, this would look more like a still from the Transformers movie series.



Byrne excitedly scavenges for an apparatus used to
illustrate how the dung beetle’s brain works.



The insect has a navigation feature, such as switching from
the sun to the wind, and an orientation feature that Byrne explains in detail.



Orientation means the dung beetle is able to maintain its
body in a straight line to a specific direction, whilst navigation means that
it is able to know where it is, relative to something else. 



Being able to switch between the two is an amazing skill for
insect life to have, according to Byrne.



Some dung beetles can operate with one of the systems while
others can operate with both.



For Byrne, the dung beetle species the researchers worked on
was only able to use its system of orientation.



“What makes this feature of the dung beetle key to
researchers and robotics, is that unlike other insects such as the bee, the
dung beetle does not need to be trained to do an experiment,” he says.



“She will just roll the ball if you put the dung ball down.
And if she is in the mood, she will roll that ball,” he says. 



When a dung beetle is in searching mode, it uses its sense
of smell to find the dung.



After the dung is found, it rolls it up into a ball and then switches to a visual system to recognize the ball. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“It switches its brain from smell to vision. And we think that that’s because it has a very limited set of neurons. It probably has less than a million neurons in its brain.”</blockquote>



The dung beetle, despite the size of its brain, can process
information and decide which sensor to use.



“They are scanning the horizon to look for a large dark
object against the horizon and that’s probably a ball, and you could teach a
robot to do that,” adds Byrne.



“What you have is a compass with a fallback system that if one
cue is not available, another one can be incorporated and if all of the visual
cues fail, it still has a mechanical cue,” he says.



In this way, Byrne suggests, it could aid in the development
of robots and AI.



“This is the sort of thing that the air force, GPS and
anyone who wants to orientate across the planet, [would] want their machines to
be able to do,” he says.



“What if the power goes off and what if the battery goes
flat or someone shoots down the satellite? Now, you have a natural full-proof system
that does not require any external energy inputs, it just uses the signals in
nature.



“This is what we can learn from insects, you can solve what
appears to be a complex problem by actually having a very simple set of rules,”
he says.



Learning from the beetle brain



The dung beetle has a miniscule brain, with less than a
million neurons, when compared to the brain of a human being which has over 100
billion neurons. 



But despite this, the beetle is still able to use its
neurons to process two different sets of inputs at the same time, and can pick
from a wide array of inputs to complete a task at any given time.



“It can choose between the polarized light input and the sun
input using the same neuron, it just codes the information in a different way,”
Byrne says.



When it reads polarized light, the spikes in the neurons are
a different pattern from when it reads sunlight.



“This is also dead cool because you have limited computing
power and you don’t have to build a new transistor or a new wire or a new gateway
for this information. 



“You can use the same communicating system. You just code
the information differently.



“It is very difficult to convince even an intelligent
computer what is the most important piece of information it needs to deal with
at any given time,” he says.



After learning about Byrne and his work on dung beetles from
an online article, another professor from Wits was interested to see how they
could collaborate.



Benjamin Rosman is a principal researcher at Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa’s capital Pretoria
with a focus on machine learning, AI, robotics and automation.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="928" height="615" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Benjamin1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-41747" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Benjamin1.png 928w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Benjamin1-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Benjamin1-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Benjamin1-768x509.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px" /><figcaption> Benjamin Rosman principal researcher at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure>



He also spends his time lecturing at Wits teaching
bright-eyed students about the world of robotics, something he is passionate
about.



“Robotics and AI have a long history and relationship with
understanding living organisms,” Rosman says. 



He grew up interested in making computer games but later
found AI and robotics much more intriguing.



Now, he believes that the world of robotics has a thing or
two to learn from insects. 



“On the one hand, you can look at insects to solve robotics’
problems and it’s a general thing we do in AI because there’s already a proof
of concept. Living creatures can do intelligent things,” Rosman says.



Robots can be built from understanding the way the insect
brain works,&nbsp; for example, the artificial
neuron networks Byrne mentioned earlier.



But the roles too can be reversed where these robots can
help humans understand insects.



“So you can study these natural phenomena to get a better
idea of how to build robots or systems or solve problems, and the flip side of
that is you can build robots that help you understand the natural phenomena,”
Rosman says. 



Insects saving lives? 



With modern inventions such as self-driving cars at the cusp
of commodification, the word ‘autonomous’ is on everyone’s minds.



Byrne believes that insects such as the dung beetle also
have a say in this.



But, forget self-driving cars, Byrne believes learning from
the dung beetle could also potentially save lives.



He explains how this could work in a life-threatening
situation.



If a robot is programmed to navigate and orientate like the
dung beetle, it could do so autonomously if sent into a building that is
burning.



The robot would be able to maneuver around the building,
find people and alert where the humans are trapped in the building even without
being programmed.



“It’s a life-saving device that even if it gets burned in
the building, it is not a big deal,” Byrne says.



On another continent, a researcher from Scotland created
robots inspired by insects.



&nbsp;Barbara Webb, a
professor of robotics at the University of Edinburgh, has been studying insect
behavior to build robots for over 10 years.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="388" height="597" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Barbara.png" alt="" class="wp-image-41751" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Barbara.png 388w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Barbara-300x462.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Barbara-195x300.png 195w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 388px) 100vw, 388px" /><figcaption> Barbara Webb, a professor of robotics at the University of Edinburgh. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure></div>



“Recently, we focused on navigation behavior in insects; so
how ants and bees are able to get back to their nests. They started by keeping
track of how fast they have moved in each direction and so we have a few
hypotheses on how they do that and what brain mechanism is behind that,” she
tells FORBES AFRICA.



By studying the insects’ brains, she and her team were able
to implement and test out the theories they had and built a robot that used a
similar mechanism.



One of the robots they built was made of wheels, a mobile
phone and mirrors to keep track of their navigation and recognize a route to
detect familiarity.



“Insects typically have 360-degree vision and so we try to
copy that by having a mirror near the camera to have that kind of 360-degree
view,” she says.



“The main reason we are interested in looking at them is
because they have managed to do this kind of behavior such as navigation with
very small brains, and if you compare that to self-driving cars, which has had
very successful research now, but they depend on having very complicated, very
detailed sensing, lots of information about the maps of the world that they are
moving in and very high degrees of computing, and yet none of them are
available to the insect but they still manage to get around very well,” she
says.



Is it a bug, robot or cyborg?



The material environment has always taken inspiration from
insects and animals.



Biomimicry, as it is called, is an innovative approach to
the design and production of materials, structures and systems modeled on
biological entities. 



Some examples can be seen in modern-day inventions such as
the bullet train, inspired by the kingfisher, or wind turbines modeled after
humpback whales, and the list goes on.



But an entrepreneur and multi-disciplinary artist in the
United States has taken biomimicry to a whole new level.



Ever seen a cyborg-looking-beetle with machine-made parts
looking like something out of a sci-fi film?



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="866" height="435" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/beetle7.png" alt="" class="wp-image-41749" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/beetle7.png 866w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/beetle7-300x151.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/beetle7-600x301.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/beetle7-768x386.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 866px) 100vw, 866px" /><figcaption> Cyborg-looking-beetle by Mike Libby. Picture: Supplied </figcaption></figure>



Well, Mike Libby, founder of Insect Lab Studio in Maine,
incorporates this form of aesthetics to his contemporary designs.



He customizes preserved insect specimens with mechanical
components, to create art that illustrates science-fiction.



His journey began when he found a dead beetle, dissected it and incorporated into it with watch parts and gears making it look like something out of a Transformers film. 



“There are a lot of different things in science fiction and
there are a lot of things in real science that create context for this type of
work to develop,” he tells FORBES AFRICA. 



He collects beetles from licensed dealers all over the
world, including Africa.



One of the beetles he has collected is the African flower beetle that feeds from the pollen and nectar of flowers. Its biological name is Cetonidae/Eudicella Gralli Orientalis and is 3.5 inches wide.



Libby customized this beetle with his own idea of an
exoskeleton, giving it brass and steel parts, gears, a crown, springs, screws,
watch jewel, pulley and belt.



Today, he sells these pieces for $500 to over $8,500 to
clients all over the world.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="615" height="578" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Beetle6.png" alt="" class="wp-image-41748" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Beetle6.png 615w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Beetle6-300x282.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Beetle6-600x564.png 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 615px) 100vw, 615px" /><figcaption> Cetonidae/Eudicella Gralli Orientalis created by Mike Libby. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure>



“Just a couple of weeks ago, I sold a small beetle to a
gentleman in France whose wife’s birthday was coming up and I think that’s
where 50% to 60% of the gifts end up, as special gifts,” he says.



He has also created art using crabs and lobsters.



If he can do this using dead bugs and broken technology,
imagine what the next few years could be with moving AI, robotics and living
insects?



Perhaps we are closer than we think to living in a world with one of the Transformers’ contraptions next door.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Africa’s dung idea</h4>



There are about 800 species of dung beetles in South Africa
alone, and a wider variety of them on the rest of the continent.



With all this wealth of insects and diversity on our
content, it is safe to say that Africa is at a higher advantage than most to
develop technological solutions from the natural environment.



With AI and the fourth industrial revolution on the rise,
Africa should have clear advantage to merge AI, robotics and insects.



Rosman believes the same.



“I think we have a lot of opportunity here. In the research
space, we are always looking for what are the advantages of being in Africa.
And I think one of the things we can think about is this kind of natural
diversity,” he says.



“The diversity of animals we have here is another big
strength which can come into the way we think about machines doing intelligent
things.”



Therefore, for Africa to get ahead, ideally, we need to
leapfrog into such technologies. 



However, there are challenges.



“There’s the technical challenges of how do we build these
systems that can work in those kind of ways. Then there are questions around
how it interacts with our politics, particularly the unemployment situation,”
Rosman says.



The big question, Rosman says is: “Should we be spending
government money on building autonomous dung beetles?”



However, the plus side of such innovative tech is the
potential it has to encourage young Africans to get involved in STEM (science,
technology, engineering and math) fields.



It is important to educate and inform the masses on such
trends and how it could enhance our daily lives. 



As tech advances, it is possible that we will live in an
autonomous world where we don’t have to tell our tech what to do, it will
already know what to do and when.



“That’s the world we want to live in, that our technology
helps us without us even having to think about it… and I think that’s the kind
of thing we could get more easily by studying how animals and insects interact
in these kinds of ways,” Rosman says. 



Dung may be the currency for the beetle, but maybe the
beetle can be the currency for our technology.



With the natural environment at our finger tips, Africa may
just have the potential the world has never seen before, thanks to a small,
unassuming, rotund insect with a steely resolve.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



The Power Of Rolling Stones



In the
1960s, dung beetles from South Africa were introduced in Australia to help
improve the quality and fertility of cattle and reduce the population of flies
that feed off cattle dung.



The African
dung beetle was also introduced in North and South America for the same reason.



Dung
beetles assist with nutrient recycling, aeration, soil penetration and pest
control.



“They are
massively important in any agricultural economy,” Byrne says, adding that the
value of dung beetles is in the billions as they play a crucial role in natural
and agricultural ecosystems.

Marcus1

A Step Closer To Transformer Insects

Jaydeep Gupta, the Regional Head of Retail Banking, Africa and Middle East, Standard Chartered, on why banks need to adapt and respond to an ever-changing operating environment in Africa.

Africa’s growth prospects
There is no doubt there is significant opportunity in Africa not just in banking but across many industries. While the banking industry has faced a slight slowdown in other global markets, in Africa, this hasn’t been the case. According to a recent report by McKinsey, Africa’s banking sector is projected to grow significantly over the next five years. In fact, it’s nearly twice as profitable as the global average. Looking at retail banking, in 2017, retail bank revenue in Africa was at $35 billion and, according to McKinsey, it’s expected to increase by 8.5 % per year, reaching $53 billion by 2022.
By bringing both digitization and technological innovations into the economies, we are seeing more companies rival new segments with the progressive application of risk analytics. There is also an increased use of non-bank data for customer behavior analytics and proactiveness in looking at credit extensions over a period of time.
Digital transformation  
We have been exploring opportunities in the market to drive digital banking and, in March, we launched our first digital retail bank in Côte d&#8217;Ivoire. This marked the bank’s first digital bank in Africa and the first-of-its-kind launched.
It was the perfect opportunity to launch a fully end-to-end digital bank, with only one physical branch to test our model for future roll-out. The platform allows customers to execute all banking activities from a mobile device, including 70 banking services through the app. In addition, for the first time, the client onboarding journey has been digitised and in under 15 minutes, a client can open a new account through the app. What has also been introduced is the ability for clients to track and trace a request submitted, which is a first for Standard Chartered… We are now preparing to launch digital banks in our other markets across Africa.
Challenges in developing markets
We have faced a number of different challenges in Africa, some of the most common being the heavy reliance on cash and low-banking penetration. The most important challenge in my opinion is to stay ahead of the curve and evolve along with market demands. In today’s digital world, it’s critical that we collaborate with different partners and form alliances in order to provide clients with a convenient and superior customer experience, in line with a rapidly-evolving market.
Investing in technology
We always protect and grow our market share by utilizing our client services and capabilities which keeps us ahead of the competition. We are also putting a heavy focus on digitization, which is one of the key items on the bank’s transformation agenda. We are making strategic investments in technology to stay ahead of the curve and are constantly enhancing our products and services to make banking simpler, more convenient and secure.
A great example of this is the introduction of enhanced digital banking services, including our mobile app, SC Mobile, and Retail Workbench ‘Bank on an iPad’ platform.
<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2018/04/26/banking-on-technology-new-mobile-bank-set-to-launch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Banking On Technology: New Mobile Bank Set To Launch</a>
Promoting inclusiveness
Look at multiple ways of including and empowering women in the banking industry, one of which is providing innovative and tailored products and services designed to suit the needs of women in Africa. This is especially evident in, and made possible by, the digital journey. With enhanced digital and analytic capabilities, we are able to develop solutions which are specifically designed for women, as well as students and entrepreneurs. We are also exploring ways of empowering women and providing them with the necessary tools to succeed in banking and hold leadership roles in the industry. A great example of this is our Women in Technology Incubator originally established in the United States and rolled out in Africa in 2017 with Kenya taking the lead.
<div id="attachment_37739" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-37739" class="size-medium wp-image-37739" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/JGchosen1-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/JGchosen1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/JGchosen1-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/JGchosen1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/JGchosen1-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/JGchosen1.jpg 1241w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Jaydeep Gupta. Photo provided.</div>
Mobile wallets
The digital banking movement in Africa started with the mobile wallet. There are over 100 million active mobile money users in Africa. The mobile wallet has improved the lives of Africans by facilitating participation and accessibility.
We are starting to witness the next generation of products being made available to customers in Africa. A great example of this is the recent widespread use of e-wallets which are beginning to pave the way to less reliance on cash in Africa. Along with less reliance, other benefits like affordability, increased security and greater convenience act as key drivers for customers.
Digital banking in Africa is especially unique because it has the potential to remedy some of the continent’s greatest economic challenges while simultaneously presenting some of the largest opportunities for digital and online banking.
More regulation 
Banking in Africa, and the world, has evolved significantly over the last 10 years. Customers are now demanding more convenient, quick, and easy services from banks. Providing online and mobile platforms is no longer a benefit, but a requirement. We have also seen regulators in Africa more heavily, and frequently, enforce regulation across the continent. This, in turn, has forced banks to adapt and respond to an ever-changing operating environment. Looking at online and mobile banking solutions specifically, banks have not necessarily replaced them, but they are definitely exploring options for updating them in line with these changes and ensuring the security of their customers. For many, this has forced them to think outside of the box.
Robotics and AI over people?
There is no doubt that robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will change the people interface, but it definitely does not mean that it will replace it. If anything, leveraging advancements in technology will only complement customer services and help us be more efficient and targeted. For example, banks today are utilizing AI to analyze financial data in order to provide customers with tailor-made and fully-customizable banking solutions, designed specifically to suit customers’ individual needs.
Advanced analytics 
It’s critical that these capabilities are invested in and continue to be built on. Without proper analytics, companies will struggle to understand consumer behavior. To provide customers with the best possible service, you must understand where they are coming from. Therefore, it is very important that solid collection strategies and procedures are put in place.
<h2>Africa: hotbed of innovation</h2>
<ul>
<li>According to a recent report by McKinsey, over 40% of African banking users prefer to use digital channels for their financial needs. This is no surprise and is indicative of the digital shift we are witnessing across sub-Saharan Africa.</li>
<li>The African banking sector has been described as a ‘hotbed’ of innovation. As Africa begins to enter an exciting era of digitization, innovation will play a key role in unlocking the future potential of banking.</li>
</ul>

Mobile/Contactless Payment

Why Digital Banking Is Unique In Africa

For one of the biggest robotics competitions on earth, a team of Generation Z-ers from South Africa made their way to Mexico accompanied by a robot with the fists and fury to fight. 

You have heard of the South African national rugby team, the Springboks.
But these are the Springbots, the team of Generation Z-ers that represented the country at the Olympics of robotics, in Mexico in August, and came home placed sixth, also winning a gold medal from Walt Disney for their creativity and inspiring story.
We meet them a month before their trip, as they prepare for the battle, armed with their weapons – an iPad and a controller – and a robot no more than a meter tall made up of aluminium, wires, motors and gears.
In anticipation of the FIRST Global Challenge (FGC) 2018, one of the biggest bot fights on earth, 18-year-old Mikhaeel Reddy demonstrates how with the press of a button, he is able to get the robot to lift and drop things.
Also 18, Barbara Moagi, another team member, connects and programs the robot via an app.
Reddy and Moagi are part of a group of four including Tshenollo Mokwana and Masana Mashapa, and say they are the only team from South Africa at FGC this year, competing with 175 other teams from across the world and with students aged 14 to 18.
The robot they have built features an image of former South African president Nelson Mandela raising his fist in triumph (as he famously did on the day of his release from prison). It’s the team’s tribute to the late leader on his centenary year.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2018/07/19/the-tech-disruptor-on-the-move/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: The Tech Disruptor On The Move</a>
“We have decided to call this robot Madiba,” say Reddy and Moagi to FORBES AFRICA, a name they decide on in the midst of the interview.
With jolts and jerks, and in rotating motions, Madiba, the robot, deftly moves around. Reddy works some magic on his pedals, and in an instant, Madiba grows to two meters tall.
“We don’t know if we can build a better world for our kids but we can build better kids for the future,” says Jason English, the CEO of CG Holdings and the team’s sponsor.
Madiba is only a small step in the quest for greater victories.
<div id="attachment_37237" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-37237" class="wp-image-37237 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Springbots-272-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="494" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Springbots-272-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Springbots-272-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Springbots-272-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Springbots-272-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Springbots-272.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" />From left: Jason English, Roxanne Reddy, Mikhaeel Reddy, Wernich Van Staden, Barbara Moagi. Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla</div>
The Springbots are STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) enthusiasts hoping to be the next generation of scientific leaders working together to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems such as food security, energy shortage and access to clean water.
With the FGC’s theme this year being energy impact, the robots assist to fuel power plants, initiate renewable energy plants, and build a resilient transmission network.
“It’s like playing Lego, just a little bit more difficult,” says the team’s mentor Wernich Van Staden.
“A lot of children don’t have the means to say ‘I went to school that enabled me to do this’.”
The skills equip the students to be able to assemble solar panels and hydroponic systems that water crops.
“The robot’s key focus is to be able to pick up energy cubes to deposit into combustion plants, solar panels, and be able turn the wind turbine within the game-playing field,” says team captain Reddy.
The Springbots are participating at FCG for the second time. Last year, they came 77th out of the 175 teams that participated in Washington in the United States (US). They lost their final match to Poland.
“The purpose is not to win, the purpose is to build alliances with people and network…and create a positive impact in the world,” says Reddy, who wants to become an engineer.
He says the networking skills have also helped him understand the world better.
Some of the other African teams that participated this year were Gabon, Cameroon, Nigeria, Uganda, Gambia and Ghana.
Ghana had an all-girls team. Last year, the FGC made headlines when Afghanistan’s all-girls robotics team were denied visas to participate in the competition. It took an intervention from President Donald Trump’s administration to grant them admission to the US.
For the Springbots, one of the biggest challenges was receiving sponsorship.
The four students are from public schools, therefore acquiring funding was not easy.
“Corporates are not willing to sponsor robotics because they are not aware of what it is. It is something new so they are afraid of it,” the team’s manager Roxanne Reddy says.
At the moment, robotics is not part of the curriculum in South African schools, but the team hope their efforts will be a step in the right direction to influence policy-makers to include it as a subject to prepare the youth for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
“It’s not just about robots, it’s also about the coding, and programming of these robots,” says English.
The happy outcome has been the launch since last year of a robotics club in their school and they have already received over 200 applications. The team are now back and Madiba has returned too with more insights on changing the world.

Springbots-280

The Fight of a Bot Named Madiba

Automation in the workplace is already well underway. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that up to 50% of workplace tasks could be <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/digital-disruption/harnessing-automation-for-a-future-that-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fully automated by</a><a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/digital-disruption/harnessing-automation-for-a-future-that-works"> 2055</a>. For employees, this can be a daunting concept, as increased automation in professional settings could lead to job loss on a mass scale.
Yet, automation in the workplace might not be all doom and gloom, depending on how we look at it. Rather than viewing automation through the lens of robots replacing humans, it could be more productive and beneficial to see view increased automation as a great potential for collaboration and growth. In fact, automation could conceivably <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2017/05/02/the-impact-of-automation-on-the-independent-workforce/#1f6f901575c5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">boost the independent workforce</a>, making the professional landscape more human centric than ever.
Here are some key ways that automation can help us nurture the human side of the workplace, making room for a future that is both efficient and innovative.
More hours in the day
Managing daily tasks can be incredibly consuming, and as many businesses know, ticking boxes and making sure everything is in order can take away from time spent working together. Implementing automation in the workplace can give you more wiggle room, as it can be an effective way to <a href="https://frontapp.com/blog/2017/02/22/how-to-automate-customer-support-without-losing-authenticity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">optimize workflow management </a>by helping teams remain on top of tasks and automatically organizing important information. In addition to making sure things go smoothly internally, automation can also help manage and even improve your customer relations. Not only can a chatbot be available 24/7, it can also learn from the information given to them by your consumers, thus becoming more personalized and able to meet specific customer needs in the future.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/entreprenuers/2018/01/26/meet-young-robotics-entrepreneur-got-dream-deal-apple/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Meet The Young Robotics Entrepreneur Who Got A Dream Deal With Apple</a>
Shift focus to creativity
Having the ability to think outside the box in the workplace is a key part of encouraging growth and innovation in any work environment. In a similar way that artificial intelligence can grant us more room to focus on the people that we work with, it can also grant businesses more time to focus on creative output. This doesn&#8217;t just mean giving more time to creative projects, but learning how to <a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/agency/company-policy-improve-creative" target="_blank" rel="noopener">creatively approach </a>work to make your company culture more human centric. By automating certain tasks such as customers relations management and accounting, those hours that would have been spent going over paperwork can now be transformed into team outings and coming up with new ideas for growth.
Better understand how technology can benefit consumers
A combination of data driven research and emerging market trends have taught businesses how to interact with their consumers in a way that will ensure they have their personal needs met. Learning how to implement strategic data analysis is an effective way for your business to get to know their customer. In addition to better understanding consumer needs, understanding how to make the most of data analysis, like how to use it to predict market trends.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2018/01/25/four-skills-make-robot-recession-proof/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Four Skills To Make Yourself Robot And Recession Proof</a>
While automation in the workplace might still seem a bit like science fiction, advancements in AI have proven that we are not far from having an intelligent workplace in the near future. It’s important that businesses find ways to encourage their employees to work in tandem with artificial intelligence. By understanding how to strategically implement artificial intelligence in the workplace based on your human needs, it’s an ideal way to boost innovation and company morale in the future.

Is Automation All Doom And Gloom?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been at the forefront of innovators minds for decades and as the technology makes breakthroughs, the public is becoming more aware of its implications.
The scientist, innovators, and entrepreneurs who dedicate their lives to the pursuit of high-level artificial intelligence are pushing the boundaries of what can be accomplished every day.
We are seeing the direct result of their breakthroughs in the forms of automation and autopilot. Through this pursuit one thing becomes clear: AI will change our lives dramatically in the coming years. That is why it is not only fascinating, but also imperative that we stay abreast of the current climate in the world of AI. These innovations are doing amazing things in the world of AI that could affect the planet for decades to come.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2018/01/25/four-skills-make-robot-recession-proof/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Four Skills To Make Yourself Robot And Recession Proof</a>
<ol>
<li> Self-Driving Cars</li>
</ol>
The most popular innovation, as well as the most exciting, is the advent of autonomous vehicles. For the last 50 years people have imagined a world where driving would no longer be necessary to enjoy personal and private transportation.
Driving in the United States has been a leading cause of death among youth for a number of years. One of the primary goals of autonomous vehicles is to reduce the number of casualties, while simultaneously increasing the efficacy of transportation services across the globe. With safety and value in mind, autonomous vehicles ranks as one of the most ambitious and exciting innovations to come.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/technology/2017/07/21/push-self-driving-car-rules-overlooks-lack-federal-expertise-ai-tech/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Push For Self-Driving Car Rules Overlooks Lack Of Federal Expertise In AI Tech</a>
<ol start="2">
<li> Natural Language Processing</li>
</ol>
A main goal of AI in the future is to create machines that can reason and write with the lexical skill of a human being. Natural Language Processing (NLP) is the software that will hopefully achieve one such future that’s being developed primarily in <a href="https://www.python.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Python</a>.
Companies, like Attivio and Alphabet, are working constantly to replicate human thought and speech patterns. The goal of this is to ultimately create machines that can communicate with us, and us to them. This would fabricate a new type of machine with unlimited possibilities of growth. This could lead to machines replacing lawyers, doctors, or even therapists. The projected future of this technology is endless. This makes NLP one of the most intriguing innovations to watch.
<ol start="3">
<li> Virtual Agents</li>
</ol>
Virtual Agents (VA) have a simple but profound goal: to create AI that can guide us through customer service effectively and quickly. As of now the AI is mostly used for automated chat resources but with enough progress and innovation, businesses hope to replicate the experience of human customer service. Fused with the efficiency of a machine, this would also eliminate the wait time problem that we all have been through.
Companies like Apple and Amazon have put themselves on the cutting edge of this technology with the view that great customer service would help their brands exponentially. This technology, however, is closer than we imagined due to programs like deep learning in which a program can watch and learn from humans interacting. This innovation will most likely be affecting us, and easing tension, very soon.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/technology/2017/09/13/apple-not-google-facebook-will-define-future-augmented-reality/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Apple, Not Google Or Facebook, Will Define The Future Of Augmented Reality</a>
<ol start="4">
<li> Robotic Process Automation</li>
</ol>
One technology that businesses are particularly keen on is the Robotic Processing Automation (RPA) AI software. RPA is simple in its conception and seeks to automate more complex human tasks, like filing reports or reading mail. This, however, has some obvious concerns for workers in the middle classes as they may get replaced, but the impact of such a comprehensive technology could change the nature of work forever.
The company Automation Anywhere is one such business that is seeking to change work for the better. This could alleviate issues that arise from companies with too few employees or too tight a budget to hire who they need. Still in larval stages, this AI platform won’t hit full stride just yet, but it is on its way.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/entreprenuers/2017/09/11/battling-giants/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Battling Giants</a>
<ol start="5">
<li> Machine Learning</li>
</ol>
Machine learning is the process whereby a program can analyze a system and replicate its functions automatically. This could consolidate machine usage and create more efficient algorithms. It helps with predictions and forecasting by synthesizing data and outputting a report which streamlines the data gathering process.
Amazon and Fractal Analytics are in full swing on developing this software as it could help businesses operate at lower cost with higher efficiency. For all intents and purposes, machine learning is here and is advancing at an astronomical rate. Keep your eyes peeled because your company may be involved in machine learning before you know it.
Whether we like it or not AI is here. With it comes fears and hopes, but most importantly change. Some of these technologies are right around the corner, some are far off. Keep your eyes on the future.

Tag: robotics

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