AFRICA: The Transition into the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The world is gradually gravitating towards Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the only way Africa can prepare for this certain future is to embrace computational thinking and skill. Sadly, our educational institutions are not doing nearly enough to prepare young people in this regard.

RoboRAVE International, with support from the US Consulate General, Lagos, has officially commissioned the RoboRAVE Nigeria Team to tackle this challenge. The objective is to champion the integration of Robotics education and competition into the classroom. The goal is to train African kids/Students and adults/Teachers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) through Robotics.

We know for a fact that Africa has the same opportunity as the rest of the world, to achieve the transition from the third industrial revolution; the IT Era/Computer Age, which China and South Korea have tapped into to become world powers.

Artificial Intelligence is the next industrial revolution, and with the right Approach, Africa can successfully launch herself forward. Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) have already been adopted by African Banks.

In first world countries like Dubai, self Driving Cars and Humanoids have been deployed. Sophisticated Robotic Arms are being used in the United States to perform complicated surgeries on actual human specimens. There are strong indications that NASA (The National Aeronautics and Space Administration) will soon be sending Robots instead of humans to space. This is what the future holds.

There is a growing unease that Robots are evil. This is a moral question that needs to be clarified. What this means is that robots act based on the conditions that they are programmed with. Suffice to say that a robot can only be destructive if a destructive mind programs it. Robots can in the same way be useful if an innovative mind programs it.

Young people in Africa have got to know which side of the coin they would rather identify with and plan accordingly. We have heard of the internet of things, biotechnology, nanotechnology, quantum physics which are all AI associated. It does not matter what field one wants to get into. Now is that time to innovate as individuals and groups, to create and not just consume in Africa as is the current trend.

The World Bank Report 2016 has it that millions of jobs will soon be lost to automation. Studies and articles that warn about the impact of new technologies on jobs have become increasingly common. They range from apocalyptic assessments claiming that robots, whether these are large industrial machines or simple self-checkout machines, will eliminate thousands of jobs, to those that postulate that although automation may affect certain tasks, this new scenario will imply a shift in the acquisition of skills and a change of teaching methods to adapt to the new demands of the labor market.

Those who should fear are those whose jobs are routine or monotonous. And just as millions of jobs will be lost, millions more will be created. Robotics Programmers, Designers, Builders and Researchers in AI related fields etc will be needed. What better way to be ready than to explore the many fields of computational thinking.