The African Robotics Network (AFRON)http://robotics-africa.org

Since it launched May 2012, AFRON has 300 members from 25 countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Algeria, South Africa, Egypt, Tanzania, Cameroon, and Ethiopia, as well as affiliated members from the US, Switzerland, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Argentina. With guidance from an esteemed Advisory Board, AFRON’s first project was the “$10 Robot” International Design Challenge (sponsored in part by IEEE RAS) which sought designs for extremely low cost robots for education. The ten winners (and six Honorable Mentions) were announced at Maker Faire New York in September 2012 and reported in WiRed, IEEE Spectrum, Popular Mechanics, and Slashdot:http://robotics-africa.org/design_challenge.html

The African Robotics Network (AFRON) is a community of institutions, organizations and individuals engaged in robotics in Africa. AFRON seeks to promote communication and collaborations that will enhance robotics-related education, research, and industry on the continent. To achieve this, AFRON organizes projects, meetings and events in Africa and at Robotics and Automation conferences abroad. Established in April 2012, AFRON hosts a website, Facebook page, and moderated email list. There are no subscription fees or dues. To join, please visit the website above and click “Membership”.

Institutions and individuals may join AFRON as regular or affiliated members. Member institutions are represented by a contact person. Membership is free: there are no dues.To join AFRON, either as a regular or affiliated member go to: http://bit.ly/join-afron

Membership

Charter

Afron

The A

frican Robotics N

etwork

$10

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(AFRON)

On DisplayCITRIS tech MuseumJanuary 24th, 2013 -

March 1st, 2013

Co-Founders:

Ayorkor Korsah <akorsah@ashesi.edu.gh>Asst. Professor, Computer Science, Ashesi University, Accra, Ghana

Ken Goldberg <goldberg@berkeley.edu>Professor, IEOR, EECS, Art, Information, UC Berkeley, USA

AFRON Advisory Board:

Patrick Awuah, President, Ashesi University, GhanaJenna Burrell, UC BerkeleyDavid Cuartielles, Arduino Dale Dougherty, Make Magazine and Maker FaireRobert Mullins, Cambridge University and Raspberry Pi FoundationTim O’Reilly, O’Reilly MediaPeter Staecker, IEEE President-ElectAshitey Trebi-Ollennu, NASA JPLGregg Zachary, Arizona State UniversityEthan Zuckerman, MIT Center for Civic Media

The $10 cost was a target but AFRON accepted entries that did not reach that goal. Participants had to submit a high-level description of their designs, including total cost, list of parts, drawings, software, and step-by-step instructions. They also had to submit a description of the educational applications for the robot.

The jury evaluated entries based on education impact, reproducibility, and affordability.

Jury

Special thanks to all the members of the jury for this challenge:

• Dr. Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu NASA JPL, USA • Dr. Alaa Khamis Associate Professor, German University in

Cairo, Egypt • Dr. M. Bernardine Dias Associate Professor, Robotics Institute,

Carnegie Mellon University, USA • Dr. Brett Browning Senior Systems Scientist, Robotics Institute,

Carnegie Mellon Univ., USA • Ms. Tracy Booyson Chief Scientific Officer, Dept of Mechanical

Engineering, University of Cape Town, South Africa

• Dr. Sam Cubero Assistant Professor, The Petroleum Institute,

UAE

The AFRON “10 Dollar Robot” Design Challenge

The goal of the AFRON “10 Dollar Robot” Design Challenge, which ran from 15 June to 15 September 2012, was to design a new class of affordable robots for learning (especially in primary and secondary schools). We are excited to announce below, the winners in the three categories of tethered, all-in-one (self-contained), and traditional (roaming).

1. Suckerbot (Thailand)Dr Tom TilleyPayap University, Chiang Mai

2. Baobot (USA) Shawn H., Carlos M., Bryan S., Eric C.Hobbyists (Baobot.org), Wash-ington, D.C.

3. Afrobot (USA) Alexander Reben

4.RoboArm (Nigeria) ADEBOLA Simeon O.M.Department of Mechanical En-gineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife

1. MITBOTS (India) Karanpreet Singh, Amitesh Ranjan, Pawan SainiMITBOTS, Delhi

2. N-Bot (Brazil) Rafael V. Aroca, Renata Pitta, Aquiles Burlamaqui and Luiz M. G. GonçalvesFederal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal

1. Kilobot: (USA)Michael Rubenstein, Christian Ahler, and Radhika Nagpal Wyss Institute at Harvard University, Cambridge

2. SwarmRobot (China) Lutz Michaelis, Edward Jiang, Sun Wei Ze, Leo Yan, Spencer Featherstone, XinCheJian Hackerspace, Shanghai

3. SEG (USA) Tyler Hamer, Alexander E. Siy, Kojo Welbeck, Cagdas D. Onal, and Daniela Rus CSAIL

4. DiscBot (USA) Joseph SchlesingerArcBotics LLC.

ALFI (Netherlands) Diane Cleij, Ingo van der Heijden, Jeroen Claessens L-BOT Laurens Weyn Carve (USA) Michael Shimniok

FrugalBot (USA) Mike Robinson and Gabrielle RobinsonPenn State University

Juno (India) Narasimhan, Arun Varma, Joseph Antony, Madhuresh, Manigandan.C, Manikandan.A, Padmavathi, Ravi Varman, Saravanan.C, Saravana Govind, Saravanabhavanathan, Ganesan.M, Michael Antony, Prasanna, Vignesh.A, Sudhan Immanuel L.I.O.S (Spain) Oscar Rodriguez Parra

Tethered

Traditional

Honorable Mention

All - In - One