Four students from Université Virtuelle du Sénégal (UVS) enrolled in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science animated, on the occasion of the African Science Week at the Place du Souvenir in Dakar, the institution’s stand with an exhibition on connected objects.

Their names are Papa Thiam SY, Daddy DIENG, Mamadou Diouf DIEDHIOU and Ousseynou DIOP. The first is a Master 1 student in Network Systems and Virtual Infrastructure and the other three are in Bachelor’s 3 in Mathematics. These students, lovers of connected objects, have put together a small exhibition on the occasion of the African Science Week, held from 24 to 30 December 2018. Instead of the African Souvenir transformed for the occasion into a small Silicon Valley, they animated the UVS stand with two objects presented to visitors: an alarm and an interconnected radar. The demonstration and the playful explanations were of great interest to science lovers who gave them an attentive ear. Among them, Dr Abdoul Alpha DIA, Director of Research, Research and Innovation (DERI) at the UVS, who before taking part in a panel on innovation and entrepreneurship, took the time to learn more and encourage them. The team was very pleased to explain the very simple relationship between these two objects which, according to them, requires very little investment. Thanks to an Arduino board with a microcontroller, the team was able to make the necessary programming and transfer the coded language to it. By adjustable sensors, any movement within a given radius is automatically reported. The data is sent to a server that processes the information and displays it on a computer screen. An alert beep is issued as soon as there is an intrusion. This small piece of equipment would protect his home without having to invest in a much more expensive surveillance camera system.

Participation in the national competition on robotics online mir

In this meeting of Senegalese geeks, the quartet is accompanied by Dr Absa GASSAMA, Head of the Division of Research, Valorization and Innovation at the Direction of Studies, Research and Innovation of the UVS. Already, at the launch of the «Science Wednesdays» program on November 7, 2018, the same team had presented a previous demo that explained the design of traffic lights used for traffic. Thus this new forum reinforces the confidence of this group of ingenious students and prepares them for the next steps, possibly of production of their prototype. We want students to also contribute to their own training. Knowledge is important, but so is know-how. This is why the UVS always supports this kind of student initiative», explains Madame GASSAMA, very satisfied with the dynamic and team spirit that animate these students. They are expected to participate in the national robotics competition announced for 2019.

Panel on Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Invited to take part in a panel on innovation and entrepreneurship, Dr Abdoul Alpha DIA, moderated the discussions with Professor Sidy NDAO, founder of SenEcole, a professor of robotics and mechanics at Lincoln Nebraska University, and Dr Moustapha Cissé, Director of the Google AI Research Center in Accra, Africa’s first ever research center for artificial intelligence. During his interventions, he reviewed the context in which the UVS was created, its staff, its pedagogical model and the central role that digital technology plays in student learning.