Ayo Adigun and I teamed up with TechCabal to bring you “The Hardware Hack;” a DIY series that is going to teach you to build machines. Quite literally.
Our DIY series focuses on hands-on practical learning. We want you to be capable of developing robust hybrid solutions integrating hardware and software. This holistic approach means not only will you be able to develop a mobile app, understand the importance of algorithms for big data or build an ERP system – but you’ll be able to learn the engineering systems behind it.
The Hardware Hack is simple. These are things you can develop at home or local tech hub. More importantly, the hacks are designed for Africa.
For example, in our ‘Home automation hack’, we imagined it would be pretty cool if you received a text alert every time the diesel was running low. That way, you don’t need to keep running to the shed to check when you need to buy more diesel. For energy efficiency, we could customise the application to light only certain areas of your home when running on the generator. Smart energy.
This way you consume less diesel and save more money in the end. Smart efficient hacks.
Our hack is tiered at beginner, intermediate and advanced level.
We list the materials needed and the time required to complete a hack. All the material is open-source. Ayo, our lead engineer has developed the libraries and applications and made them available on our site.
The hardware tools and components will be available to buy in our hack shop shortly. At the moment, we can only ship to Nigeria and Kenya.
We hope you enjoy the series, as much as we enjoyed playing around with tech. We hope to spur an innovation revolution, a rapid prototyping movement, a culture of industrialists and makers – and contribute to developing the next generation of young African innovators.
