Bryanston resident shares love for robotic rovers

Bryanston is certainly home to many an inspirational character.

The Sandton local, entrepreneur and business innovator Basia Nasiorowska is no exception to the trend in this community.

Read more: Introducing coding and robotics in the foundation phase

Nasiorowska shared her story of how she came to relocate from Poland to South Africa three decades ago.

“I left Poland as I student. I was on my own, wanting to learn how to speak in English,” she said. “I first moved to London, and I came to South Africa on holiday. The people were very welcoming, and the weather was beautiful, so I decided to return, and stay.”

It was her background in economics and linguistics that allowed Nasiorowska to gain a foothold in facial recognition technologies, and robotics. Describing herself as a go-getter, and counting herself as being influenced by the work of Elon Musk within the sectors of space and robotics, Nasiorowska reflected on the two companies she built which springboarded her into robotics.

She founded a fibre optic technologies company 25 years ago and 2021, a facial recognition enterprise whose technology she introduced to gold mines in South Africa.

Also read: Help your child make a wooden robot

It was in 2015 that Nasiorowska identified robotics as the next big field for her to invest in, especially given how she had identified a need for proactivity in terms of making emergent technologies available to youths across Africa. Nasiorowska’s mission is to get more youths from the continent excited over the opportunities presented by robotics as a potential field of employment for many of the participants at this competition.

“I attended a robotics conference, where I realised how robotics are very complex: this cannot be done by yourself as an entrepreneur, with no money, it’s so complex,” Nasiorowska emphasised. “Youths in Africa need to study STEM, and need to be introduced through fun. That’s the beginning, and this competition aimed to achieve this.”

On October 6, Nasiorowska hosted various teams from across Africa to a robotics competition called Cars4Mars – African Rover Challenge 2024. The competitive tech-themed event, held in Riverside View, challenged participants to design and build Mars rover prototypes: an initiative spurred by Nasiorowska’s constant pursuit for her next big idea. Teams had to navigate their rovers across a terrace morphed to simulate the dry, red composition of Martian terrain.

“I needed to do this, because many people don’t understand these concepts, and some young people don’t even know about Mars,” Nasiorowska said. “Young people won’t study science, technologies, engineering and mathematics (STEM), if no one tells them that such a field exists. There are many girls here, and because they’re introduced to this here, any one of them can become a robotics engineer.”

Nasiorowska concluded with her vision for the competition, and what it means for her to have shared in her love of advancing technology with African youths.

“Judging wasn’t only about producing the actual rover, but also judging based on how teams worked together, how projects were managed, and how team mates communicated. Everybody learned an amazing amount,” said Nasiorowska. “We guided the participants freely, offering six months of mentoring on how to go about constructing a rover. They constructed these themselves. Everyone’s excitement just warms my heart, and I will continue with this project because I feel it’s very useful for our continent.”

Follow us on our Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok pages. Join our WhatsApp group for any story ideas you may have.

Related article: Threat of Robots, AI and Automation to Jobs