His project is called RoboCore Zambia. It is a robotics platform developed locally and priced so that ordinary schools can afford it. The aim is simple. Science and engineering should be something a student builds and takes apart, not something they only read about.
“RoboCore Zambia exists to close that gap, so the next student who wants to build something doesn't have to wait for the chance I almost didn't get.”
Mwepu built it during the twelve weeks of the fellowship. The programme brought together 24 fellows from six African countries to develop technology rooted in the places they came from. At the final pitch day in Côte d'Ivoire, the judges named his work the best individual project.
His road to that stage runs through Chinika Secondary School and then the Copperbelt University in Kitwe, where he earned a Bachelor of Science. Kitwe is at the centre of Zambia's mining country. Copper brings in about seventy per cent of the nation's export earnings. The university's innovation hub is called Mukuba UniPod, and mukuba is the Bemba word for copper. It is one of the campus workshops set up under a UNDP programme for African startups. There, students can use 3D printers and electronics workbenches, often for the first time.
Mwepu worked at that hub. He also worked with FIRST, the youth robotics organisation, and with Africa Code Week, the Asikana Network, American Spaces, Junior Medical Academy and Genius Education Zambia. Most of these groups do one thing: they put tools in the hands of young people who would otherwise only hear about them.
RoboCore Zambia continues that work. The platform grew out of a childhood spent watching videos, and it is designed so that the next child can pick up the tools and start building.