After scoring its best ever finish at the First Global Challenge (FGC) in 2020 by coming in 44th, Team Seychelles – which is mentored by ECE Professor Ralph Etienne-Cummings – raised its standards even higher to the 17th place at the 2021 iteration of the competition.

The group also secured a silver medal by earning second place in the competition’s solution challenge.

FGC is a yearly international robotics challenge that aims to ignite a passion for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) among the more than two billion youths across the world. Etienne-Cummings, who is from Seychelles, has been involved with the team as a mentor for multiple years, but this past year he was able to be more involved while living in the country during his sabbatical.

“I am very proud of the team which is composed of students from both public and private schools as well as from elementary/middle schools and high schools,” Etienne-Cummings said. “There are some remarkable student leaders in this group. They worked hard, interfaced with a variety of communities and executed their project with aplomb!”

The team’s performance in 2021 continues the group’s rise in the rankings on a yearly basis. The group finished in 126th place in 2018 and has improved their ranking each year since.

This is not the only way Etienne-Cummings has aimed to give back to his home country. In addition to developing technology to automatically measure and log Covid contacts in Seychelles’ population, Etienne-Cummings has been passionate about and active in pushing STEM initiatives in Seychelles, particularly in education.

He has engaged with K – 12 students numerous times, presenting lectures on AI and robotics as well as discussing opportunities for higher education in the United States.

Etienne-Cummings has also worked with the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department about organising and creating a 3D printing facility in Seychelles that can be used for both education and commercial prototyping.

“During my sabbatical I was able to do all of this in person,” Etienne-Cummings said. “It was a very rewarding experience and I continue to help where I can.”

Source: Seychelles Nation