‘How I built drone, yet remain unemployed’
Reuben S. Ambi is a graduate of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, where he studied Engineering Physics. In this interview, he talks about his motivation for building a drone as his final year project, his youth service year at the National
Daily Trust: You built a drone as your final year project in ATBU as an Engineering Physics undergraduate. Why did you decide to?
Reuben S. Ambi: I have always aspired to do something different. I have, right from childhood, seen what people achieve technologically and asked questions about how I can do same. My father simply told me the university would teach me that and I grew up believing that. But in the university, I realised that so much theory is taught, that will make you valuable as a lecturer rather than at the job market. In this tech-driven era, the university does not have what it takes to make one an off-the-shelf engineer to the world. So, I became disappointed by the school syllabus and thought about how to affect the world directly.
The idea of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) came to me while I was an intern in the College of Aviation in Zaria. There was where I saw an aircraft at close range for the first time. They have two main course, Aircraft Maintenance Engineering and Piloting. In the former, they teach students how to maintain already-designed aircraft. I was aware that we lack the knowledge of real design in Nigeria. I began to wonder how it flew and how I could build it. I asked the question how an aircraft moves before takeoff and one of the technicians told me the tire makes it move. He was wrong, because at the end of the day I asked another engineer who told me that everything that makes it move has nothing to do with the tires, that they are just rollers and the jet engine is what propels it. I continued to ask questions. That was in 2014. So, I started reading to learn more. Later I started learning about drones.
When I returned to school in my final year, I decided that I could actually build a drone. In a flying drone, you will have to talk about the structure, which has to do with Mechanical Engineering structural design or Engineering Drawing, which I do in Engineering Physics, the electronics and physics of it. So, all these were wrapped up in my course of study. I wanted to build the body part of the aircraft with locallysourced materials. I found the materials, although it wasn’t easy. I did that, and it was considered unique, because I documented it. DT: How did you source for materials? Ambi: I came up with a sketch of what I wanted to achieve, and I wanted to use things you can walk into any Nigerian store and buy. The materials were not meant for aircraft, but at the end of the day I fashioned them to conform to all the laws of aerodynamics. It wasn’t a gamble. It was meant to fly with certain characteristics and it did. My parents strictly financed it. I also remember selling my iPad and laptop. I also produced music and taught secondary school students. DT: How did your school react when you finally completed your work? Ambi: My supervisor was surprised and sceptical, but he gave me the benefit of doubt. Before then, I had never seen a drone physically. During my defence, I got an applause, but nothing came out of it.
DT: The VC of your university in a recent interview with Daily Trust said you graduated with a Third-Class degree that was why you were not retained as a lecturer...
Ambi: I was actually expecting a Third-Class degree, right from my first lecture in the university. I have always been an ‘A’ student from childhood and from my secondary school knew I was going to create things. So, I was patiently waiting for university days because of what my father told me. I remember telling my dad that for my final year project I would build a robot that would walk behind me as I go to defend it.
Unfortunately, after my first lecture, I called my mother on the phone and told her I was coming back home. We were almost a thousand in the hall. There was a small board on which the lecturer wrote. Those in front could hardly hear or see what the lecturer was writing, not to talk of those at the back. I saw the zeal in the students and wondered whether they wanted to learn or simply make their grades. My father yelled at me so I had to remain.
DT: You recently rounded up your NYSC year at the National Space Research and Development Agency in Abuja. What was the experience like? Ambi: From when I was in secondary school, I hoped to serve at the Space Agency. So, when I went there I wanted to do things related to my passion. When some staff discovered that I built a drone, they were shocked. They said the agency has been trying to build one for years. One day the Head of Engineering Department noticed me simulating a drone on my computer, and asked me to see the Head of Drone Department. After NYSC in November, I was called that the Director-General wanted me to represent them at the 2018 Science and Technology Expo. It took place successfully at Eagles Square, but nothing came out of it, and I remain unemployed.