Kenyan creative minds are working round the clock with revolutionary scientific ideas geared at addressing contemporary problems.
Innovations from Kenya or continue to shape the world of science and technology, laying the ground for advancement.
Despite the familiar challenge of resource limitations, these Kenyans made their mark with revolutionary scientific ideas capable of impacting the world on a greater scale.
Shoes that charge mobile phones
At 24 years of age, Anthony Mutua inked his name in the list of innovators by making it possible for people to charge their phones from the soles of their shoes with his specially designed shoes with microchips that produce electricity while walking.
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The energy created by the body while walking is used to generate electricity that can charge batteries of mobile phones or other electronic devices.
The electricity is generated by the act of waking or running can be harvested in two ways. One way is to charge the phone while still in motion through a thin extension cable that runs from the shoe to the pocket. The other alternative is to charge the phone immediately after a walk because the crystals have the capacity to store electric energy.
Edward Mutegi & the avocado wonder
With fuel prices ever on the increase, Edward Mutegi gave the world a clean alternative with his avocado plant that can produce cooking oil, cattle feed and fuel.
Based in Tharaka Nithi, Edward was inspired by the waste especially when middlemen purchase the fruit while it is in season.
Once ripe, avocados have a short life span and most of them go to waste but I realised that I could extract vital products from them
2018 was the year when the retired teacher teamed up with his son for the ground-breaking innovation which turns avocado into cooking oil, hair and body oil, fuel oil (biodiesel), lubricating oil, bitumen (tar) grease and animal feed.
Resource limitations saw him operate at the level of cottage industry, selling his produce to neighbours with the hope of expanding to operate at an industrial scale.
David Gathu & Moses Kiuna: Kenyans who gave the world bio-robotic prosthesis arm
David Gathu and Moses Kiuna created a bio-robotic prosthesis arm that is a game-changer.
Their invention is powered by brain signals and is able to convert the brain's messaging into an electric current via a neuro node bio-potential headset receiver and into an action.
The bio-robotic prosthesis arm accurately interprets detail like clinching fists, raising an arm, folding an arm, throwing a punch and even feeding the user.
“The machine is able to interpret the pressing thoughts in the brain. The many thoughts controlled by the central nervous system, the machine is able to interpret,” Kiuna said in a past interview.
John Muguro: Power to the people
John Maguro is another talented Kenyan whose revolutionary ideas continue to impact lives in his community and beyond.
The high school leaver developed a micro hydroelectric power plant that makes electricity available to homes and businesses in his neighbourhood at an affordable cost.
Local homes and business turned to him for affordable and reliable power.
“We used to rely on the national electricity which had hitches. Sometimes the power went off which would bring loss to our poultry farming businesses. That's why we opted to use Maguro’s electricity which has been beneficial.” Said one of his clients in a past interview.
“We have also improved farming because right now, they can use electricity to pump water to their homes. Students are also now able to learn online since they have power,” Maguro explained.