Lesley John-Jumbo is an 18 year old but already making waves as an Embedded Systems Developer. He hails from Sangama Community in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State in Nigeria. He identifies solving current social problems as he core focus in the inventions he is making. One of his inventions, Air Clicks a motion controlled device that helps one to pause, play, rewind and fast forward a movie. There is also Hi Wear, a smart shoe which serves as a health monitoring device – measures weight, counts footsteps and tracks location – helping to detect early signs of sickness. And there is many more…

In this interview with Kristina Reports Correspondent, Confidence Biebara, the teen prodigy unravels his inventions, motivations and intentions for the future and for the world. He explores the positive impact technology can bring to the human environment by creating solutions to social problems thus making the world a better place for mankind. Enjoy the read!

Kristina Reports: Good day, Sir, please let’s meet you.

Lesley John-Jumbo: My name is Lesley John-Jumbo. I’m an indigene of Bonny Island in Rivers State. I am 18 years old. I’m in the University of Port Harcourt. I’m actually a fresher and before that, I attended this boot camp. It’s called an Aero BIOS Boot Camp where we learnt Robotics, and IOT. Just things technology related.

We learnt about artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IOT) and robotics. Basically, technology that has to do with hardware. So, I got that knowledge and furthered it. I started doing some basic practicing. I was practicing with my friends and I had these two friends, one was my neighbor, one was my classmate. So, we came together to form this team and since then – that was two years ago – we started building different devices and gadgets that solved problems for people and that’s why we are here right now.

Interesting, how did you become aware of the boot camp?

A startup in Bonny Island invited me for an event because I was into picture editing. So, the CEO of the startup saw my pictures and asked me to edit the pictures taken at the event. So, when I went I didn’t actually do it anymore because he did not give me the chance. But he called me and some other people into a room after the event and he asked for opinions on how to push the startup, make it better and outstanding.  I told him that in Bonny, there are different tech hubs, different tech communities, that are only into computer software like web development, graphics design, that I want something that would go along with my passion which is robotics, hardware and tech. So, he considered it. I never knew he would actually take it serious and he took it serious and started the boot camp. So, I attended.

All right, so how did you discover your passion for innovation?

Okay, since I was little, children, a lot of children build stuff with sardine cans and milo cans, I was one of them. I actually built small cars and small tech gadgets. But when I knew I had that passion was when there’s this thing called a rotor, it’s what controls fans and things that turn. So, I saw someone power it with a battery and put paper on it and it started spinning. It was like fan and it was blowing air. I was very happy. So, I thought of what more could be done when I saw that.  I asked my sister what should I study in school that would help me, you know, boost this thing. She told me about embedded systems and I went and researched because I had access to my mom’s phone. So, I started researching. I was very passionate and I was happy that there’s something like that for me to boost my passion with.

Your sister? Was she also studying something related?

No, no, she was studying Physics, that’s just what she studied.

From what you’ve said, your innovation appears to solve problems. So, what problems? What are the specific problems that your gadgets are going to solve?

OK, so my gadgets solve problems that I face and when they end up solving these problems I related it to worldwide problems. So, I was watching a movie with my computer and it was far away from me. These days you download movies on your systems to watch and I pushed it away from me so I can get a clear view of what I’m watching. But I have to pause it sometimes to go back and see what the person did or hear what the person said very well. I was lazy to do that. So, to make it easier for me and stress free, I thought of a device I could make to control the movie; maybe pause and play or rewind and fast forward by just making hand movements.

So, I called my teammates and we rebuilt it over a period of one month and we solved that problem of always going to press our computer and all. That was how the Motion Control Device was built. Then we solved the problem of health and poor health monitoring with the ‘Hi Wear’, a smart shoe that counts your steps and measures your weight. It also tracks your location. It tracks how many steps you take a day, a week, a month and you can go back to check it. So, the next step you take can be an early sign of maybe a health problem or whatever. And also your child could be in school and may get missing and you can track your child’s shoe through an app on your phone.

Okay, it works with an app?

Yes, it’s not really a fully functional app but it does basic things. We need one thing to actually build a fully functional app. Then the Gimbal. We have to make a video of every device we build but our hands are always very shaky and we needed a smooth video. So, we built a device that follows the lines. For example, if I want to video a cup, I’ll just draw a line around it. Then when I place the gimbal on top, it will drive, according to the circle and video the cup very smoothly without any shaking. It can also detect dark areas around the cup and light it up. These are some problems we’re able to solve. What it does is that it controls your system wirelessly. I wouldn’t really want to say it because it’s not yet patented.

Alright. I know you must have had some kind of experiences while trying to produce all of these technologies. What are the challenges that you’ve had in course of, you know, developing this gadgets?

Majorly funding, for the prototype to be built, even if they are not yet fully functional products that we can market, we still need money to get devices to build these prototypes. So, money to use and build is a problem. Then lack of proper, you know, standard material is a problem. Sometimes, we get burnt in the process. Let me not lie, in all the processes, we get burnt, because of our gum, the gum we use is a candle gum, we were meant to put it in a glue gum. So, we normally burn it with a lighter and every single time we get burnt in our hands and it’s really bad. But for the funding aspect, we get money from our savings, just any small money we get. One of my teammates does electronics, so he fixes people’s bulb, lamp holders, microwaves, he saves that; I do video editing, I also do online services, so, I get paid sometimes. Sometimes, the money we were given for food, we just spend half of it and save the rest.

Talking about these other things that you do, did you learn them or it’s innate?

Okay, the video editing came like that, I normally watch videos online. So, when I watch them, I just go back to video editing app, try it out and it comes out well.

Okay, you know most people will be wondering how you get the parts you use in construction of these gadgets, so how do you get them?

Okay all these sensors, some of them are made in China, some of them in New York, many places but I get them in a place called Hub 360 in Port Harcourt, Mile 1 Diobu, we buy them.

In the next five years, where do you see yourself in the innovation industry?

Hehehe, I get that a lot, well, with constant practice, with dedication, with consistency, we see ourselves in a firm foundation. We see ourselves actually producing real life products that solve everyday problems. We see ourselves owning companies that solves the critical needs of people.

Interesting, I’ve gone through your profile online, I saw a power bank that you invented and other gadgets so generally how many gadgets have you invented so far?

Okay, so far, we’ve invented nine, let me list them out, our first prototype was the Smart Trash Can, the Smart Trash Can opens up when you come close to it and trash. So, it opens up so you don’t have to touch the trashcan. The second is the Vexapod, the vexapod is the power bank. What makes it different from other power banks is because of its size. It’s very small and it can fit into your pocket and it also has a flash light. So, that’s why we call it the Vexapod because it’s versatile.

We also have another prototype. It’s a security system. It’s been a long time we’ve invented that. When you put something in it and close it, you give it five seconds, it locks; to open it you need a key, a digital key. Now that key works with infrared light. So, when you turn on that light, that particular kind of light, it opens the lock and you get what you put inside. Then the fourth thing we made is the glove for blind people. So, basically how it works is when you are close to a wall or an object, etc., it vibrates like a sensor. It works by sending sound rays out. Then when the sound rays get obstructed by an object, it sends the information back to the vibrating machine, a very small gadget that vibrates. If you are very close to the wall, it vibrates louder and more but if you are far off, you get a small vibration sound. It can also tell you to move right or move left.

Then the fifth thing we’ve made is the second version of the hand glove, which has a version where when you clap, it’ll make a sound because if the person is blind and he looses the hand glove, seeing will be hard. So, when you clap to find it, it makes noise so you can find your way to get it and it also has a fan feature, so that in case they are hot – we just did it because of compassion for blind people – you can just press a button and it blows air on them. Then the sixth gadget we made is the Air Clicks 1. This works with two sensors, when you put your hand close to the computer, it either pauses or plays, you put the other hand, it reduces the volume or increases it.

Then we did the Air Clicks 2 that’s the second version where you strap the gadget around your hand and you can control the computer wirelessly no matter how far you are from it. Then the eighth gadget is the Gimbal. It is like a robot controlled camera device, where you put your camera on it and draw a line around the object you want to shoot, it’ll follow the object, accordingly. It will shoot it very smoothly. Then the last gadget we’ve made is the Hi Wear, the Hi Wear is a shoe that counts your steps, measures your weight and tracks your location. So, that’s it.

Wow! Nine gadgets so far but is there anyone you are currently working on?

Yes, this is the first test we did. We also did a second test and a third one. It is like a weather monitoring system. What it does is it measures the temperature and humidity of the room and displays it here. You can also set a temperature. For instance, a room has systems and that system is not supposed to be in a hot environment. So, if it’s 30 degrees Celsius you want. We can set it using this tilt device. When we set the temperature and the temperature reaches 30 degrees, it will start ɓuzzing to alert you that the room is 30 degrees. You should put on either the fan or turn the A/C.

This is the one you’re working on, not yet done; what do you call it?

We call it ‘Zero’ because normally every temperature scale starts from zero degrees Celsius. So that’s just what I call this.

You have a unique style of naming your products. You mentioned the difficulty you encounter when sourcing for funds earlier, what do you think are some of the factors that have influenced the funding process?

I feel the reason why I have not been funded for what I’m doing is because funding hardware is really difficult. A N50 million funding will not go anywhere for hardware, yes. So, the easy way out is actually software development like web development, app development and graphics design. It’s not actually easy to fund this thing. That’s why I think I’ve not gotten enough, because I’ve shown proof of what I can do. I am very certain that people are impressed, but are not yet ready to phone. We know people are waiting to see more. That’s why we thrive to be consistent.