From a six-legged robot that navigates rugged agricultural land and self-plants seeds, to a system that mimics the buzzing of bees to pollinate plants, the experiments of Jordanian students are expanding as they try to transfer artificial intelligence and robotics from classrooms and laboratories to practical solutions for agricultural and environmental problems, at a time when Jordanian universities are witnessing increasing activity in local and international technical competitions.
At Al-Hussein Bin Talal University in Ma’an Governorate, southern Jordan, the story of computer engineering student Mustafa Al-Nuaimi began in 2024, when he entered the world of robotics and participated in several competitions, before noticing - as he says - the limited presence of his university’s name in this type of competition.
This prompted Mustafa to work with his colleagues to establish a student society specializing in robotics affiliated with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers , whose membership exceeded 50 students from the faculties of engineering and information technology.
Mustafa tells his colleagues Osama Shawashi and Yumna Al-Dhawahi managed to achieve second place in the "Robo League" competition organized by the Hashemite University, as part of the "Nodex" team, which currently also includes Ahmed Abu Al-Rub.
The team’s ambition does not stop at university competitions, as its members seek to intensify their participation and transform “Nodex” in the future into a company specializing in robot training, while Al-Nuaimi himself works as a robotics trainer for children.
At Ajloun National University, computer science student Mohammed Malkawi chose a different path based on transferring the knowledge he gains at the university to school students, by training them in programming thinking, innovation and robot design.
Mohammed tells to teach students how to build and program robots to perform competitive, logistical, and problem-solving tasks.
The experiment yielded results outside the training halls, as teams he supervised achieved third place in the National Innovation and Robotics Championship, then first place in the "Robofest" competition qualifying for the global competition in the United States. A team he trained also won first place in the local version of the "MRC Jordan" championship, before achieving second place globally in the World Championship Olympiad held on the Greek island of Crete.
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