Growing up in the remote, arid terrains of Dapaong in northern Togo, Lalle Nadjagou was always fascinated by technology and design. “In my childhood I used to try and make electronic cars and planes because I would see the airplanes in the sky and think, ‘how can a person do that?’” the 22-year-old told me. “Since I was repairing radios and things, I saw how the motherboards and things functioned and it made me want to create my own projects.”
Perched on a table outside the doors of WoeLab—woe is the Ewe word for “do it”—which sits in the shadow of Lomé University and flanked by a barber and local drinking spot in Togo’s coastal capital, he is working on his newest electronic creation: a miniature 3D printer. Nadjagou is part of the latest cohort at WoeLab, the first technology incubator and fabrication lab in the country, which is home to various local start-ups, designers and entrepreneurs.
The organization, founded in 2012 by Togolese architect Sénamé Agboginou, is on a mission to promote urban renewal in the west African nation with a focus on creating sustainable technology in a local context and by utilizing the local environment. WoeLab’s members have identified a unique material to help achieve this: electronic waste. Members of the WoeLab community have invented the world’s first 3D printer made almost entirely from e-waste, built computers with discarded electronics inside plastic jerry cans, and are in the process of repurposing a discarded fridge to house a work station. “The concept for WoeLab is to make ‘low’ high tech,” Agboginou said. “To develop very high tech projects but with what we have in our hands. Projects which are not high cost and that every person can have and projects which are adapted for our culture.”
Read the full story at http://motherboard.vice.com/read/upcycling-e-waste-into-3d-printers-and-robots-at-togos-woelab.