Tech Sportlight: Inventor makes 3D printer from E-Waste

Meet Kodjo Afate Gnikou from Togo, West Africa has imagination, talent and ambition. Using rails and belts from old scanners, the case of a discarded desktop computer and even bits of a diskette drive, he has created what is believed to be the first 3D printer made from e-waste. It has taken him several months to put together his experimental device.

He built the 3D printer W.AFATE (“W” for WoeLab, the first hackerpace in west Africa, and Afate from his name). It’s the first 3D printer built from e-waste, and even NASA is impressed: Kodjo Afate Gnikou has been rewarded with the NASA International Space Apps Challenge in Paris.

He says: “My dream is to give young people hope and to show that Africa, too, has its place on the global market when it comes to technology….”

Great work Kodjo!