BREAKING NEWS IN ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY:
NIGERIAN Genius, OLUWATOBI OYINLOLA Builds First Ever, Fastest New Generation Vehicle ‘Hyperloop’…Wins World Class Best Innovation of the Year AWARD
*Remains major contributor to Avionics section of the rLoop project
*Receives laurels in ‘Pod Innovation’ and ‘Best Non Student’ category
* Possess strong background in embedded Systems Engineering, IoT, public speaking
* Represent rLoop at local and international conferences, with a particular focus on explaining the ‘Hyperloop’ concept to young and ambitious African engineers
* Hyperloop proposed worldwide as the 5th Mode of Transportation
* PLUS How rLoop was coined from ‘Reddit Hyperloop’
* HIS Team consists of Over 500 active contributors from USA, Canada, UK, China, Australia, India, Nigeria, and more close to 16 countries
* “With Hyperloop transport, it would be possible to travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco within 30 minutes at a top speed of 760 mph”-ELON MUSK
BY GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU, FOREIGN BUREAU CHIEF, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BY ALL STANDARDS, HE is a Genius. OLUWATOBI OYINLOLA is a Nigerian who derives his inspiration from Nigeria and reside in Africa’s most populous black nation on earth. He is making history around the world for building the first ever, fastest new generation vehicle called ‘Hyperloop’ through engineering technology.
Oyinlola had been part of a team of amazing world class engineers to build the next generation vehicle, ‘Hyperloop’, a competition initiated by Elon Musk, where he led his team to win “Best Innovation of the year.” The further plan to build this latest vehicle came to the fore after Oyinlola successfully won the most cherished award in engineering technology.
So humble and goldy, this Nigerian is still a contributor to the Avionics section of rLoop project, “I am a contributor to the Avionics section of the rLoop project. I live in Nigeria and my background is in embedded systems engineering, IoT, and public speaking. I represent rLoop at local and international conferences, with a particular focus on explaining the Hyperloop concept to young and ambitious African engineers. My goal is to inspire them to become part of the Hyperloop movement.”
Oyinlola writes Naija Standard Newspaper to share his enviable story to inspire Nigerians to become part of Herloop movement. His words: “In 2013, Elon Musk released a white paper proposing the ‘Hyperloop’ as the fifth mode of transportation. By launching a sealed pods inside a vacuum tube, Musk claimed it would be possible to travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco within 30 minutes at a top speed of 760 mph.
“Precisely in June 2015, Musk’s company SpaceX announced that they would sponsor a Hyperloop pod design competition, primarily aimed at university students but open to anyone with an interest in developing Hyperloop technology.
“I saw SpaceX’s offer as a huge opportunity to bring innovation through international collaboration to Africa, and I began researching more about the competition, eventually discovering a post on Reddit where others were looking to put together a Hyperloop team. I immediately applied to join the group. I was very excited to discover I had been accepted shortly afterwards.”
On how rLoop name was created, Oyinlola explains: “The name rLoop was coined from ‘Reddit Hyperloop’. We are focused on creating a scalable Hyperloop design through active magnetic levitation. Our team is made up of more than 500 active contributors from America, Canada, UK, China, Australia, India, Nigeria, and more: close to 16 countries across multiple time-zones. So far, we have been using collaboration tools such as Slack, Google Hangouts, Google Docs etc. but now we are in the process of setting up a project on Wevolver so that our team can benefit from more robust hardware version control.
“In January 2017, we presented our work during design weekend at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, with over 60 members of the team. This required us to develop a physical prototype of the pod, which took us 6 months to build.”
So elated, Musk present at the event and selected rLoop to compete against 119 other hand-picked teams. Oyinlola’s team was selected not just for their prototype designs but also because of their ability to effectively coordinate so many team members around the world, same time in engineering technology.
Oyinlola explains: “Eventually, we were entered into the finals of the Hyperloop design competition, which comprised of 22 teams. We ended up winning the ‘Pod Innovation’ award and ‘Best Non Student’ award, which made me incredibly proud to have been a contributor.
“Following the success of the competition, we also launched an Indiegogo campaign, which raised over $60,000. We have now built two prototypes completely self-funded, which have been manufactured by our assembly team, guided by remote designers. However, our success story would be incomplete without acknowledging TE Connectivity for supporting us with engineering and manufacturing guidance. They provided a place for our assembly team to work on the prototype. They also provided us access to sensors and manufacturing equipment, which otherwise would not have been available.
“We have built a scalable prototype pod and plan to continue our work by extracting as much data from our prototype pod as possible before employing the knowledge gained to the development of a full-scale pod.
“Due to the number of contributors involved in the project, we are also considering moving to block-chain technology to coordinate the community. The block-chain presents an entirely new and disruptive way of doing business, enabling organisations to build decentralized networks without the middlemen and gatekeepers of yesterday. The rLoop team is convinced that this new model represents the future of work and that it will change the world forever.”
Going higher in engineering technology, Oyinlola adds: “By taking rLoop onto the Ethereum Block-chain, the team will solidify and expand its culture and collaborative processes by leveraging smart contract systems, enabling any individual to take part in an engineering revolution. The time to revolutionize transportation and bring the world closer together is here, and I’m proud to be a part of it. We are not just about innovating, we are empowering.”
Presently, this devout rLooper, is teaching his class of bright young minds in Nigeria about the Hyperloop technology and how it will connect their local cities in ways never before imagined.
