Ayodele Daniel, a participant in the recently concluded Build-A-Thon initiative, has built a money dispensing machine popularly called ATM using local tools.

The young innovator is one of the participants of the Build-A-Thon initiative organised by the Federal Ministry of Communications Innovation and Digital Economy (FMCIDE), that was introduced to equip young Nigerians in local secondary schools with technological skills. Th programme, which trained 3000 students from six states according to the organisers, seeks to advance the global technology industry by solving everyday problems.

Ayodele, a student from Christ Apostolic Grammar school in Ogun state, applied the knowledge gained during the training to create an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) using local materials.

These tools Ayodele used included a carton, cardboard, RGB LED, rotor, USB cord, ras verified, jopa wire, cellotape (semitransparent adhesive tape) and screws. Through technical manipulation, he was able to build a functional money dispenser.

In a demonstration video, Ayodele explained the process involved in building the ATM. He inserted his ATM card into the deposit slot and connected the ram verified to power the machine.

He explained that there was need to wait for the card reader to turn green, indicating a signal to proceed in transacting. After this, he entered his pin using the keypad, which prompted the machine to dispense a ₦1000 note.

Despite its functionality, Ayodele’s ATM lacks some features of standard ATMs, such as a display screen, screen buttons, receipt printer and speaker.