A 17-year-old Nigerian boy has invented a robot that is operated with an exoskeleton remote control. This technology reportedly allows an individual to pass commands to a robot by moving body parts.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Isah Auwal-Barde said that he developed an affection for creativity from childhood, per Vanguard. The teen said he attended the Government Secondary School (GSS) in Kano state and graduated with seven credits in science courses.

“It took me two years to invent the robot using local materials like DC motors, copper wires, pipes, corrugated cardboard as well as metal, among others, and the robot works with electricity,” Auwal-Barde said. “I want to be a robotics engineer, so that I can be producing robots that can be used in addressing security challenges bedeviling the country.”

The teen also thanked his father for pushing him to complete the project. “I thank my father for encouraging me towards success of the project,” he said. “Now, I want to get a scholarship to further my education abroad to fulfill my dream of becoming a robotics engineer.”

Auwal-Barde said that officials at the National Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) paid him a visit because of his talents in robotics engineering. He said the officials pledged to arrange for him to gain admission to study Computer Engineering in one of the universities in the West African nation.

“I have been giving him words of encouragement and telling him that he will become a robotics engineer in future,” the teen’s father, Auwal Barde, said. “And whenever our electricity or electronics had faults, he was the one to repair them.”

Barde also petitioned the government to grant his son a scholarship to learn robotics engineering abroad, Vanguard reported.