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Nigerian 12-year-old, Fathia Abdullahi, innovates our wardrobes with a robot that folds clothes

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Our tshirt problems are solved, thanks to 12-year-old Fathia Abdullahi
Our tshirt problems are solved, thanks to 12-year-old Fathia Abdullahi

The 12-year-old Fathia Abdullahi is the dream of any clothing store sales assistant, who folds and refolds clothes on most days. Or a dream-come-true for those of us whose laundry makes us feel we are folding and refolding our clothes the whole day. 

Fathia designed a robot prototype to fold T-shirts because "there are too much clothes to fold."

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According to Reuters, her robot – made from pins, beams and an EV3 brick – folds a T-shirt in three seconds.

Fathia reportedly started coding when she was 11 years old, and a year later she has already made her own footprint in the world through her innovation.

While she hopes to be a food scientist when she grows up, Fathia’s innovation also brings Karli Kloss to mind – the fashion model who codes, and the personification of fashion-meets-tech. 

Karli told Teen Vogue that the intersection of fashion with tech is where she "found her groove."

Since she began coding, Karli says she "quickly came to understand that code is a superpower every young woman should be able to access.”

READ MORE: "Women will save South Africa" - Oprah Winfrey

Flexing her own superpower, Fathia is the key example of how coding skills can’t be overstated – particularly for young girls in Africa.

She’s innovating our wardrobes and in five to 10 years, she surely will be innovating dinner plates, fulfilling her dream as a food scientist.

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