Today, Violet Ochieng is Kenya’s country representative for precision agriculture, in a field where around 90% of licensed pilots are men. She has built her expertise largely by finding her own way, and she is determined that the next generation will not have to do the same.

Robots are often imagined as sleek, futuristic machines—polished humanoid figures, precise robotic arms, or autonomous delivery bots. But what if the real future of robotics looks more like the Millennium Falcon—messy, modular, and built to withstand real-world conditions?