Sinead Samputh, a Grade 9 student at Reddam House Umhlanga who has won two international awards for her robotics inventions, has established Baymin Labs, a free, youth-led coding initiative for children aged nine to 13.
Sinead Samputh presenting certificates to the delighted students | Image supplied
Working in collaboration with The Seed Fund, a non-profit organisation supporting families in Durban's Malacca Road informal settlement community, Samputh introduces children to coding and problem-solving through practical, hands-on lessons.
The initiative grew out of Samputh's success in the Inspired Education Group's global inter-school robotics competition, Inspired Builds, where she won her age category with Baymin, a healthcare-assistant robot designed to make basic health screening more accessible.
The award prompted her to consider how she could make a more lasting difference. "A solution can change a moment. The ability to solve can change a life," she explains.
"What I really wanted to do wasn't just to solve problems for other people, but to give young people the ability and skills to create their own solutions."
Tayla du Plessis 11 Sep 2025 Coding course
Samputh developed her own six-week coding syllabus and secured R13,650 in corporate donations to purchase three Samsung tablets and protective cases. She then partnered with The Seed Fund, where she already volunteers at a homework club, to introduce children to Scratch, a visual programming platform that allows beginners to create animations, stories and interactive projects.
Her first class comprised nine Grade 3 and 4 students, many of whom had never encountered coding before. She has since begun teaching older children, helping them develop the confidence to experiment, make mistakes and find their own solutions.
Samputh says that watching the students gain confidence in their abilities and grasp these previously foreign concepts is more rewarding than winning international competitions.
"To see Langa, the shyest student, raise his hand to answer a question for the first time, Nkosinati finally gaining confidence in his ability to code, Sphesihle declaring to the whole class that he got the hard question right," she recalls. "All of these experiences showed me how much it really means to them."
Sinead Sampath with one of her winning robots | Image supplied
2nd win and future goals
Following her success with Baymin, Samputh won her age category in this year’s Inspired global robotics competition with Baymin Air, a prototype designed to monitor air quality and indicate environmental conditions that could be associated with the spread of airborne illness.
The idea was inspired by her own experience of influenza spreading among students at school. Using an air-quality sensor and an LED indicator, the compact robot displays low, medium or high environmental risk levels. Samputh envisages potential applications in settings such as schools and hospitals.
Despite balancing schoolwork, competitive sport and her own robotics projects, Samputh runs Baymin Labs on Saturdays. She hopes to extend the programme to other underserved communities and eventually establish Baymin Academy, a paid coding enrichment programme that would help fund the free community initiative.
For Samputh, the greatest achievement is no longer what she can build herself, but what she can help others discover they are capable of creating. "I don't want to win if winning means leaving others behind. The greatest journey is the one where we rise, learn and change the world together," she says.
