Simon Mwaura shows the mobile phone he uses to activate gadgets to do automated tasks.

An enterprising electrician from Kiambu, Kenya has become the talk of the town for a unique invention that uses a mobile phone to perform household tasks. The invention uses an ordinary mobile phone to relay remote signals, to activate a device that uses electric motors to click on various switches.

Mr Samuel Mwaura of Ting’ang’a village just outside Kiambu town in Kenya, has been drawing eager crowds to watch his gadget open his door, switch on the lights and even start an electric kettle that makes tea and pours it into a flask.

Mr Mwaura uses his cell phone to operate what he calls the interpreting system or the ‘motherboard’- a mechanism of second break as the system waits for the next command. If there no second command, it performs the number one task. If he needs to perform task number two, he calls for a second time during the delay. This is possible as the fixed phone, after relaying the signal, disconnects the first call. If he needs the third or the fourth task, he’d call three or four times as desired.

Next the fixed home phone sends signals in form of vibrations to the interpreting system, the message is relayed to a motor, which in turn connects the signal to a switch rack. The switch rack then directs the final event according to the command.

A rigged appliance that Simon Mwaura switches on using the phone to make tea and pour it into a flask.

The most interesting automated task to watch is the tea maker. Modified from a small deep-frying machine, he has modelled it with an aluminum water container placed at the base of the fryer which has an electrical coated coil. Milk is put in a separate container, with tea leaves in a much smaller container hooked to the milk one. After all is set, Mwaura takes his phone and calls the fixed phone five times in succession. The interpreting system gives a motor sound and a few moments later, a switch clicks on and the tea maker roars to life.

The milk container, fitted with a hinged device, tilts and pours the milk and the tea leaves into the aluminium container. After about four minutes, an alarm goes off to stop the heat. The aluminum container then tilts and pour tea into a positioned flask. Mwaura says his innovations border on making house work easier and on enhancing private security.

This story first appeared in The Standard Newspaper of 30th July 2009.