Interview with Lionel Sichom (right), an electronics enthusiast and owner of the YouTube channel Lionel Tellem “TheArduinoBoy”, based in Buea.
Snap your fingers to light a light bulb! A dream come true in our country. This is what he succeeded in doing; the one that technology fans in Africa know as Lionel Tellem or TheArduinoBoy, a Cameroonian!
About Lionel Tellem !
Buea – Molyko – University area known as U.B ( pronounced (ˈjuː-ˈbiː) youbi, University of Buea), we are under a light rain this Thursday morning, when we meet ArduinoBoy, a rather unpretentious young man.
TheArduinoBoy, this Cameroonian genius hacker owns his Youtube channel in the name of Lionel Tellem: Lionel because that is his real first name, and “Tellem”, which means “Go tell! »
Of course there is something to go tell, because Lionel SICHOM of his real name, succeed in creating things that we see on TV, and that we think are possible to be done only in Europe, and in the U.S.A. Error!
Here are the facts! This 22-year-old self-taught student is the owner of a channel where he proudly presents (and so do we) future-oriented electronic systems, which he sets up at home, in his student room, with a small camera, his PC, and a few electronics gadgets.
Arduino Boy or simplified electronics
Lionel SICHOM is a student in Software Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and Technology of the University of Buea. He tells us that it is thanks to a cousin that he started to develop an interest in electronics and in electronic systems in particular. Soon, he spent many hours, tens of hours with his new hobby until his eyes turned red.
Then he starts looking here and there, assembling this, connecting that; and that’s how you turn on that light bulb with a snap of your fingers!
The name TheArduinoBoy, because the toolbox he works with is called “Arduino”. It contains electronic devices that “simplifies” the assembly of more or less complex electronic systems. In fact, it “replaces” the usual equipment that a lamda electronics engineer needs, classic! This student from the University of Buea think that this new technology has a tendency to spread among professionals and among young learners.
Lionel Tellem, then takes us on a walk in his passion for electronics through playful and above all, practical videos!
Innovation within the reach of the layperson
From its channel, one can learn how to create a remote lighting system that can be used in a room, and for the most careful, a magnetic card and its door locking and unlocking system. He also promises us for the coming weeks, a video on how to make a motion detection system!
These systems are usually seen in spy movies, futuristic movies. They are used in some places in the West (government intelligence agency, luxury hotel, luxury house, ultra-modern technological complex). But with his channel, Lionel Tellem demystifies, decomplexifies, trivializes technologies that seem far away to us, both physically and cognitively, and brings them back to our smartphone screens in a practical way. 
Thanks to its channel, a shopkeeper can now create a security system that works well. It is easy to understand why these videos are watched in Senegal, and the Ivory Coast, among others. TheArduinoBoy has a real use for you, for me, for Africa!
TheArduinoBoy’s dream is to make the world of electronics and the world of machines (TV, radio, remote control, etc…) accessible and more understandable to any person. Our self-taught technician thinks that all machines should be perfectly understood, by the lamda man!
An open mind, A noble dream! Cameroon is full of talent, it’s not just an effect of style!
Below, the links to some videos:
The name of the channel: Lionel Tellem
– Snap your fingers to light a light bulb