At just 19 years old, Rayon-Jai Pusey, a third-year student at Jamaica’s HEART College of Innovation and Technology (HCIT), is gearing up for the most high-stakes challenge of his burgeoning tech career: competing on the global stage at the 2024 WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai, China this September. Pusey is one of only five Jamaican athletes selected to represent the island nation at the prestigious international skills event, where he will team up with fellow competitor Antonio Rolong in the Autonomous Mobile Robotics (AMR) category, a cutting-edge discipline that merges mechanical engineering, software development, and critical problem-solving to engineer robots that can complete tasks independently without human intervention.
Pusey’s lifelong fascination with technology traces back to his childhood in the small rural town of Green Island in Hanover, a less prominent region on Jamaica’s western coast. Growing up surrounded by computers thanks to his mother, an information technology teacher at Green Island High School, he developed an early curiosity for how tech works that evolved from tinkering with dated floppy disks as a child to experimenting with Arduino microcontrollers from age 12. That early hands-on experience turned technology into a constant, foundational passion that shaped his academic and career path.
His unexpected journey to the WorldSkills international stage began when his HCIT instructor tapped him to join the 2023 Jamaican National Skills Competition, while he was working toward completion of his 24-month AMR specialization. Already familiar with the competition robotics kits and well-versed in hands-on experimentation after months of practice, Pusey stepped into the national competition with quiet confidence. His strong performance at the national event earned him a spot on the WorldSkills Jamaica roster, opening the door to the international opportunity he holds today.
To demystify his field for the public, Pusey explained that autonomous mobile robotics centers on building robots that navigate and operate without any direct human input. Competitors in the AMR category must master a range of interconnected skills: computer vision for environmental detection, navigation and localization mapping, custom mechanical fabrication of robot components, rigorous testing to ensure functional reliability, and end-to-end software coding to power the robot’s autonomous systems.
In the weeks leading up to the Shanghai competition, Pusey and Rolong have undertaken an intense preparation schedule at a pre-competition invitational training camp hosted by WorldSkills Jamaica and Studica Robotics at Runaway Bay’s Cardiff Hotel & Spa, held June 8 to 12, followed by daily training at HCIT’s Derrick Rochester Campus in St Elizabeth. Their routine starts as early as 5:00 a.m. with morning exercise to build stamina for long training days, followed by hours of hands-on work that often stretches until 2:00 a.m. the next morning. The pair has divided roles to maximize efficiency: Rolong leads primary software development, while Pusey focuses on mechanical assembly and debugging, with both contributing across disciplines to refine their robot. Pusey notes that despite the grueling schedule, the preparation process has been filled with camaraderie and steady, measurable progress.
For Pusey, representing Jamaica at WorldSkills is more than just a competition—it is a life-changing opportunity that comes from humble beginnings. “Growing up on the more not-so-known side of the country, in the west — Hanover, a little town called Green Island — to being placed on the world stage and given the opportunity to prove my skills, it’s a great privilege,” he shared. As he prepares to compete, he is also advocating for greater investment in technical and vocational education across Jamaica, arguing that growing investment in emerging tech skills like robotics and coding is critical to keep pace with the rapidly evolving global economy. He emphasizes the importance of nurturing young people’s interest in tech from an early age, pointing to his own start at 12 with a simple Arduino kit and a big dream as proof of what early encouragement can build.
Looking beyond the Shanghai competition, Pusey has clear long-term goals rooted in lifting up Jamaica’s tech ecosystem. He plans to complete a degree in mechanical engineering and eventually return to the HEART College of Innovation and Technology to help improve the institution’s technical training programs, so that more young Jamaicans from rural and underserved communities can get the opportunities he has been given.