Whether they are documented or not, its a waste of human capital to educate these kids and prevent them from contributing to society, she said at a screening of the film in New York City. Cristian devoted himself to solving thrust vector and power supply issues. Aranda said in a interview this month with the Republic that he never wanted to correct the Wired article, or the perception of a team of four undocumented students. Contact [emailprotected]. Four teenaged boys from Phoenix, Arizona, decided to build an underwater robot. The resulting film, "Underwater Dreams," uses a mix of new and archival footage to tell the tale of the 2004 competition and the legacy the team left behind at Carl Hayden Community High School. If they didn't have to run a power line down to the bot, their tether could be much thinner, making the bot more mobile. After Hernandez is introduced, the film starts to focus on the legendary Carl Hayden underwater robotics team, which at this point has been featured in both. Jos Crdenas: So as I understand it, Cristian and you Lorenzo were sophomores at the time. A decade later, the story of the robotics club at Carl Hayden high school is being told anew. You have these kids who've accomplished so much. Their teachers sign them up to compete against colleges, rather than in the high school division, figuring they might as well lose big. Now They're Competing on a World Stage. Those "just a paycheck" jobs, as he calls them, will help fund his designs for consumer electronics. Later, the teachers told me who MIT was and all the other colleges that we had just beat. Like a tampon. Companies are diving to the bottom to scoop up metals essential for our EV-driven future. But Lorenzo didn't have much else to do after school. ROBOTICS: Phoenix high school's 'Stinky' robot displayed at Smithsonian | Carl Hayden robotics team inspires MIT's 'dreamers "He made a pizza!" Lori said, "I mean, he used bread . Now they had 30 minutes total to complete all seven tasks on the checklist. All rights reserved. He stared sullenly at them. ", "You hear that?" But the teams are also judged on their technical knowledge, and the Carl Hayden students, each of whom learned English second, shine in the technical presentation. Carl Hayden Robotics was never a program until these boys made it a program. They noticed that the controls worked only intermittently. The guys trotted up to the stage, forcing smiles. Filmmaker Mary Mazzio hopes her film will challenge audiences to rethink their preconceptions. "We got people believing in us, so now we got to believe in ourselves.". But she couldn't because the rights had already been optioned. He became a citizen after basic training. The Matrix movies brought Reeves and Chad Stahelski together. The remarkable story of the ragtag, but ultimately world-famous Falcon Robotics Team from Carl Hayden High in Phoenix unfolded in 2004. Jos Crdenas: I understand ultimately it's a collaboration between her and Lions Gate. Warning: "continue" targeting switch is equivalent to "break".Did you mean to use "continue 2"? then realized that they had achieved their goal: girls were now actively involved . He asked about motor speed, and Lorenzo sketched out their combination of controllers and spike relays. It was the type of machine only an engineer would describe as beautiful. It seemed obvious that this was a condescending pat on the back, as if to say, "A for effort!" Their robot was small, densely packed, and had a large ExxonMobil sticker emblazoned on the side. It was only through the activism of friends in Arizona that Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) heard about his case and helped him obtain an immigration waiver to serve in the military. Bryce Merrill, the bearded, middle-aged recruiting manager for Oceaneering International, an industrial ROV design firm, was the announcer. It's about four undocumented immigrants from Carl Hayden High School who beat out MIT and other universities in an underw. "I'm not too concerned with them calling me illegal or not," he said. "This is good, this is good," Oscar kept repeating, buying himself a few seconds to come up with a positive spin. he asked. He was not used to dealing with Mexican-American teenagers sporting gold chains, fake diamond rings, and patchy, adolescent mustaches. (End of tape) All that was left was the grand prize. Screen Printing and Embroidery for clothing and accessories, as well as Technical Screenprinting, Overlays, and Labels for industrial and commercial applications They build a robot out of PVC piping and used car parts, and enter a NASA-sponsored national robotics competition, pitted against the likes of MIT. Oscar said triumphantly when they hung up. Jos Crdenas: So Fredi, did that make it hard? Ad Choices, How 4 Mexican Immigrant Kids and Their Cheap Robot Beat MIT. He started his own catering business, Dragonfly Catering, since his legal status prevented him from being an employee, but allowed him to create his own company. They stunned the nation when Stinky kicked MIT's lame robot . Cristian would have to keep dreaming about glass syntactic flotation foam; PVC pipe was the best they could afford. Some immigration activists don't see it that way. Cameron and Ledge, as the students called Lajvardi, formed the robotics group for kids like Cristian. Because Stinky's copper pipe was 18 inches long, it was able to reach the drum. A sign reads: Carl Hayden Community High School: The Pride's Inside. Taking a polygraph test is always stressful, and the results are often flawed. Jos Crdenas: Cristian, we're almost out of time. It was his own space. Sam Escobar Contributor Sam's enthusiasm for makeup is only rivaled by their love of all things . Fredi Lajvardi: It inspired them more, it gave them more sense of purpose and more that they wanted to prove to everyone they were worth it, even if it meant having to pay out of state tuition, even though they live in the state and they purchase everything in the state, and in some cases, pay taxes, so it just motivated them more to do it and I didn't expect that. "It's all about capacity and ability and not having old stereotypes about where you find innovation and capability and really smart, aspirational kids.". Need help accessing? Privately, each of them was hoping for third. It turns dirt yards into mud and forms reefs of garbage in the streets. Fredi Lajvardi: New York City and Los Angeles. What was that like? It still unnerved him to see so much water. The unlikely national contest winners are also the subject of an upcoming Hollywood film starring George Lopez, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Marissa Tomei. The movie is called "Spare Parts" and it. Classmates Oscar Vazquez, Luis Aranda, Cristian Arcega and Santillan did not have much money, experience or faith in themselves, but they made a robot nicknamed Stinky out of duct tape and materials from Home Depot. He wasn't used to approaching women, let alone well-dressed white women. : With Younan Nowzaradan, Angela Marie Dunham-Johns, Joe Wexler, Nikki Webster. >> MacGyver would be proud. He enjoys walking into the half-built homes and analyzing the engineering. They also served as technical advisers on the film. Thanks Structural Concepts for 2023 www.azcentral.com. All four entered the country illegally as children. Their families can barely support themselves, let alone raise the money to send their kids to college. Together with his fellow science teacher Fredi Lajvardi, Cameron had put up flyers around the school a few months earlier, offering to sponsor anyone interested in competing in the third annual Marine Advanced Technology Education Center's Remotely Operated Vehicle Competition. He had grown up rebuilding car engines with his brother and cousin. So, it didn't make a difference if I beat a college or university, I didn't know who they were. They hope to see all four kids go to college before they quit teaching, which means they're likely to keep working for a long time. There wasn't an excellent program for the contest these boys wanted to enter. To see what they were up to 10 years later, click here. They live in sheds and rooms without electricity. Still, both teachers were in a good mood. Yet the unlikely victory did not lead to a successful or lucrative future in the tech and science world for these students, mainly because they were constrained by their immigration status. When his scholarships and in-state tuition were taken away by the state law barring illegal immigrants from receiving them, Vazquez took on extra jobs. We had to sit down and walk on the beach and soak it in for a little bit. Jos Crdenas: It was an eye opener for you, too. The first award was a surprise: a judge's special prize that wasn't listed in the program. Was there a letdown maybe not immediately, but over time? Before they could sit down again, Merrill told them that they had won the technical writing award. I'm really excited about it and I hope a lot of people can show up. After those moments, the more complicated story starts. She broke the law when she broke into the adult business. He was the tether man, responsible for the pickup and release of what would be a 100-pound robot. "Reading doesn't come easy for me.". He liked it there. The contestants sat crowded around a dozen tables. Carl Hayden High School, he said, was that special team. "These don't have an applicator, so they'll be easier to fit inside your robot," she said. There's a movie that's in the works right now and tell us about that. While other teams machined and welded metal frames, the guys broke out the rubber glue and began assembling the PVC pipe. "Most asked for a driver's license, too," he said, something Arizona had not allowed. This was the second call Szwankowski had received from amateur roboticists in less than a month. Cristian was from Mexicali, but he'd left Mexico in the back of a station wagon when he was 6. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Luis hefted the machine up and gently placed it in the water. The next Einstein could be among us, he could be an undocumented kid. There's a movie about a high school underwater robotics team, opening next Friday (Jan 16) across the US. This ragtag group from Carl Hayden Community High School in West Phoenix constructed the robot out of cheap plastic tubing and garbage. There was nothing they could dothey had to move on to the next assignment. Thank you all for joining us on "Horizonte." >> It wasn't about building a robot. He had thought that Lorenzo's paint job was nice. When Luis lowered Stinky into the water for their run, Lorenzo prayed to the Virgin Mary. The school's robotics club is thriving today, inspiring students to learn about. Lorenzo had never seen so many white people in one place. Verffentlicht am 3. This was about the third year of the program. Lorenzo Santillan: Well, it's going to be on Friday in the AMC center downtown at 7:30, and we're excited because well, it's Arizona and it's where we originated from. Since the competition required that their bot run through a series of seven exploration tasksfrom taking depth measurements to locating and retrieving acoustic pingersmobility was key. They hadn't eaten well over the past two days, and even flavorless iceberg lettuce looked good to them. He saw apprehension flash across her face. And then I want to talk about the actual events and what it was like to compete against MIT and some of the other major universities in the country. They raised a total of about $800. "Can we go to Hooters if we win?" Three are involved in underwater robotics, with one headed to a project in Antarctica. That's why he decided to come to Cameron's meeting. We've shifted to on-board electronics, resulting in an incredibly smaller tether and a single-bodied design . Jos Crdenas: And we're showing some of them on the screen as we're talking. >> We should empower as many people as we can to build great things. What does this mean? It was like whoa, we did just did that. The group was from Phoenix's Carl Hayden High School. Looming apocalypse. Jos Crdenas: And this week in Phoenix on Friday. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. >> Oh, my god. He launched into an in-depth explanation of the technology, offering details as if he were letting them in on a little secret. But as the robot approached the container, its protruding mechanical arm hit a piece of the submarine frame, blocking it from going farther. >> They broke the mold and said catch me if you can. One of the things I think that we use, if I could say anything, was, you know, you end up -- you could get deported any time. The results counted for more than half of the total possible points in the contest. [2] Oscar and Lorenzo stayed up resoldering the entire control system. (Photo by Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images) When Oscar gets home from work that night, he watches the gypsum dust swirl down the sink drain when he washes his hands. They re-adjusted their grip on the joysticks and leaned into the monitors. He is able to work because of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), the Obama administrations program that offers relief from deportation to young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children. Santillan received deferred action in 2012. "It limited me a lot. Swean raised a bushy, graying eyebrow. The Carl Hayden High School Robotics Team won a national championship nearly ten years ago. "Did you see how hard it hit the wall? They probably gave you that for the tampon.". Carl Hayden Community High School doesn't have a swimming pool, so one weekend in May, after about six weeks of work in the classroom, the team took Stinky to a scuba training pool in downtown Phoenix for its baptism. Using five small electric trolling motors, the robot could spin and tilt in any direction. mabel and ingrid's class. Of the four, only one, Vazquez, has a job in an engineering-related field. His picture graced the school's recruiting brochure. They step up without the kind of PowerPoint slides other teams have. That and the fact that students socialized based on Mexican geography: In the cafeteria, there were. It took a lot of opportunities away. One student then asks the Carl Hayden team what they are up to. "It's heartbreaking," she said. In 2015, a movie by the same title, starring George Lopez and Carlos PenaVega, was also released. This morning we joined about 350 other high school teams for the International FIRST robotics championship. A feature film based on the story, starring comedian George Lopez, is scheduled for release in January, Filming on "Spare Parts," wrapped up in New Mexico late last year, He was one of three students singled out at his college graduation, receiving applause from the crowd in the stadium and that year's commencement speaker, President Barack Obama, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. By 2 in the morning, Oscar's eyesight was blurring, but he kept at it. Filming on "Spare Parts," wrapped up in New Mexico late last year. Fredi Lajvadri: Well, the director and producer contacted us right about when the story happened, but we had already signed with Warner Brothers, so she kept checking every year to see if the contract was up and if we were free to sign a contract with her. I want to go to university, I want to be an engineer, I want to be and do something great. "PowerPoint is a distraction," Cristian replied. He was probably the smartest 16-year-old in West Phoenixwithout even trying, he had one of the highest GPAs in the school district. The schools robotics club is thriving today, inspiring students to learn about science and technology. Maybe, he thought, engineering could offer him a future. IE 11 is not supported. Next, he saw a young woman in jeans shopping for shampoo. what are the non legislative powers of congress. NAFEM is a place where you see the future of Foodservice. All rights reserved. Jos Crdenas: So Lorenzo, you beat MIT among other universities. A story first reported on "Horizonte" that year. How boring is that? The course is so difficult, nobody's robot can complete every task successfully. ", Santillan, who has been involved in immigration activism, has seen the legacy of his team how it has lifted up the expectations of students in the neighborhood. The group was from Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix. They needed something, fast, to keep the circuits dry. Oscar wipes the white gypsum dust from his face. The article was also optioned for a movie. He stared at the ground, mumbled his thanks, and headed quickly for the checkout. "What you really want," he confided, "is a thermocouple with a cold junction compensator." Cristian Arcega: There definitely was. Precluded from joining the military by his immigration status, he returned to Mexico, where he worked in the fields for $3 a day. The team represents what can be done to improve student's success in the area of STEM education in an inner-city school from a large metropolitan city. The MIT students shifted in their seats and stretched their legs. Despite their subsequent challenges, the 2004 Carl Hayden robotics team has left a significant legacy. They build a robot they nickname Stinky. A feature film based on the story, starring comedian George Lopez, is scheduled for release in January. Despite the donations, they were still on a tight budget. It also allowed him to work. Even though she's clearly active in the entertainment biz, she's nowhere close to being the teen idol she once was. Cut to the awards ceremony and the increasing likelihood Carl Hayden would actually win. "Could you help me buy the most best tampons?". It's a hot Tuesday afternoon in Phoenix, and he's hanging sheetrock. And thanks for coming back on the show. They were born in Mexico but raised in. You might remember the story of four young Latino men from Carl Hayden High School who built an underwater robot named "Stinky" in 2004. >> The other robots were like pieces of underwater jewelry. Now it was up to Cristian and Lorenzo to figure out what to do with the newfound resources. In 2004, four Latino teenagers arrived at the Marine Advanced Technology Education Robotics Competition at the University of California, Santa Barbara. If the water had touched any of the controls, the system would have shorted out and simply stopped working. He explained that the judges created this spontaneously to honor special achievement. Even if they did poorly on the interview, they were now positive that they hadn't placed last. They had practiced dozen of times at the scuba pool in Phoenix, and it had taken them, on average, 10 minutes to stab the proboscis into the narrow tube. So he was momentarily confused when he heard Oscar's high-pitched Mexican accent on the other end of the line. ", Lorenzo threw his arms into the air, looked at Ledge, and silently mouthed the word "Hooters.". Junk food wrappers, diapers, and Spanish-language porn are swept into the gutters. This year, he left the military and took a job as a foreman in a locomotive repair and maintenance yard at BNSF railroad. He wanted to soak up the water with tampons but didn't know which ones to buy. The Center for American Progress and the Partnership for a New American Economy has found that giving legal status to Dreamers will add $329 billion to our economy and . . >> We're telling it to go forward, the robot's going sideways and I'm thinking - SPARE PARTS is a movie that's based on the real life adventure of four undocumented Mexican-American teenagers from Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix who start a robotics club. The four students Oscar Vazquez, Cristian Arcega, Luis Aranda and Lorenzo Santillan have been making the publicity rounds. It's a cheap but astoundingly functional underwater robot capable of recording sonar pings and retrieving objects 50 feet below the surface. It wouldn't be until a year later that a reporter for Wired magazine told the story of the win. This thing's got power. They were born in Mexico but raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where they attended an underfunded public high school. So we had to put that in the contract that she would be able to still be able to make the documentary and everything worked out right. >> Make a difference in my community. They had just won two of the most important awards. "What's a PWM cable?" >> Knowing you can't do something just because you're lacking a piece of paper is kind of devastating. Now the school is 92 percent Hispanic. "The best thing that they can have credit for," he said, sitting at his desk, students in front of him programming an autonomous robot, "is opening the doors for all the kids that followed after them. Ever since his younger sister demanded her own room four years ago, Cristian Arcega had been living in a 30-square-foot plywood shed attached to the side of his parents' trailer. While they had been forced to skip the fluid sampling, they had completed more underwater tasks overall than Carl Hayden or Cape Fear. Luis attached Szwankowski's thermometer and quickly lowered the ROV back into the water. "Congratulations, guys," Cameron said. But that project never got underway. Paranoid conspiracies. Underwater Dreams is a new documentary that follows four undocumented students who entered an underwater robotics competition in 2004 and beat MIT and other colleges. And yet, you believed in them all along the way. The teachers had entered the club in the expert-level Explorer class instead of the beginner Ranger class. Davis' reporting on the Carl Hayden robotics team led to authoring "Spare Parts" and a feature film by the same name. Cristian had hacked together off-the-shelf joysticks, a motherboard, motors, and an array of onboard finger-sized video cameras, which now sent flickering images to black-and-white monitors on a folding picnic table. Lisa Bonet Then. Cristian Arcega: It was very inspirational especially getting to see and hear all the different stories, because the documentary doesn't just cover us. They could send enough power to Stinky's small engines to pull Luis around the pool. Szwankowski was impressed by Oscar. He was also new to the ocean. He graduated from Carl Hayden last spring, and this is the best work he can find. Aranda is a janitorial supervisor at the Maricopa County courthouses. One promising solution, according to Cameron and other advocates for immigrant kids, is the Dream Act, federal legislation that would give in-state tuition and temporary resident status to undocumented students who graduate from a US high school after being enrolled in the States for five years or more. His mother had been fired from her job as a hotel maid, and his father had trouble paying the rent as a gardener. All six were in New Mexico in 2013 to meet Lopez and the cast of young actors playing their fictionalized characters. Lorenzo Santillan: I had just entered the competition -- I joined the robotics team because my friend had left for Mexico and I didn't have anywhere to go. He could hear it hit the roof and slide toward the puddles on the street outside. He also sought private scholarships. Meet the Superusers Behind IMDb, Everyones Favorite Movie Site. "I tried my best not to let (my legal status) stop me from doing anything," he said. The largest corporation in the US had kicked in $5,000. It signaled to them that they'd missed it. "And Dr. Cameron and I will retire, too.". He was free to contemplate the acceleration of a raindrop as it leaves the clouds above him. >> I want to solve the energy crisis. He looked at Lorenzo, who had already activated the pump and was counting out 20 seconds in a decidedly unscientific way. >> But the robot was only the beginning. Mario Perez/Walt Disney Television via Getty; Craig Sjodin/Walt Disney Television via Getty. The Republic told his story. Cameron had peppered them with questions on the drive to Santa Barbara, and Cristian was ready. Arcega, 26, entered Arizona State University after graduation but lost his scholarship after state voters passed an initiative that barred state assistance to people in the country illegally. he asked. "You did well. "Good job, guys," Ledge said, trying to sound pleased. Jos Crdenas: "Underwater Dreams" is a new documentary that follows four undocumented students who entered an underwater robotics competition in 2004. The winter rain makes a mess of West Phoenix. And they would either have to fix the leak or find something absorbent to keep moisture away from the onboard circuitry. Now we know that that's going to be unsustainable for very many people. The other kids had simply asked him what they wanted and hung up. He was proud of his robot, but he could see that it looked like a Geo Metro compared with the Lexuses and BMWs around the pool. And also Monday, it will be broadcast by Mun2. >> Who are these punks from nowhere that had no business doing what they do? They began by sending Luis to Home Depot to buy PVC pipe. >> When we arrived at the competition, I was pretty nervous. He was one of three students singled out at his college graduation, receiving applause from the crowd in the stadium and that year's commencement speaker, President Barack Obama. So he ate lunch in the storage room the teachers had commandeered for the underwater ROV club. Carl Hayden Community High School / Homepage Women's History Month Website Questions? Fame is often fleeting, and across all the industries that create celebrities, many of the world's biggest stars eventually go on to launch second careers later in life. mit reunion students. Cristian Arcega was a geeky brainiac who found few outlets for his smarts in gang-torn West Phoenix. Now Its Paused, A Most Unusual Solution to a Very Serious Problem, Congratulations. The 17-year-old kid from the desert wanted advice on how to build a military-grade underwater ROV. Years ago some Latino high school students beat MIT and other colleges in a NASA contest. "PWM," Lorenzo replied automatically from the van's passenger seat. While these numbers may have improved since DACA was introduced in 2012, undocumented students still face financial and logistical hurdles to accessing higher education (earlier this month, a federal appeals court blocked an executive order by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer that denied drivers licenses to DACA recipients). Lorenzo's face still had its baby fat, but he'd recently sprouted a mustache and had taken to wearing a fistful of gold rings, a gold chain, and a gold medallion of the Virgin Mary pierced through the upper part of his left ear. Once we figure out how to drive it, we'll be the fastest team in the pool.. Carl T. Hayden Community High School is part of the Phoenix Union High School District. They had to fit their long, quarter-inch-wide sampling tube into a half-inch pipe and then fill the balloon for exactly 20 seconds to get 500 milliliters. The Carl Hayden Robotics Team (the subject of the movie) has several T100 thrusters, that they plan to use on the new Autonomous Underwater Vehicle that they are building for the . >> We noticed water in the case. Lorenzo thought. The sharp question from the van's driver, Allan Cameron, snapped Lorenzo out of his reverie. The high-flying Falcons (from left): teacher Allan Cameron, Lorenzo Santillan, Oscar Vazquez, Cristian Arcega, Luis Aranda, and teacher Fredi Lajvardi. But while the team's 2004 story has a happy ending, the past 10 years have been a mixed bag for the four students involved. Oscar backed Stinky out of the sub. Lajvardi can rattle off names of individual students who have gone on to great success in the past decade, all coming through the Carl Hayden robotics program. The first thing they did was smash the robot into a wall. They inspired those behind them to see that possibilities could exist. The Ralph's grocery store near the UCSB campus is done up to look like a hacienda, complete with a red tile roof, glaringly white walls, and freshly planted palms. "Here you have kids that can compete and that clearly are innovative, that love to build and to fuel the country forward We need these kids, and they face these impediments.". They had no idea they were about to assemble the perfect team. But when he called to schedule a recruitment meeting at the end of his junior year, the officer in charge told him he was ineligible for military service. "Absorbent?" He had seen it for the first time several months earlier on a school trip to San Diego. Without any experience and using old car parts, the team enlists the help of their teacher (George Lopez), to build a robot and compete against MIT. Upon graduation, Vazquez decided to deport himself to Mexico, leaving his U.S. citizen wife and daughter behind in Arizona. 40 surprising celebrity "where are they nows". He dropped one last dab of alloy on the connection and sat back. Lorenzo held the wires in place while Oscar lowered the soldering gun. The district sent out a press release about the victory. >> What the robotics did to me was to show me, even though I don't know where to start, I can solve the problem. There certainly isn't a lot of pride on the outside. 16 years later Catch up with the cast of 'The O.C.' to mark 16 years since the beloved teen drama ended Although in this competition, the robots would be autonomous, or run themselves. But, he said, it stands to reason that MIT students would all become engineers, while his high school kids from widely different backgrounds would take divergent paths. At 5'10" and 250 pounds, Luis looked like Chief from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Jos Crdenas: Kind of like LeBron James going back to Cleveland. But over three days last summer, these kids from the desert proved they are among the smartest young underwater engineers in the country.