Four Undocumented Mexican Teens Beat MIT's Robots with 'Spare Parts' Daniela Hernandez - Fusion
go to original January 18, 2015

Spare Parts Official Trailer (MOVIECLIPS Trailers)

Spare Parts recounts the story of four undocumented high-school teens from West Phoenix, who beat MIT at a robotics competition in 2004 with a cheap ‘bot named Stinky. It’s based on La Vida Robot, a 2005 WIRED article by Joshua Davis and a book that chronicles what happened to them after the contest.

With just $800, and the support of two teachers, Lorenzo Santillan (the mechanics man), Christian Arcega (the brains), Oscar Vazquez (the leader), and Luis Aranda (the tether guy) engineered an underwater robot out of PVC pipes and other inexpensive components. MIT had a budget of $11,000. When Stinky breaks down, they come up with pretty ingenious fixes - like using tampons to soak up water that might otherwise short-circuit stinky. That, fortunately, has made it into the film.

The movie, to be frank, isn’t as good as the original story, but one of the things the film does really well is portray the very real fears undocumented immigrants experience - fears most people don’t ever consider - like having immigration agents show up at your house or being asked for your birth certificate or ID.

Fusion sat down with Davis to discuss the film and how a broken immigration policy has shaped the lives of these four guys, and many other kids like them.

Read the interview at Fusion

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