For the entirety of the past year, as the teenage roboticists of Team Palestine have been working on their latest project, their homeland has been engulfed in Israel’s war with Hamas. Earlier this month, that all changed.
With a fragile ceasefire in place, Israeli forces began to pull back from parts of Gaza, and the teens put the final touches on the project they hope will bring them victory: a robot that can maneuver through a series of simulated challenges based on the effects of climate change.
Next week, five of the dozens of students on Team Palestine will travel to Panama City for the ninth annual FIRST Global Challenge, where they will compete alongside students from nearly 200 nations. They’ll partner with some, compete against others in a series of matches, and at the end of the three-day event, they hope, walk away with robotics gold. Their aim is not just to succeed at the competition, as they have in several recent years, but also to represent Palestine and increase awareness of—and access to—robotics and other STEM programs for their peers back home.
Read more | WIRED