Spare Parts by Joshua Davis

Oscar, Lorenzo, Cristian, and Luis didn’t have much in common, other than being born in Mexico and entering the US illegally as children. Each had his own reasons for joining the robotics team at their high school, located in a poor area of Phoenix, AZ. Cristian was the only one actually interested in robotics.

But together, the four students built a robot they called Stinky. At a national underwater robotics competition, sponsored by NASA and the US Navy, their team defeated teams representing colleges and universities, winning first place in spite of their inexperience, their extremely limited budget, and all the obstacles associated with poverty and low expectations.

In 2005, Wired magazine published an article about their victory. But there’s more to this story than a single competition. In Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream, Joshua Davis expands on his original article, introducing readers to four teens, two teachers, their paths to the robotics team, and the difficulties they have already overcome, as well as those they still face today.

Book details
Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream by Joshua Davis
Adult Nonfiction
Published in 2014 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (hardcover ISBN: 9780374183370 | paperback ISBN: 9780374534981)