A recent competition was held to find the best robot and other inventions built by Hispanic and low-income students from 20 New York City high schools who participated in the LaGuardia Youth Center for Engineering Excellence (LYCEE) summer program.
Over 30 students displayed and demonstrated what they had created with the skills they learned from the experienced faculty of the LYCEE program on Wednesday, August 4 at LaGuardia Community College.
"This program has been around for two years and has been running great,” said Dr. Abdel Belkharraz, director of LYCEE. “Other places also loved our idea and started a program like ours to promote students to start an interest in engineering and science for Hispanics or diverse cultures.”
The summer program was developed by LaGuardia through a Title V Grant from the Department of Education and is designed to provide Hispanic and low-income students with the opportunity to explore and develop their interest in engineering and science, as well as to increase the number of these students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.
In the fall, the students can continue their hands-on engineering projects in an after-school program and those who graduate high school can go on to earn their associate’s degree in engineering at LaGuardia Community College and a bachelor’s degree from Vaughn College of Aeronautics or other four year accredited institutions.
The winners for the best invention were group members, Isauro Flores of the Academy of American Studies High School, Angel Gonzalez from the Franklin K. Lane High School, and Marcin Suwala and Mamadou Ndiaye from the Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day High School, who built a human controlled robotic arm. The robotic arm has a gripper moved by three servomotors, which is controlled by an array of potentiometers that can help to replace the arm of a disabled person.
