The Mexican engineer breaking barriers

Silvia Arámbula

had always been passionate about helping others and that's why she decided to study cybernetic electronic engineering at CETYS University in Mexicali , because she could help people with disabilities and create robots , among other devices.

Her talent and passion have taken her to international contests such as Robotchallenge in China , where her team won the third place, and Robomatrix in Ecuador , where her team won the fourth place.

Thanks to her experience, now she teaches programming to three 10-year-old children: Emiliano, Francisco, and Ximena, who will be participating at the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) , an event that will take place in China in August.

“The children I work with at Sol del Niño museum have participated in WRO events without getting to the finals. The challenge this year is to make a robot that takes people from one place to another, the LEGO .”

Nevertheless, Silvia wasn't always this persistent . Along the way, she has learned that giving up was not an option.

The first professional competition she attended was in Guadalajara : “It was a very dense atmosphere. There were only men, it was unusual to see women. I was there with my robot and no one paid attention to me. That's when I realized I had to impose yourself.”

Then Silvia decided to look for a way to share her knowledge and to help girls get more involved into engineering and joined Epic Queen , a program that promotes the study of Science , Math , and Arts among girls . And now she is the program coordinator in Mexicali .

Since she began working with girls , she noticed that parents are the first ones to limit little girls: “At home, they tell them 'it's obvious that you are not made for that. You aren't good!' (…) 'leave that for your brother' or 'this year she got into this class but next year I'll take her to cooking classes.”

Silvia remembers that when she was little, her father told her: “you are going to study administration, you're going to be a psychologist, a teacher. But her mom is an electronics engineer and fully supported her.

Now she is interested in biotechnology and she was granted a scholarship to study her master's degree at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

She will soon study bionics in Israel , where she will learn how to make 3D organs in order to help sick children . “My purpose in life, since I was little, has been to help those people, to provide them with organs that are easy to obtain and that are fit for them. That there are no compatibility issues.”

She also has a message to everyone: “The best advice I can give you is to pursue things. Don't be afraid of rejection . Dare to do things.”

Mexican teams move on to FIRST Robotics Competition finals

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