FIRST Global, a STEM-focused international nonprofit that organizes an annual international robotics competition for high-school students from around the world, announced that the FIRST Global Challenge 2018 will convene participants from more than 160 countries, Aug. 15-18, at Mexico City’s Arena Ciudad de México to solve energy-efficiency problems with robots created by student participants.
More than 1000 high school students between ages 14 and 18 will represent their countries in the “Energy Impact” competition to improve the environment. Each team, consisting of up to five high school students, has a standard kit of parts to build a robot capable of feeding power plants to scale and build a transmission network in the most efficient way. National teams will be placed in randomly assigned alliances, which compete to achieve their goal and accrue points.
Mexican businessman Ricardo Salinas, founder of Grupo Salinas (Mexico City, Mexico) and founding member of First Global, is the host and chairman of the organizing committee of the 2018 First Global Challenge in Mexico City. He is committed to supporting the education of young people to transform the world, promote well being, and build a better future by promoting healthy competition, as well as collaboration between countries.
The FIRST Global Challenge is an annual robotics game that addresses one of the 14 Grand Challenges identified by the national engineering academies of the US, United Kingdom, and China. Each year, a different issue of global importance will take center stage as the theme of that year’s challenge, which will be held in a different nation across the world.
The challenge reflects how science and engineering, in an environment of cooperation, communication, and teamwork, can achieve transcendent actions and solve many of the great challenges humanity faces.
In July 2017, the first edition of the FIRST Global Challenge was held in Washington, where young people competed in a challenge about providing access to clean water. In that event, Team Mexico obtained third place.
Team Mexico 2018
Team Mexico is formed by students from different schools and states, the youngest member is 15 years old and the oldest is 18. Of the 7 participants, 4 are members of the FTC category and from Chihuahua, Chihuahua, a city near the United States border, while the other 3 students, members of an FRC team, live 1,449 km away, in Mexico City.
Our mentor and team manager are FIRST mentors with the will of transmitting their knowledge to us. One of the difficulties the team has overcome is working remotely with each other, choosing the best strategy has also been difficult because of the different backgrounds and experiences from each category.
Being from different cities, categories, and ages has made the Mexican team a very complete and open group. All of the students are focused on pursuing an engineering major, and the opportunity of representing our country is a fulfilling experience. We know any problem that we face can be overcome with effort and resilience, which we think are two characteristics of Mexicans, as well as facing the problems with a smile.
Our team:
Jorge García. 15 years old. Chihuahua. “FIRST has been a unique experience since I’ve met many different people that share the same ideals as me.”
Renée García. 15 years old. Chihuahua. “With no doubt, FIRST has given me countless experiences and opportunities that I will cherish forever.”
Ángel Berdeja, 15 years old. Chihuahua. “I consider myself as an adventurous person who always seeks for new experiences and stepping out from my comfort zone in order to learn more.”
Herman Sánchez. 16 years old. Chihuahua. “Being part of the FIRST community has been a challenging experience, because as a team, we need to have an excellent communication to perform the best we can.”
Santiago García. 17 years old. Mexico City. “My interest in robotics comes from the opportunity of strengthening my abilities, knowledge and character.”
Diego Montaño. 18 years old. Mexico City. “Since knowing my love for robotics, I’ve participated in FIRST and other robotics competitions, from which I have learned a lot.”
Frida Sosa. 18 years old. Mexico City. “I like learning; anything I know will help me develop as a person and will help others”.
Victor Gómez. Mentor. Mexico City. “I believe in what we do, we are agents of change which bring science and technology to kids over Mexico.”
Adriana Avitia. Team Leader. Chihuahua. “FIRST Global has given us the opportunity to show ourselves and others that together as a society we can overcome any challenges and become the change we want to see in the world.”
