A Caraparí student wins a robotics tournament for creating a wheelchair with a solar panel

Diego Leonardo Alfaro from Educational Unit 3 de Mayo of the Municipality of Caraparí won first place in the Disruptive Inventors category at the FIRST Bolivian Robotics Tournament organized by the Agency for Electronic Government and Information and Communication Technologies (Agetic).

“My project is the use of solar energy for a wheelchair. (…) I was inspired by the fact that I know a person from (the community of) San Alberto who has a motor disability with his legs, which makes it very difficult for him to go to school to work, and I also have a disabled grandmother because she had spinal surgery, she was mine motivation to help them,” explains student Alfaro of the initiative that led him to become a winner.

The competition is aimed at Bolivian teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18. 72 students participated in the final phase.

Students compete in two categories: Disruptive Inventors, aimed at young people from rural areas, whose participation is individual and guided by a tutor; and Disruptive Technologists, focused on groups of three students and a tutor tasked with developing a prototype that meets certain challenges. Eight students per department are selected in two categories.

“First Bolivia” is the largest robotics competition in the country. Agetic manages and promotes this equal opportunity tournament for students from urban and rural areas, bridging the digital gender and territorial divide.