Hacker Cinema
Spare Parts
2015 · Film · 115 min
Directed by Sean McNamara
With the help of their high school's newest teacher, four Hispanic students form a robotics club. Although they have no experience, the youths set their sights on a national robotics contest. With $800 and parts scavenged from old cars, they build a robot and compete against reigning champion MIT. Along the way, the students learn not only how to build a robot but something far more important: how to forge bonds that will last a lifetime.
1 positive3 neutralfrom 4 commenters
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
4 comments on Hacker News
True story dramatized in the movie “Spare Parts” (2015). Four students, three who were illegal immigrants, managed to beat MIT in the annual underwater robotics competition in 2004.
One self-deported back to Mexico, expecting he could find a way to come back legally and reunite with his wife and daughter. After intervention by a US senator, he returned and served honorably in the US Army in Afghanistan.
Follow up: https://www.azcentral.com/story/life/az-narratives/2014/07/17/phoenix-high-school-win-mit-resonates-decade-later/12777467/
I cannot recommend more Spare Parts by Joshua Davis (the book the movie is based on). It does a great job explaining the situation these kids live in. (How can a kid go to college when their parents are sick and working 4 jobs to make ends meet?)
The real heroes here are not just the kids, but the teachers that with a non existent budget created a safe space for these kids to thinker and to use their natural talents
A film has just been released in select US cinemas based on their story
Spare Parts (2015) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3233418/
This is the story adapted into the movie Spare Parts [1]
[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3233418/?ref_=nv_sr_1