Spare parts / Davis, Joshua

In 2004, four undocumented Mexican teenagers arrived at the national underwater robotics championship at the University of California, Santa Barbara. No one had ever told Oscar, Cristian, Luis, or Lorenzo that they would amount to much -- until two inspiring high school science teachers convinced the boys to enter the competition. Up against some of the best collegiate engineers in the country, this team of underdogs from Phoenix, Arizona, scraped together spare parts and a few small donations to astound not only the competition's judges but themselves, too.

Presents an account of four Mexican-American teenagers' efforts to build an underwater robot for a NASA-sponsored robotics project, and their unexpected win despite the fact that they lived in poverty and in fear of having their illegal immigration status discovered. Also chronicles the anti-immigration sentiments and racism they experienced after winning, and their efforts to establish lives for themselves in America.

Relates how four undocumented Mexican immigrants in Arizona put together an underwater robot from scavenged parts and went on to win the National Underwater Robotics Competition at UC Santa Barbara.