Robotics and Leptospirosis: Tala students won at Nasa

The ability is in the genes and only needs to be stimulated.

According to what Plan Ceibal reported this afternoon, the high school team from Tala, the one that had been awarded in Houston as the best rookie group in robotics, won the prize for Best Research Project in a NASA competition. The students reached this competition because the American space agency invited these Uruguayans after learning about their research on leptospira, the bacterium that causes leptospirosis. 

The reason? 

Los estudiantes comprobaron que el hidróxido de calcio mata a esta bacteria y, de aplicarse en forma moderada, no afecta a los animales domésticos ni a los humanos. Para aplicar el producto, crearon un robot con piezas de Lego. Por su fácil acceso al tamaño de la cuneta, el robot puede ir vertiendo el «veneno».

This idea left the North Americans speechless and they included the group from Tala among the 40 that participated in the competition that ended yesterday. The research of the project was what was highlighted by the organizers who chose to award the young people between 17 and 18 years old from the Canary Islands high school.

Source: The Echo