UF professor helps Dominican teens refine fire-snuffing robot from 1,000 miles away

In 2025, Alberto Danté Gil reached out to his old friend Edwin Marte, Ph.D., a high school pal from the Dominican Republic who is now an engineering education professor at the University of Florida. 

Could Marte, via Zoom sessions from Gainesville, help three Dominican high school students refine their robot for an international competition in six months? Not just any robot but a rolling, fire-seeking robot that can also tattle on smokers lighting up in non-smoking areas. 

The teens competed in a national competition earlier that year, but they wanted to rework the hardware design and fine-tune the software for the international competition. Marte was thrilled to help, even 1,000 miles away.  

Under Marte’s virtual guidance, the retooled, water-squirting FIREVOLX placed 18th in the World Robotics Olympiad in Singapore. It was a big deal, not just for the teens but also for the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. 

The win marked a successful international collaboration between tech-hungry Dominican teens and Marte, who not only serves as an instructional assistant professor in UF’s Department of Engineering Education, known as EEd, but also is the department’s first graduate. It also spoke to the College of Engineering’s push for outreach and workforce development. 

"When Edwin shared his experience with the Dominican Republic teens, it deeply resonated with all of us,” said EEd Chair Idalis Villanueva, Ph.D. “The meaningful impact he made on those students and their community is a powerful reminder of the difference we create in the Department of Engineering Education. We go beyond evidence-based teaching; we are changemakers, bringing passion, purpose and a human-centered approach to everything we do."  

Marte’s outreach started when Gil’s daughter, Sarah, and two classmates wanted to learn more about robotics and coding. Soon, they named themselves Team Fire Busters and have since inspired three new teams at the school.  

They wanted to design a network of cameras that could detect smoke and fire. The cameras would notify a robot, which would begin extinguishing the fires until fire crews arrived.  

Marte wasn’t the first expert they approached. A machine learning specialist said they were crazy. A contact in Silicon Valley said it was impossible. A pricey consulting company in Spain ignored their email.  

Marte knew coding; that part was easy. He also worked full time and had a family. 

But this was personal. 

“It involved robotics, an international competition and students from a high school in my home country. I’ve always been drawn to David-vs.-Goliath stories where the underdog defeats the giant. I couldn't miss the opportunity to help these kids dream big and win against the odds. It’s an intrinsic part of my philosophy: Shoot big, dream big and win,” Marte said.   

He worked with them seven days a week.  

“Sometimes it was just a 15-minute check-in, and other times it was a two-hour session,” he explained. “The last weekend before they departed for Asia, I worked around eight hours each day. I stayed up until almost 2 a.m. the day before they departed, helping them tweak the last pieces of coding.” 

The students and their adviser and informatics instructor, Bruno Lopez, shipped a prototype robot from Santiago to Gainesville so Marte could work on identical devices. 

Recently, Marte visited the campus in Santiago, marking the first time he met the team members face to face. Marte praised the students’ dedication.  

“They didn't go out. There was no beach, no movies, no boyfriends, no girlfriends. Nothing. Not even a grandma, except for video chats,” Marte said. “They worked so hard. For me, it’s one of the best things that I have ever done." 

Three new teams from the school are bound for WRO 2026 in Puerto Rico.  

Sarah Gil, the student whose father originally reached out to Marte, was struck by his kindness and mentoring skills.  

"Edwin was key to the development,” she said. “He taught us to use the tools so that we could apply them to the project. His teaching methodology was so effective that in this second project we are going for the Puerto Rico World Cup. We are doing it alone, using Edwin’s knowledge.” 

Photo above: Edwin Marte, center, does the Gator Chomp with students in the Dominican Republic, where he — via Zoom — helped a team place 18th in a robotics competition in Singapore. Photo courtesy of Edwin Marte