Somaya Faruqi wears traditional Afghan clothing as she overseas her teams booth at RoboRAVE International in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Afghan team is competing in the Entrepreneurial division which competes for votes from all attendees at the event with an innovative, working robot or product.
Sahar Barak sets up her computer and Xbox controllers which have been reworked with Java coding to drive the robot her team built.
Kowsar Roshan, left, and other members of the Afghan Dreamers, an all-girls robotics team from Afghanistan, arrive at the Albuquerque Convention Center in New Mexico, where RoboRAVE International is being held. RoboRAVE is the last robotics competition for the Afghan Dreamers after a four-month tour in North America.
Afghan-Dutch mixed martial artist and Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter, Sitar Bahadurzada, greets the Afghan Dreamers after their win at RoboRAVE International. Mr. Bahadurzada, who enjoys extremely popularity in Afghanistan for his contributions to the martial arts, happened to be training in New Mexico for the dry climate and came to support his fellow countryman on their unprecedented success.
Members of the Afghan robotics team make final adjustments to their robot Albuquerque Convention Center in New Mexico, where RoboRAVE International is being held. RoboRAVE is the last robotics competition for the Afghan Dreamers after a four-month tour in North America. The teams robot, named the Heriva, is a prototype for a larger wheat harvesting robot the team plans to build in Afghanistan to help small farmers.
Kawsar Roshan, 16, plays on a swing in Central Park in New York City on May 03, 2018. Ms. Roshan is part of an all-girls Afghan robotics team which has been competing in robotics competitions in North America throughout 2018.
‘I Heart Robots’ and other stickers decorate the Afghan Dreamers’ laptops. The high school students are part of the all-female robotics team, the Afghan Dreamers, who have been competing in international robotics competitions in the United States and Canada over the past four months.
The Afghan Dreamers, an all-female robotic team from Afghanistan, arrive at the Cobo Center in Detroit for the FIRST Championship. The robotics competition attracts tens of thousands of qualifying students from around the world to compete for prizes in the four day event.
Roya Mahboob, manager of the Afghan Dreamers, an all-female robotic team from Afghanistan, at the FIRST Championship in Detroit, Michigan.
Fatemah Qaderyan, right, and Somaya Faruqi walk to the subway station near Ms. Mahboob’s apartment in Queens, New York City.
The Afghan Dreamer’s team captain, Lida Azizi, and manager Alireza Mehraban stand by the Afghanistan flag onstage at the opening ceremony of RoboRAVE International in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Donya Barakzai, Sahar Barak, Fatemah Qaderyan, and Kowsar Roshan (from left to right), read the local newspapers out-loud to each other for fun as they wait for the beginning of RoboRAVE, an international robotics competition aimed at promoting education in engineering and technology. RoboRAVE is the last robotics competition for the Afghan Dreamers after a successful four-month tour in North America.
Managers Roya Mahboob and Alireza Mehraban accompany Fatemah Qaderyan and Sumaya Faruqi at ‘Robo Prom’ in the Marriott Detroit at the Renaissance Center. The dance has been created for FIRST Robotic Championship participants who can’t attend their high school proms which overlap with the robotics competition.
Members of the Afghan Dreamers, an all-girls robotics team from Afghanistan, pose for photos in Washington Square Park, New York City.
Kowsar Roshan from the all-female robotics team, the Afghan Dreamers, tries on make-up in Sephora in an upscale mall in Troy, Michigan. The young women from Afghanistan have spent four-months in North America competing in different robotics competitions and honing their robotics skills.
Members of the Afghan Dreamers robotics team play in a field behind their hotel after competing in the FIRST Robotic Championships in Detroit, Michigan. The all-female robotics team from Afghanistan spent four-months in North America competing in different robotics competitions and honing their robotics skills.
The Afghan Dreamers react to photos of them online from the previous FIRST competition.
Sahar Barak and Kawsar Roshan pass through rural Pennsylvania during the girls’ 19-hour overnight bus journey from Detroit to New York City.
The Afghan Dreamer’s hold up the flag of Afghanistan onstage as they receive first place in the Entrepreneurial division of RoboRAVE International in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Members of the Afghan robotics team at the local Albuquerque ice-cream store, Frost Gelato.
Kowsar Roshan and her female robotics teammates are some of the few women on their flight from Dubai to Kabul. The high-school students from Afghanistan are returning home after spending more than four months in the United States and Canada, studying robotics and competing in international robotics competitions.
Sahar Barak and Donya Barakzai smile as they view Kabul from the window of their plane. The high-school students are part of the all-female robotics team, the Afghan Dreamers. The team is returning to Afghanistan after four and half months in the United States and Canada, studying robotics and competing in international robotics competitions.
The Afghan Dreamers return is celebrated by local officials, friends, family, and media as they arrive home after four and a half months of robotics competitions in North America.
Ms. Roshan copies notes borrowed from another student from classes that she missed while she was away in North America competing with the Afghan robotics teams. The girls missed about a month and a half of classes in order to participate in the competitions in Canada and the United States.
Hanging in Lida Azizi’s room are the metals that she and her fellow robotics team won during their trips to the United States and Canada.
Lida Azizi in her bedroom in Herat, Afghanistan.
Women shopping along the roadside market in Herat.
Somaya Faruqi works on one of her robots with her younger brother at her house in Herat, Afghanistan. The room is used as storage for her Uncle’s shop in the market, but half of the room is now used to store Ms. Faruqi’s growing robotic projects.
Ms. Faruqi chooses a simple black Abaya from one of the local markets as she shops for back to school clothes for the year.
Kowsar Roshan demonstrates how she puts on her jibaab, the outer garment she needs to wear when outside private spaces in Afghanistan. Ms. Roshan is one of the members of the Afghan Dreamers, an all-female robotics team from Afghanistan that competes internationally in robotics competitions.
Sahar Barak plays on her phone after school in her bedroom in Herat, Afghanistan. Ms. Barak is one of the members of the Afghan Dreamers, an all-female robotics team from Afghanistan that competes internationally in robotics competitions.