Isaac Hortiales Arzate

Mechatronics Engineer

Psychomotor exploration and training suit for children with visual impairment

Hello, my name is Isaac Hortiales Arzate, I am 22 years old, I am studying at Ibero Puebla and I am in my 10th semester of Mechatronics Engineering. My first contact with the scholarship and the call for applications was through an email that our coordinator, Huber Girón, sent us. I read the call for applications and the list of requirements to find out what it was all about. Once I had the information I started to prepare all the documents I needed. 

Before mentioning the solution I proposed, it is important for you to know that my passion is soccer, since I was a child it has been one of my greatest loves and has allowed me to live experiences in different countries, both competing and teaching. Two of the most impressive experiences were being part of the state soccer team for the blind "Topos Puebla" and being part of "Ambassadors Football Club". 

The idea I proposed was “Exploration and Psychomotor Training Suit for Visually Impaired Children” because I understood the importance of making sports accessible with the help of technology, so that sports can continue to impact the lives of others, as I saw in the Topos community. The project evolved into the “Training System for the Development of Gross Motor Skills in Visually Impaired Children.”

Thank God, I was able to win the scholarship in the summer of 2023, and with the financial support provided by the foundation, I was able to fully cover the cost of my studies for the entire fall 2023 semester. Participating in this process helped me organize my time and work effectively under pressure. It allowed me to combine my two passions, football and engineering, to develop this project. 

After winning the scholarship in the summer of 2023, I returned to the country as I had been in Ohio playing for the AFC Ohio team and conducting soccer camps for children in the area organized by the AFC summer camps program. Moving forward in the fall semester, I became part of the men's representative soccer team of my university, Ibero Puebla, in the INTERSUJ 2023 tournament held in Bogotá, Colombia, where we secured second place. 

Currently, I am completing my social service and taking the ASE 3 course, where I am working on the development of this project. Some of the project's objectives include finishing a prototype and creating a document with a list of improvements to continue working on before the semester ends on May 15th. 

I believe the best advice I could give to someone interested in positively impacting their environment using technology as the main tool would be: 

1. Find ways to combine your passions to make an impact on your surroundings. In my case, football led me to discover blind football, which inspired the idea of merging football with engineering. 

2. Never underestimate the impact of small things or small changes. Everyone contributes their grain of sand to improve the world, and any help is always welcome. No one knows what a small action can trigger in their environment. 

Some of my personal goals include going to Ohio during the summer to play for AFC Ohio and run camps for children, finishing my courses this fall to graduate as soon as possible, and seeking a master's program in Ohio for the fall of 2025 with a sports scholarship.