09 Sep Afghan robotics team: Inspirational women begin new chapter

In a case that received global attention, a group of young scientists endured an agonising wait before they finally escaped Kabul. The BBC spoke to them about their ordeal – and why they fear for the future for Afghan women…

Now, the girls – aged 15 to 19 – have set their sights on a new goal: the FIRST Global Challenge, an Olympics-style international robotics competition that runs virtually for 12 weeks. The team members in Doha say they are already hard at work.

“We built a UVC [ultraviolet] robot that’s like a sanitiser. It kills viruses, germs, and microbes from hospitals or offices,” Ayda explains. “We’re also going to build a CubeSat that sends information about space conditions to earth.”