# Miguel Abrahantes went from Cumanayagua to becoming a NASA robot designer

**Date:** 07/23/2023

Miguel Abrahantes, a native of Cienfuegos born in Cumanayagua, designs robots for NASA, destined to explore Mars and other planets.

Miguel Abrahantes, a native of Cienfuegos born in Cumanayagua, designs robots for NASA, destined to explore Mars and other planets.

What is truly astonishing is that this 50-year-old Cuban arrived in the United States in the year 2000 without knowing absolutely any English and before 12 years of residing in that country, he had already made his way into NASA and achieved other accomplishments, including serving at Hope College in Grand Rapids as an associate professor of electronic engineering, a university where he is one of the most highly valued professors.

How is it possible to achieve something like this? In this case, first you need superior intelligence. But that is not all, because if you do not add a powerful dose of tenacity and perseverance to that attribute, it is difficult to reach any important goal. But that seed had already been planted in Miguel by his father, who advised him and his brother to study because that was the only way to succeed in life.

And the native of Cienfuegos born in 1970 followed it to the letter. He completed his pre-university studies at the Ernesto Ché Guevara Vocational School, located in the municipality of Santa Clara, opted for the career of Electronic Engineering and studied it at the Central University of Las Villas.

He continued with his studies and in 1996 earned a Doctorate in Systems and Control Engineering from the National University of the South in Argentina.

He decided to enter the visa lottery to reside permanently in the United States and finally achieved it in 2000, thanks to a program that provided aid to Cuban refugees.

But not knowing English was a barrier to achieving success in the country of opportunities, as many Cubans call the United States, so Miguel continued following his father's advice and in addition to working at night at Lacks Enterprises INC, he took English courses in the morning hours.

Together with his students, he developed, between 2006 and 2007, research that resulted in the TetWalker robot, of which he is considered the father.

These achievements were also facilitated because from earlier times he had been working as a postgraduate researcher in the specialty of mathematical systems modeling for the Department of Psychology at Indiana University.

Miguel married Emily Abrahantes, with whom he had two children: Anthony and Nina, and since all members of the clan like to travel, they did so throughout practically the entire northern country.

Longing for his native land inspired Miguel to recreate the farm from his town and he managed to reconstruct a small Cumanayagua at his residence located in the suburb of Allendale in Grand Rapids, Michigan, complete with fruit trees and chickens.

The story of this outstanding native of Cienfuegos reaffirms the truth that Cubans are everywhere, well, sometimes not just anywhere but even at NASA.