(The Brownsville Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Business News via COMTEX) -- Plenty of people are intrigued by remote-controlled model cars.

But not many can parlay their interest into a career in computer robotics for NASA.

Heriberto Reynoso intends to. And he's well on his way.

"Computer robotics is a lot of complex fields all booked into one," Reynoso said last week as he demonstrated the abilities of Robot No. 6. "That's what's gotten me hooked."

Reynoso traces his interest in robotics back at least to the time a neighbor gave him an electric car kit.

He had been taking apart small appliances for years to see how they worked and did the same with the car kit. He's been doing robotics seriously since his sophomore year at Rivera High School.

Robot No. 6 is made of Lexan plastic and features low-frequency, radio-controlled motors. It will move left and right, forward and reverse "or it will go on its own," Reynoso said.

"This type of robotics got me to where I am," he said, adding later that he wants to "take robotics to the next level."

Reynoso is a junior at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College majoring in computer science, and he's getting a head start on his career through internships sponsored by major technology companies.

He has studied at the University of Southern California under a NASA program for Motivating Undergraduates in Science and Technology.

He is a Lockheed Martin Scholar through the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. He is a General Electric Scholar through the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

Earlier this month Reynoso spent a week in Washington, D.C. as one of 35 participants in Hispanic Young Professionals, a leadership development initiative.

Reynoso qualified for the program as a recipient of a 2008 Google Scholarship from the Hispanic College Fund. More than 600 students were awarded Hispanic College Fund scholarships in 2008; of those, 35 students were identified as being particularly talented and invited to participate in the Hispanic Young Professionals Program.

"Hispanics, in general Latinos, tend not to go the extra mile in presenting themselves for fear of being criticized. They pretty much showed us how to not be afraid, to grab life by the horns," Reynoso said of the HYP program.

As a NASA Scholar, he has worked at the three main robotics centers in the country, the Johnson Space Center in Houston, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and the Ames Research Center in San Jose, Calif.

His degree will be in computer science with a focus on robotics and he hopes to become a computer programmer for robotics with NASA.

"Robotics encompasses everything -- mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, industrial engineering," he said.

"I've never bought a kit. I've built everything from the ground up."

Reynoso has built nine robots. He will demonstrate No. 6 at Rivera High School on Nov. 5, and on Nov. 6 at Porter.