Students from the New York City Home Educators Association (NYCHEA) took second place behind Blue Hills Technical High School in the 2008 NE Regional ROV Design Competition sponsored by the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) project. Winners advanced to the international competition on June 26 at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, where NYCHEA rallied to take first place!
This unique technology based competition challenged students to design and operate a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in a pool-based exercise that simulates a descent to 2500 m depth to survey and sample a hydrothermal vent. Each robotic device in the regional competition was required to collect three “lava” samples, free a buried instrument, and take the temperature of a simulated hydrothermal vent (a pvc pipe with hot water running out).
What’s the day rate on these ROVs, I wonder? And how many of these kids could we squeeze in a double berth? I have a cruise at the end of the summer that could use some back-up support!
Seriously, DSN sends heartfelt congratulations to all the contest participants and organizers of the ROV Competition, and a very special sense of admiration for the good folks at MATE. This is a valuable project and an exciting competition that helps foster growth in the our generation of ocean explorers. You go, kids!
To learn more read the story in the June 2008 issue Marine Technology Reporter
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I had the good fortune to be a judge at our local competition at Hilo, with over a dozen teams competing. This is a great contest, giving kids a chance to do some practical engineering to solve the problem. What I saw warmed this engineer’s heart, machines built from simple materials that really could maneuver underwater, going after the targets on the bottom of the pool.
Hi Peter, thank you for informing your readers about the the MATE Student ROV Competition. More teams than ever before (50+) came to the competition in San Diego. There were 650+ students from five countries–US, Canada, Russia, Scotland, and China (Hong Kong)–and 50+ volunteers (marine tech industry and research professionals) that served as judges or helped in other capacities.
We’re proud of all of the teams–they really were outstanding–and grateful to our sponsoring organizations. Thank you for mentioning the competition Deep Sea News.
Caroline Brown (PR for the MATE Center)
You’re welcome, Caroline. Can we be commentators for the next competition? ;) We love what you do. Keep up the good work, and please send pictures. We’ll post ’em right here.