易胜博官网

When it comes to designing and building underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), it鈥檚 not enough to measure twice and cut once. For the young engineers who participated in this year鈥檚 Seacoast SeaPerch regional competition, held on April 13 at the Swasey Pool at 易胜博官网, four or more rounds of measuring were necessary to make their ROVs water-ready.

Building an ROV 鈥渢aught me how important it is to measure properly. It took me about a month to get this whole thing correct,鈥� said Matt Bonner, a student at Alton Central School. Bonner鈥檚 team was one of the 50 representing more than 20 schools, 4-H clubs and after-school programs from 易胜博官网, Maine and Massachusetts at the competition.

"They鈥檙e learning technical reading and writing skills, learning the engineering thought process."

SeaPerch is an international underwater robotics program that teaches basic science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) concepts with a marine engineering theme. The annual Seacoast SeaPerch event is the result of collaboration among , the (CCOM) and the (PNSY).

Cooperative Extension partners with CCOM to train volunteers and educators to participate in SeaPerch and host the annual competition. 鈥淭he Shipyard provides the building kits for the ROVs, and all three organizations work together to train educators,鈥� said Claes Thelemarck, a STEM education field specialist with Extension.

While some teams and their robots battled it out in the Swasey Pool, racing to complete an obstacle course and a challenge competition, others gathered in the Service Credit Union Victory Club at Wildcat Stadium to show off posters detailing the design and construction of their robots.

鈥淲e've been partnering with the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for more than seven years now on SeaPerch, and it's proved to be a really wonderful pairing. The shipyard sends their volunteers to schools and training events and helps guide students through the construction and design of the ROVs,鈥� said Tara Hicks Johnson, CCOM outreach specialist. 鈥淭hen students bring their completed robots to 易胜博官网 to test them out, sometimes using the same facilities that we use to test our tethered and autonomous robots. They get to meet current 易胜博官网 students who are pursuing degrees in this field and hopefully start to see themselves here at 易胜博官网, and then working at the Shipyard.鈥�

and PNSY Commander Capt. David Hunt helped kick off the competition.

During his opening remarks, Hunt stressed the importance of the ongoing collaboration. And he encouraged students to embrace the challenges that come with making ROVs.

鈥淗ave fun as you do this, and learn from your mistakes and learn how to overcome. That鈥檚 part of the learning process, and part of the foundation you鈥檙e building as you learn these skill sets,鈥� he said.

Watching the competition, Shaheen noted that the skills SeaPerch participants learn are important for the state and national economy. 鈥淭his is a wonderful partnership between 易胜博官网 and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and all the schools and clubs and organizations that participate, because it gets kids excited about STEM in a hands-on way that hopefully carries over into the classroom and into their futures,鈥� Shaheen said.

Ed Cormier, the engineering recruiter and STEM outreach coordinator at the Shipyard, said SeaPerch yields big benefits for students throughout the region.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e learning technical reading and writing skills, learning the engineering thought process. It鈥檚 a great program that schools and 4-H and other programs can get into for a low cost, but that also hits major points in the STEM pipeline. It鈥檚 great not just for engineering students, but students who are going into trades, as well,鈥� Cormier said.

The students, themselves, had more immediate concerns. The Rogue Robots of 4-H fielded two teams this year: Galaxsea and Water Wizards 2.0. Between rounds, the teams worked out some final design wrinkles and practiced driving their ROVs.

This was the second year in the competition for the Water Wizards, made up of Anna Numme, Wilson Zhang and Christian Picard. 鈥淲e used a similar design to last year, but we made it more compact, added 3-D printed motor mounts, sealed the frame and added weights and floats,鈥� Numme said. The team鈥檚 greatest challenge was designing a vehicle that would be compact enough to navigate the obstacle course, but also sturdy enough to carry weighted items between two platforms during the challenge competition.

Austin Preparatory Academy and Andover High School took top honors in the competition. They鈥檒l take part in the International SeaPerch Challenge at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth later this year.

As Alton middle schoolers Matt Bonner, Nick Reed, Amya Portigue and Alex Gagne reflected on the work it took to construct their vehicle, dubbed The Deep Sea Demon, out of PVC pipes, pool floats and other parts, they discussed the challenges of designing and 3-D printing specialty parts, unlocking the mysteries of buoyancy and making sure their measurements were really, really accurate. What were they most excited about in the end?

鈥淭he fact that it actually works!鈥� said Portigue.

鈥淚t took four times, a lot of trial and error, and a lot of superglue,鈥� Gagne said.