2016 Underwater ROV Competition:
On March 19, 2016, at the Waterford Mott High School in Waterford, four driven students from the Croswell Lexington High School participated in the Square One Network Underwater ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) competition.
After the competition descriptions were released in January, students researched and familiarized themselves with building an Underwater ROV out of half-inch PVC, small electrical motors, and a fish finder. Once students understand the guidelines and rules of the competition, they set off to building a rectangle PVC frame of 22” x 18”x 10” vehicle. Two motors were mounted horizontally inside the left and right side of the ROV to drive it forward and backwards. Another two motors were mounted vertically front and back to control the depth of the ROV. Then a fifty-foot tether from the control box and the ROV was composed of nylon role and electrical cord was used to control the vehicle. Finally, students used an indoor pool from a Lexington resident to fine tune the buoyancy level and performed drills to simulate the competition. The students had to deliver a presentation about their Underwater ROV, provide evidence of sharing our project to the community and the elementary students of Meyer’s school of Lexington. Then students had to use the Underwater ROV to complete four difference obstacle courses while using a small LCD screen to drive it. Challenge range from pick up rings from a pile at the bottom of the pool which was attached to tennis and ping-pong balls and take it to the surface. Another challenge, students had to pick up five small tubes and deliver it to a pail submerged at the bottom of the pool. Third, students had to measure the area and density of marbles at the bottom of the pool. Finally, students competed with elimination heat of speed racing. Over eight hours of competition among 29 teams around Michigan, Trevor Herbert, Gabe Nantroup, Christian Robert, and Madelyn Witham of the Pioneer Innovators of The Croswell-Lexington High School received 2nd place among the senior division for the team’s presentation and slide show, another 2nd place for senior division for being a Square One Network Underwater ROV Ambassadorship for using Facebook and elementary classroom visits to demonstrate and show the progression of the ROV. Finally students received a third place among the senior division the completing the tasks with the most points. Both coaches Charles Jahn and Mike Corsetti are very proud for this first time team to build and compete with other novice teams. |