Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Randy Savarese | Students navigate their remotely operated vehicles through an obstacle course during...... read more read more
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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Local Navy divers and Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians supported dozens of middle and high school students in the first Tidewater District SeaPerch Challenge held at the aquatics center in the Brittingham-Midtown Community Center April 13.
The SeaPerch Challenge is a one-day design competition featuring student-assembled remotely operated vehicles with teams of two to four students working together to build, test, launch, and compete their ROV in the challenge.
U.S. Navy Divers from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2 helped setup and provide technical assistance during the competition, which was judged by volunteers from the U.S. Navy, Newport News Shipbuilding and Old Dominion University.
"This is great for the kids because they get to use their minds and creativity to overcome the challenges of building their own ROVs," said Navy Diver 2nd Class Shaun Krall, assigned to MDSU 2. "We use ROVs for everything from underwater ships husbandry to safely observing underwater mines. This is great for us too because we can look at what the future of this technology might look like."
Technicians from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 2 Det. Yorktown were also on hand to demonstrate the capabilities of the SeaBotix underwater reconnaissance vehicle and answer questions about some of the practical applications for the technologies showcased during the event.
"I think it's big for our community to be involved, because we use robotics like these a lot so to have students able to see what they're working toward is a great opportunity for everyone," said Lt. Jacob Loeffler, officer in charge assigned to EODMU 2 Det. Yorktown. "It's great to see school systems investing in these programs."
The engineering and science competition featured a poster competition and a technical water competition. During the poster competition, students introduced their graphic displays and delivered oral presentations about their design philosophy and construction challenges, and answered questions posed by the judges. During the technical water competition, teams participated in two timed pool competitions featuring an obstacle course and a deep water retrieval course.
The SeaPerch Program provides students with an opportunity to learn about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) while building an underwater ROV. Throughout the project, students learn engineering concepts, problem solving, teamwork, and technical applications.
MDSU 2 is an expeditionary mobile diving unit homeported aboard Joint Expeditionary Base, Little Creek-Ft. Story in Virginia Beach, Va., and has successfully conducted salvage operations to support TWA Flight 800, Swiss Air Flight 111, the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, and the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor.
EODMU 2 provides operational explosive ordnance disposal capability for the location, identification, rendering safe, recovery, field evaluation and disposal of all explosive ordnance, including chemical and nuclear weapons.
U.S. Navy EOD is the world's premier combat force for countering explosive hazards and conducting expeditionary diving and salvage.
For more news from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2, visit www.navy.mil/local/eod2/.
| Date Taken: | 04.13.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 04.16.2013 09:00 |
| Story ID: | 105259 |
| Location: | NEWPORT NEWS, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 180 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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