[Dprglist] Underwater robots for kids

[Ezra Christensen]

Thanks, Karim.

SeaPerch's FAQ says it is not restricted to schools. Clubs, homeschoolers,
and any K-12 group can participate. SeaPerch led me to RoboNation's other
water based programs. There are 7 of them that span up to the university
level. They also have aerial programs (UAV, drones). They do have some
interesting things going on.

In my opinion though, MATE ROV has more complex and interesting challenges.

E.g., SeaPerch's challenge is to navigate an obstacle course (hula hoops
under water). Even RoboSub's (mostly university teams) challenge recently
was to get operational and shoot torpedoes at a target.
MATE ROV's challenges revolve around real-world problems. This year's are
off-shore power generation, aquaculture, and environmental monitoring.
Points are awarded for things like inspection/monitoring, repair, mapping,
item retrieval and delivery. Autonomous functionality of tasks are awarded
significantly more points than manual completion.

Students who completed MATE ROV would likely be more skilled than those who
did RoboNation's challenges. Initial costs for both programs are
comparable. Replacement parts for SeaPerch are cheaper, which may have
influenced Dallas ISD's selection.


Ezra



On Wed, Nov 10, 2021 at 2:04 PM Karim Virani <pondersome64 at gmail.com> wrote:

> You might want to look into SeaPerch. But I know it as a thing happening
> through schools. Dallas ISD's DESA was active in this pre-covid. I don't
> know if you can join as a community team.
>
> https://seaperch.org/programs/2022-season/
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 10, 2021 at 1:24 PM Ezra Christensen via DPRGlist <
> dprglist at lists.dprg.org> wrote:
>
>> My son is interested in underwater robotics. He's been involved with
>> FIRST previously, but wants to explore oceans eventually.
>>
>> Is anyone familiar with robotic platforms, or programs, that can help him
>> get started?
>>
>> We've been looking at MATE ROV Competition, which is similar to FIRST but
>> with water bots. They have some kits to help get started.
>>
>> Thought I'd check here before diving in.
>>
>> --
>> Ezra
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>>
>

-- 
Ezra Christensen
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