Students geared up for robotics challenge
Students test their newly built underwater remotely operated vehicles, following a SeaPerch seminar
(CNS): Maples and Calder is partnering with the Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA) to present the “Cayman Islands SeaPerch Challenge 2016” on Saturday, 12 March, at the Grand Cayman Beach Suites. The competition follows a series of free seminars on robotics hosted for more than 260 students from various local schools, which WISTA and the firm organised.
SeaPerch executive director, Susan Nelson, and Naval Surface Warfare Centre electrical engineer, Bill Porter, presented the seminars, where students and teachers learned how to build underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROV). The SeaPerch programme provides a hands-on educational tool that teaches basic skills in ship and submarine design and encourages students to explore marine-architecture and ocean-engineering principles. Students learn to build the ROV from a kit comprising low-cost, easily accessible parts, following a curriculum that teaches basic engineering and science concepts with a marine-engineering theme.
The programme offers the opportunity to learn about robotics, engineering, science and mathematics while building an underwater ROV as part of a science-and-engineering-technology curriculum. Throughout the project, students learn engineering concepts, problem solving, teamwork and technical applications.
Sherice Arman, Maples and Calder attorney and president of the Cayman Islands chapter of WISTA, spearheaded the SeaPerch initiative with the assistance of fellow WISTA member Kaneesa Ebanks-Wilson.
“Cayman has such a strong seafaring history, so we hope that programmes such as this will create opportunities for young people in the Cayman Islands to open their minds to the possibility of careers in the maritime industry,” Arman said.
“We are very pleased with the response and enthusiasm that we have received from students and teachers thus far and we look forward to a successful event on 12 March.”
At tomorrow’s SeaPerch Challenge students from various schools will compete with their newly constructed ROVs in a series of in-pool technical challenges, including an obstacle course and sprint, as well as present posters demonstrating their new knowledge.
The winning team will get the opportunity to compete at the Sixth National SeaPerch Challenge in May at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, against more than 150 teams from all over the US.
Category: Education, Schools, Technology
