Report: ROV teams getting ready

The ROV is coming together...this year's competition is in Federal Way on May 12.

It was great to hear from the kids that the school ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) teams are coming together this spring – they did a great job in last year’s competition, and have high hopes this year. Here’s more from FHHS team members Marga Eshelman, Audrey Olshefsky, and Michael Barsamian:

FHHS and middle school ROV Teams Get Ready for Action

Over the course of the past several Sundays, Building 8 at the University of Washington Friday Harbor Laboratories has been taken over by the Friday Harbor High School and middle school ROV teams. They have been learning about, building, and strategizing for the 2012 MATE ROV regional competition.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with MATE, every year there is an international ROV competition through the Marine Advanced Technology Education Center. Involving both middle schoolers and high schoolers alike, this competition raises the participant’s awareness of current challenges facing marine scientists and engineers. The participants must build a remotely operated vehicle, whose purpose is to go on an underwater mission, which emulates many situations that current professionals deal with on a larger scale. Tasks that the students must simulate include surveying a shipwreck site and removing fuel oil from the shipwreck.

There is approximately one month and counting until the teams’ robots must compete against many talented opponents in the intense Pacific Northwest bracket, taking place in Federal Way, on May 12, 2012.

Here are the rosters for the participants in this year’s competition:

FHHS – Alex Halliday, Matthew Mazzarella, Marga Eshelman, Audrey Olshefsky, Michael Barsamian, Sarah Clark, Dalton Ayers, Matthew Stepita, Conrad Bormann, Mars Le Baron, Katy Deitzman, coached by Nick Frazee

Middle school team: FHMS – Griffin Cuomo, Zoe Halliday, Yasmin Sarah,  Helen Phelps; Spring Street International School – Zack Fincher, Lauren Ayers, Lucas Gao, Connor Dederich, coached by Jenny Wilson

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