| June
2004
Hydroid Inc. is very pleased to sponsor
a team of young inventors in this year’s MATE
ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) competition. Falmouth
Academy (Falmouth, MA) fielded a team of four talented
seniors, which included Rachel Allen, Mike Kowalski,
Oliver Moore, and Joey Smith. Over the course of the
2003-2004 school year, the team worked to design and
build an ROV to take part in this year’s MATE
competition.
MATE’s regional competition
was held on May 8th at the University of Rhode Island.
Out of the ten teams at the competition, the top three
go on to the University of Santa Barbara, in California,
to compete in the national competition.
The competition is based on a mock-up
reef, through which the ROVs must fly in order to complete
the 7 missions. These missions included the retrieval
of samples, finding specific items within the reef and
sunken U-boat, and the deployment of tags and patches.
Each mission was related to the story that guided the
competition: A mission to the Florida Keys to explore
a sunken U-boat from World War II and retrieve a tow
fish used in previous scientific explorations. While
the competition takes place in a pool, and the environment
is entirely man-made, the scenario was designed to provide
high school and college students with experience building
and operating ROVs in a “real world” situation.
The team from Falmouth Academy created
a vehicle that was 24 in long and 15 in high, with four
thrusters that have Maxon DC motors. The ROV uses its
two function manipulator to complete the retrieval and
deployment tasks, and is controlled by two of the team
members, who navigate using the view from the camera
placed on the front of the vehicle.
We are very pleased to announce that the Falmouth Academy
team placed second in the
New England Regional competition,
which means they’ll be heading to California for
the national competition June 25-27. The team is currently
working on modifying the vehicle to improve its ability
to complete the missions. They are creating circuits
for the motor controls that will allow them to control
the vehicle with a joystick, and are making a new chassis
that will be lighter, smaller, and stronger.
In addition to working on the ROV
for their June 24 departure date, the seniors will also
be graduating on June 12. Next year, Joey will be going
to college at Bucknell University, Mike is heading out
to Carnegie Mellon University, and Rachel and Oliver
are going to Williams College.
Best of luck to all of our talented
seniors in their upcoming competition, as well as their
future endeavors.
For further information
contact Kevin McCarthy, Vice President of Marketing
at Hydroid at Tel 508-563-6565, e-mail kmccarthy@hydroidinc.com.
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