Contact:
Elizabeth Brachelli,
Public Relations
Coordinator
Drexel University,
College of Engineering
Phone: (215) 895-6454
Cell Phone: (215) 357-2527
FAX: (215) 895-4929
E-Mail: ebrachelli@coe.drexel.edu
Local Students Rival Underwater Robotics in U.S.
Navy Competition Hosted by Drexel University’s College of Engineering
Students learn the process of
engineering an underwater robot from professional mentors that were trained by
the U.S. Navy and will face
their robots off in a competition at Drexel
University, May 10
Drexel University,
Philadelphia, PA – Middle school, high school and
community college students from 3 states and 43 area schools will battle it out
in an underwater robotics competition May 10, 2008 in the Greater Philadelphia Sea Perch Challenge. The underwater robot
combat will be hosted by Drexel University’s College
of Engineering at the Daskalakis Athletic Center
at 33rd & Market from 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. 43 teams will contend in the U.S. Navy funded
competition to win recognition for design excellence, presentation, and
teamwork while fulfilling the U.S. Navy’s goal of increasing interest in
robotics, science, mathematics, engineering and technology.
The MIT founded Sea Perch program is
part of the Office of Naval Research's
initiative, “Recruiting the Next Generation of Naval Architects.” The program
teaches students how to build an underwater robot (called a Sea Perch), a
propulsion system, a controller and how to investigate weight and buoyancy in
14 weeks through professional mentors trained by the U.S. Navy. More than 600
students will compete to see who will win first place for their Remote Operated
Underwater Vehicles (ROV) in the following categories: (1) Vehicle performance
(2) Team presentation (3) Teamwork summaries and (4) Spirit & sportsmanship.
Panels of external judges from industry, government agencies and higher
education will evaluate the competition. Each category will have its own
separate panel of judges. In addition, each team will be given a score for
each event and each category and one middle school and one high school will win
the honor of being the 2008 Greater Philadelphia Sea Perch Champions.
The Greater Philadelphia Sea Perch
Challenge sponsors and volunteers come from some of the most highly regarded
organizations in the area, including Drexel
University, the American Society of
Naval Engineers (ASNE), the School
District of Philadelphia
and MIT’s Sea Grant Office. Sponsors provide resources including time and
talent from professional mentors, services, equipment, financial contributions,
and volunteers. For more information on Sea Perch, please visit http://www.coe.drexel.edu/seaperch/index.php.
ABOUT Greater Philadelphia Sea
Perch Challenge
MIT founded the Sea Perch Challenge program to inspire
pre-college students to explore the wonders of underwater robotics. This
program is funded by the Office of Naval Research as part of its National Naval
Responsibility Initiative. The initiative focuses on bringing academia,
government and industry to work together to ensure that the talent needed to
design the Navy's next generation of ships and submarines will be there when
needed. For more information on Sea Perch, please visit http://www.coe.drexel.edu/seaperch/index.php.