by Navy Yard
April 14, 2023
Categories: Energy, Innovation, Sustainability, Technology, Tenants,
The following is courtesy of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division. You can access the original article here.
The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division co-hosted the 18th annual Greater Philadelphia SeaPerch Challenge with Temple University’s College of Science and Technology at The Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Center on March 24, 2023.
SeaPerch is an underwater robotics competition for middle and high school students in the Greater Philadelphia Area. Students complete a presentation and technical design report of their SeaPerch Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) prior to the event. Schools are required to compete in both the obstacle and mission pool events.
NSWCPD’s Commanding Officer Capt. Joseph Darcy and Technical Director Nigel C. Thijs gave words of encouragement to the students throughout the event.
“In the military we need STEM professionals like yourself. If you want to serve the country in a different capacity, you can do that. We need scientists, engineers, problem-solvers like yourself so keep doing what you’re doing … The Greater Delaware Valley had a huge impact on building our Nation so I can see that it is in good hands,” Darcy said in relating the SeaPerch competition to the needs of the Navy.
“Engineering and the sciences teach us how to analyze and examine things. Think about the problems you solved and how good it felt when you accomplished your goal. I’m proud to see you all here competing and for the creativity you showed in the course of this competition.” Thijs said reflecting on the competition.
The obstacle pool event requires students to navigate their ROV through several hoops, rise above the water, and then return back through the hoops.
Students are allowed one chance to successfully complete the event unless there is an electrical or mechanical failure with their ROV. This rule benefited Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls students Phuong Nguyen and Withnie Merone,
During their first attempt, Nguyen and Merone submerged their ROV and began the obstacle pool event. They noticed their ROV was malfunctioning. This forced them to end their attempt and perform maintenance on their ROV in preparation for the redo round.
“The motor fell off and the zip tie didn’t work so we had to fix that,” Nguyen said recalling their first attempt at the obstacle course.
Nguyen and Merone performed repairs on their ROV and came back for a second attempt at the obstacle course.
“We didn’t go far enough with the second attempt. We reached the last hoop and we got tangled. It was horrible,” Merone said.
Because Nguyen and Merone are juniors they will have an opportunity to come back next year and try again. They plan to learn from the errors they made here to perform better next time.
“The lesson that I learned was that we should put a light on the vehicle so we can know which way it’s going so we won’t get tangled,” Nguyen said.
“I think we should all be more prepared for the challenges that we might face. Bringing tools like binoculars could help us and adding lights to the perch,” Merone added.
This year featured a brand-new tasking – the rocket mission event — which required students to attach a rocket to their ROV and launch it down a lane. The rocket had to land within the student’s lane to get points. Students also had the opportunity to release three rockets from underwater obstacles that could then be launched to score additional points.
“This year we challenged teams to launch rockets and it wasn’t as simple as an easy modification onto the vehicles. Prior years what we had done is that teams would have to add a small widget onto their vehicles to do the competition. It was something as a simple as a hook or a pole or something like that. This year it was an entire design with a solenoid [valve],” NSWCPD’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Outreach Program Manager and SeaPerch/SeaGlide Director Tristan Wolfe said in explaining the new event.
Teams were tasked with modifying their controllers by incorporating a solenoid valve. The intent was for students to operate the valve with a push of a button.
“They had to waterproof everything. They had to modify the controller. It was much more challenging for the students. We saw that during the competition that it was a challenging mission this year,” Wolfe added.
Because it was a new event, some students struggled to complete the event. Students Joseph Kwee and Tyler Baughman, two juniors from STEM-UP, the NSWCPD-sponsored afterschool program in collaboration with Temple University, found some success in the mission event.
“We did technically pretty well. We were able to get most of the objectives underwater. Afterwards we were able to launch five rockets out of the six. We wish that rockets went into the zones, but they went into different lanes,” Kwee said.
“Something I liked about this year was moving the crab and using the push button because it was a lot different than last year’s obstacle course,” Baughman said.
Baughman has attended the competition for five years while Kwee has participated in the competition for four years. STEM-UP placed third in the technical design report category.
Several NSWCPD employees volunteered their time to assist with judging the competition, such as Jamie Gates, a NSWCPD program manager who appreciates the hard work by the middle and high school students each year.
“I volunteered because this is one of my favorite days. I think working with the kids and seeing all of their hard work in creating the SeaPerch and then competing makes for a very fun environment,” Gates said.
Each team from the middle school and high school divisions were divided between the Captain or Admiral class. The Captain class had a $25 cap on purchasing modifications for the SeaPerch, while the Admiral class didn’t have a cap. The two classes are meant to create an equal playing field amongst students regardless of their school’s funding.
The participating teams in the SeaPerch middle school division were: Add B. Anderson School, East Norriton Middle School, George W. Nebinger School, Haddonfield Middle School, Radnor Middle School, Saint Ephrem School, Saint Helena School – Blue Bell, Snyder Middle School, Saint Katherine of Siena School, STEM Scholars, Sonderton Charter School Collaborative, Danville Middle School, Universal Vare STEM & Arts Academy, R.W. Brown Boys & Girls Club, Our Lady of Hope – South Philadelphia, and Northley Middle School.
SeaPerch’s winners for the middle school division were as follows:
Technical Design Report
First – Universal Vare STEM & Arts Academy
Second – Haddonfield Middle School
Third – Danville Area School District
Presentation
First – Haddonfield Middle School
Second – Snyder Middle School
Third – Northley Middle School
Vehicle Performance, Captain class
First – Danville Area School District
Second – Saint Helena – Blue Bell
Vehicle Performance, Admiral class
First – Snyder Middle School
Second – East Norriton Middle School
Overall Champion, Captain class
First – Danville Area School District
Second – Radnor Middle School
Overall Champion, Admiral class
First – Snyder Middle School
Second – East Norriton Middle School
Engineering Process
First – Haddonfield Middle School
Women in Defense Liberty Chapter 2023 SeaPerch Challenge Award
First – Our Lady of Hope South Philadelphia
Make a Splash Award
First – Haddonfield Middle School
The participating teams in the SeaPerch high school division were: Academy of Notre Dame de Namur, Haddonfield High School, Kroc Center of Philadelphia, Manchester Township High School, Springfield High School, Sycamore Squad, Delaware Valley Friends School, Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls, Danville High School, STEM-UP, Radnor High School, Cape Henlopen High School, Merion Merch Academy, The U School, George Washington Carver High School of Engineering & Science.
SeaPerch’s winners for the high school division were as follows:
Technical Design Report
First – Haddonfield High School
Second – Danville Area School District
Third – STEM-UP
Presentation
First – Sycamore Squad
Second – Haddonfield High School
Third – Danville Area School District
Vehicle Performance, Captain class
First – Haddonfield High School
Second – Academy of Notre Dame
Vehicle Performance, Admiral class
First – Sycamore Squad
Second – Danville Area School District
Overall Champion, Captain class
First – Haddonfield High School
Second – Academy of Notre Dame
Overall Champion, Admiral class
First – Sycamore Squad
Second – Danville Area School District
Engineering Process Award
First – Sycamore Squad
Women in Defense Liberty Chapter 2023 SeaPerch Challenge Award
First – Academy of Notre Dame de Namur
Make a Splash Award
First – Pennsbury High School
SeaPerch aims to reduce traditional barriers to participation in robotics programs and promotes opportunities to engage students and educators in inquiry-based learning with real-world applications. As an educational program, SeaPerch introduces students to basic engineering, design, and science concepts. As a fun hands-on project, SeaPerch engages students and fosters key 21st century skills including critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity.
NSWCPD employs approximately 2,800 civilian engineers, scientists, technicians, and support personnel. The NSWCPD team does the research and development, test and evaluation, acquisition support, and in-service and logistics engineering for the non-nuclear machinery, ship machinery systems, and related equipment and material for Navy surface ships and submarines. NSWCPD is also the lead organization providing cybersecurity for all ship systems.