To impress the judges team members, Michelle Zemke, Jake Chapman, Faith Whitt, Collin Lilley, Kael Bunce and Madi Howard stand for a picture holding their team number that they had during the (MATE) Great Lakes Regional ROV Competition before the presentation part of the day. “It was exciting, because the kids have put a lot of work into it,” Bob Richards, the Underwater Robotics team adviser said.
Underwater Robotic team wins state competition
June 10, 2017
Emotions ran wild for the underwater robotics team while they waited for the winner to be announced. Team number 9 was called, which meant it won the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Great Lakes Regional ROV Competition located in Alpena, Michigan.
Sophomore Michelle Zemke is the team leader. She manages the tasks she is given and makes sure everyone on the team is doing her or his job. According to Zemke, the role gives her a lot of responsibility and she likes what she does.
“It was really cool, because we placed first and second in every other category, and we haven’t gone to the internationals in a few years, so it was nice to know that we are going this year,” Zemke said. “We won the Ford Innovation award, which is a really high achieved award amongst a lot of teams, and we won first place in our presentations and then overall. It’s going to be a really unique experience because we are competing against the top 40 teams across the world.”
Since winning the state competition, the team gets to participate in the MATE Center’s 16th Annual International ROV Student Competition which will be held June 23-25 in Long Beach, California.
This contest will be more focused on how the ROVs, also known as remotely operated vehicles, which are used to check the safety of seaports, cargo containers and clean up the sea floor. The tethered underwater robots will compete by doling tasks underwater such as sampling sediment, constructing an underwater “hyperloop” system, repairing a fountain which is used in a water and light show and investigating containers that fell from a cargo ship. They will also have to make a technical documentation for their ROV, marketing display along with a product presentation to judges, according to instructor Bob Richards.
An engineer for the team, freshman Kael Bunce helps with building the robot and with the electronics.
“I think it’s an awesome opportunity that not many people have, and I’m very lucky to have the opportunity to go there,” Bunce said. “I’m kind of nervous because I feel like all the other teams are going to be really advanced, but I still feel like we have an alright shot to place in the top five. I like just being able to work on stuff and build something that could possibly win a competition that is worldwide.”
The members of the underwater robotics team are senior Jake Chapman, juniors Collin Lilley, Madi Howard and Faith Whitt, sophomore Michelle Zemke and freshman Kael Bunce.