NJROTC builds underwater robots with a grant from SeaPerch

Brady+Brockdorff+swims+with+an+ROV.

Emily Cofer

Brady Brockdorff swims with an ROV.

by Jessica Steves, Reporter

On February 24, students in the Naval Science II class took a field trip to the Walkersville pool to test their newly-built Remotely Operated Vehicles. SeaPerch, a national underwater robotics program, granted the class ten kits from which to build the ROVs, valued at over $1,000. The 22 students in the class had worked in groups of two or three to build their ROVs and learned about the buoyancy of objects in water. Also, many of the students knew little about soldering (joining two pieces of metal together by using heat and another substance, similar to welding) and the exercise of building the ROVs allowed them to gain practical experience.

At the pool, the students launched their ROVs into the water after making final adjustments to their crafts. Two of the students, Brady Brockdorff and Moses Watson, went swimming. The ROVs were all successful.