Five teams of high school and junior high students from Traverse City Central High School and Traverse City East Junior High School competed recently in the third annual Great Lakes Regional ROV (remotely operated vehicle) Competition hosted by Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena. A team consisting of Central High School students Kurt Jankowksi and Mitch Karbowski and home-schooled student Tim Kohler finished “2nd Overall” and received the “Best Innovative Engineering Award.” This team finished behind the first place team by less than eight points.
A team of eighth graders, Talia Gerstle, Alison Powell, Micah Appel, Tom Cillufo, and Clark Phelps, finished “4th Overall” and received an award for Best Tri-Fold Presentation Award despite competing against mainly high school teams. The other Traverse City ROV teams finished fifth, sixth, and eighth among the 11 teams at the competition. Members of these teams include: Hannah Feaster, Dan Alpers, Erin Kessler, Aric Fowler, Jacob Schaub, Chris McManus, Nick Broad, Kyle Griffin, Tom Chase, Brian Tiefenbach, Kim Campbell, Alexis Pelky, Matt Madion, and Scott Hansen.
Prior to the competition, the students had to design and build an underwater robot capable of performing various tasks at the bottom of a swimming pool that simulated tasks done at the ocean floor. At the competition the students not only completed the required tasks but also had to present and defend their design and construction to a panel of university judges. In recognition of the International Polar Year, this year’s ROV competition challenged students to design and build ROVs for operation in polar environments. The Traverse City ROV teams were sponsored by the SCI-MA-TECH program and funded by a grant from the Convergence Education Foundation.
The students will continue to explore design enhancements during the summer to prepare for next year’s competition. The ROVs and students are also willing to work with community groups to assist in marine research projects.
For more information or to arrange a visit or demonstration of the ROVs, contact Traverse City Central High School teacher Keith Forton at 933-8536 or Traverse City East Junior High School teacher Than Dykstra at 933-7317.