Sunday, May 13, 2012

Robots do the backstroke........by Joyce Oroz



Speaking of ROV’s

An ROV is like a UWR (under water robot). These robots, invented and constructed by ultra-smart kids, like to go to competitions, root around under water doing low-pay high-skill jobs, showing off their colorful components. Such a competition took place yesterday at MPC in Monterey.

The team I rooted for ( 4H20 )consisted of my grandson, Avery and Teralyn, Josh, Michaela and Ryan—all members of 4H in the San Lorenzo Valley. These kids are focused! They spent months inventing, building and teaching their ROV to do tasks under water (no summersalts). This team named their robot “Zeus The Mighty Toaster” because it didn’t look like a bread box.

So on this sunny day teams of teenagers took turns dropping their robots into the swimming pool. They instructed their little mechanical friends using underwater cameras and lap top computers. No child got wet. But scuba-guys were stationed in the water to keep props and such in order.

Zeus The Mighty Toaster had to handle items at the bottom of the pool and determine whether they were metal or not. At least that is the rumor. Stay tuned for the facts.

The competition was not limited to teenagers. Groups of 8 to 12-year-olds entered their ROV’s in other categories. As the child gets older the tasks are more complicated.

Congratulations to Avery and all the teams who participated!







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