What is a Seaperch and why did we make one?
A Seaperch is an underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). It comes as a kit with low cost and easy available parts. The construction of the SeaPerch ROV itself requires teamwork, problem solving and technical skills. There are youtube videos showing each step of the construction. The Seaperch educational program was started in 2003 by an American university to teach students about basic engineering, robotics, science and some mathematics. The Seaperch program is popular in the USA but not well known elsewhere.
A Seaperch is an underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). It comes as a kit with low cost and easy available parts. The construction of the SeaPerch ROV itself requires teamwork, problem solving and technical skills. There are youtube videos showing each step of the construction. The Seaperch educational program was started in 2003 by an American university to teach students about basic engineering, robotics, science and some mathematics. The Seaperch program is popular in the USA but not well known elsewhere.
My father works at the Norwegian Hydrographic Service and they are interested in bringing this program to Norway. So they asked us to test it. Therefore Anna, Wytske and I agreed to build a Seaperch and show it in Forskningsdagene to learn and encourage the young minds to start with engineering and ocean exploration.
Constructing the Seaperch
We built the Seaperch in 3 weekends. The first weekend we made the frame, the second weekend we made the 3 engines and the last weekend we did the electronics.In all we used about 10 hours to built it.
The teamwork saved us time by dividing our jobs, and by splitting jobs where one had more skills than the other. For example Wytske had worked with soldering before, and I knew a little bit about engineering because I helped building a hovercraft in MYP 1. Also we could check on each others work.
Testing
The challenge with testing was to get the Seaperch to balance. In order for the Seaperch to work, it needed to float just a little bit, which was quite tricky because the Seaperch has two floats on top and one weight in the middle. We started with good floatation and added more weight until it was almost under water. When we tested the Seaperch in Bjåvatnet, it worked very well. We had wetsuits in case the Seaperch got stuck, but the Seaperch did just fine. We attached a camera and made some videos which we put on youtube.
The challenge with testing was to get the Seaperch to balance. In order for the Seaperch to work, it needed to float just a little bit, which was quite tricky because the Seaperch has two floats on top and one weight in the middle. We started with good floatation and added more weight until it was almost under water. When we tested the Seaperch in Bjåvatnet, it worked very well. We had wetsuits in case the Seaperch got stuck, but the Seaperch did just fine. We attached a camera and made some videos which we put on youtube.What did we learn?
While making the Seaperch, I learned a lot in engineering and how it works. Making the Seaperch was fun, challenging and inspirational for our team. We also developed new skills, and learned a lot about engineering design, technology and sea exploration. This activity has meant a lot to me, because I never knew that something so complex could be so relatively easy.
We made a video evaluation for the Norwegian Hydrographic Service, which you can see below.
What next?
I would be interested on working more with the Seaperch in the future. There are already some plans about a Seaperch challenge, where schools have to make their own Seaperch and have competitions. If BISS is willing to cooperate, I would be happy to contribute teaching the children the skills that I have learned.
(Forskningsdagene)
We had an inflatable swimming pool but there was no water at the town square of Stavanger. So we asked the fire department if they could help with water. Unfortunately there was a fire and we had to wait until they were ready. Also they had little water left after the fire so we just had enough for the Seaperch to work but not enough to go under water.
