SCIENCE Scientists have built a rover that looks like a fluffy penguin chick, allowing it to sneak around Antarctic colonies and get close to individual birds without ruffling too many feathers along the way. (Los Angeles Times) Watch Nat Geo photographer Paul Nicklen play the part of robo-penguin to get amazing footage of these “Emperors of the Ice.” Teachers, scroll all the way down for … Continue reading Cute Rover, Cute Rover, Send Robo-Penguin Right Over
Doug Levin is the Associate Director for the Center for
Environment and Society at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland,
and is an expert in underwater exploration technology, as well as
designing fun programs that teach complex engineering concepts.
I briefly mentioned Aquabotz in my introductory post. The Aquabotz STEM (Science, Technology, Math and Engineering) program allows groups of students to work poolside to design, build, and launch a working underwater robot in a little more than an hour. I’ve done this with classes down to the 7th grade, and have never had a student group fail in this project in the 10 years I’ve been offering it. So, how did I come up with this idea to have students build their own robots?
I’d been working in the ocean exploration field since the 80s and became enamored with the use of Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to explore underwater. By definition, an ROV is connected to the surface by a cable that we call a “tether.” The early ROVs were prohibitively expensive for individuals, but I looked at them and thought, “How hard would it be to make one myself?” So, armed with knowledge of electricity garnered from my life-long hobby of model train building, and with bathtub silicone sealant, PVC pipes, and cable ties, I set out to build a working underwater robot for $150.
Doug Levin is the Associate Director for the Center for
Environment and Society at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland,
and is an expert in underwater exploration technology, as well as
designing fun programs that teach complex engineering concepts.
Answer to last post’s thought question: How are submarines similar to drogues?
A surfaced submarine is positively buoyant. A diving submarine is negatively buoyant. A submarine staying still in the water column is neutrally buoyant.
Below: Doug works on “Echo,” helping to get it back in the water after the tether was cut by the boat propeller. The yellow parts of this device were made of dense, buoyant foam.
Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) are devices used to explore the ocean. You might have seen them on TV a couple summers ago during the BP oil spill disaster taking video of the oil coming out of the broken pipe a mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico. ROVs can cost several million dollars. On occasion, they get tangled in things that lie on the bottom of the ocean, lose power, or suffer cut cables. Losing ROVs in any of these ways is not a pleasant experience.
While I was working in the Black Sea, the tow cable that connected us to our ROV was severed by our ship’s propeller. There were a lot of nervous nellies on board that began scanning the water surface for our bright yellow device named “Echo.” I went to the galley, got a cup of coffee, and went up to the boat bridge. This was the highest vantage point to keep an eye on the water surface. About twenty minutes later, “Echo” was spotted at the sea surface. We retrieved her, spliced the tether back together, and re-launched her, continuing our operation.
Thought question: How would you design an ROV that had a good chance of being found if it failed completely?
