Welcome to the R.O.V. Challenge !

rov1

A challenge for the kids to build and drive an Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (R.O.V.) and take some cool underwater videos.

So what exactly is an ROV?

R.O.V. stands for "Remotely Operated Vehicle". They allow us to explore the seabed, visit deep shipwrecks, look for treasure and give us video footage of parts of the ocean that are far too deep for a human to visit.

ROVs come is many shapes and sizes depending where they are to be used, some of which are shown on this page. They do have some things in common:

They are controlled remotely via a cable.
They usually have a camera (and sometimes lights) to search the seabed.
They usually record where they have been with a camera or video camera.

Making something that works underwater is not easy and ROVs are built by organizations that have lots of specialist equipment. So does that mean its 'all just too difficult to make one'. NO! - not for budding scientists and engineers. This challenge is all about trying to build one from equipment you can get at any DIY/Hardware store and with some perseverance and dedication, you can make one and get some great underwater pictures. And if you can build an ROV and get it working, you know you will be able to build anything once you put your mind to it.

What you build may not look exactly like some of the commercial ROVs but to get it working, you need to understand and overcome all of the same challenges, just on a slightly smaller scale.

This challenge is based on the SeaPerch which is built as a project at some high schools in the United States. They are usually older than most of you who are building this, and they use kits to build it. However, half of the engineering challenge it to get all the parts you need, find alternatives, think about the problem and work it out. So if it all looks too hard and you would rather sit in front of the television or go play Sims, feel free to leave this page.

You still here ? Hmmm, not a quitter I see, you will make a fine Engineer or Scientist! OK, this is picture of the type of thing you will be building. You should all have a detailed instruction manual by now and we have a website so you can all help each other, ask questions, writeup progress etc.

This is what you will build. It has buoyancy devices, propulsion motors and a controller box that you steer it with from the surface. Signals go through a cable to the ROV to control the motors - just like a commercial R.O.V. You can see a waterproof camera housing mounted on the front too.

So have a read of the instruction manual, see which parts you need, get your parents to buy them and start building it! Don't worry about making mistakes, that is how to learn, if you don't make any mistakes, you are not trying hard enough!

Give your team a cool name, give your ROV a name as well. Have some fun on the way.

A note to parents. Every child taking part in the project will have their own login to the website so they can post pictures, questions etc. This part of the site is only viewable by people who have logins, ie those in the teams, it is not a 'public' internet site. I will setup individual logins for each team member. Obviously, they need to look after their passwords. I can list the team names here, or on a page once inside the restricted area of the website if you prefer.

You can ask questions and show your progress (in words or pictures) >> HERE <<

Good luck and have fun !

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