Schools

NOMS Students Work on Underwater Robots

Students at Nicholas Orem Middle School are preparing for a national competition to design and pilot an underwater salvage robot.

Normally, electronics and water don't mix. 

But some students at Nicholas Orem Middle School aren't concerned. They'll be designing an underwater robot as part of the SeaPerch competition

The goal is to design and build a SeaPearch robot that can maneuver underwater to salvage cargo from the bottom of a pool.

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A group of 16 students at the school have already begun building their submersible salvage bot. The students meet after class each Thursday, and with the help of science teachers Charlotte Rajasign and Thomas Jensen.

The bathy-bot must be able to use a bucket to contain a simulated underwater oil leak, a task similar to the one encountered by engineers and scientists in 2010 during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Once the underwater robot is designed, the students will participate in a national competition on April 11-13 in Virginia. They will be facing off against 80 other area schools. 

Members of the community are invited to view the students' progress at their meeting on Thursday, Feb. 15 from 4:30-6 p.m.


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