Arizona high schoolers to build underwater robot as part of ASU camp

It’s not rocket science, but building an underwater robot in a week is a big challenge that Arizona high schoolers will face next week during Arizona State University’s underwater robotics camp.

The program begins June 3 and teaches campers how to build a robot that works underwater, ending the week by competing in the National Underwater Robotics Challenge at ASU’s Polytechnic campus on June 7,

Daniel Frank runs the camp and explained the unique challenges that come with putting a robot under the water.

“Unlike your car, which has a GPS that makes it easy to locate where it is on the surface of the planet, GPS doesn’t really work underwater. So having the robot be able to identify where its location is a bit more challenging. So instead of using GPS, we rely on things like cameras,” he said.

Frank described how the robot must be waterproof with a leak ending in a potential catastrophe for the robotics team. He added the robot can go up and down as well as the four cardinal directions, an extra axis that a robotics team on the ground would not have to consider.

Arizona high schoolers face challenges beyond building robot

Frank said getting high schoolers from different schools in the state to work together is just as hard as building a robot.

“Last year, we had, I believe, 13 different students from 13 different schools. And that itself created a challenge because myself and the counselor that I worked with, we had to figure out not only how to help them build a robot, but also how to build a team,” he said.

Frank said the camp provides kids with the ability to try out new concepts and learn more about a future career path for some. The program includes basic robotic skills and more advanced challenges for students who have worked with robots before.

The team must work fast with the competition just four days after camp begins, with students from around the world coming to the Valley to compete.

Last year, the ASU underwater robotics camp team, dubbed the “Funky Sea Monkeys,” took home first place in the competition’s high school division.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

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