Whilst on placement at Peterhead Academy, Donna Gilmore, one of the technical teachers spoke to me about a project she wanted to involve the 5th and 6th years in as a 2/3 month extra curricular assignment.
The brief was simple, design and build a small ROV (remote operated vehicle) that can perform a variety of tasks underwater... as soon as the mention of building a 'robot' was spread, a good number of students were interested and the project began!
The project was run by BP and MATE Scotland and was open to any secondary school wishing to participate in the North East of Scotland. Essentially it was to inspire young people to look at potential careers in the oil and gas industry upon leaving school. The students who took part in our team were all very capable at different aspects of the project and thoroughly eager to see it through to the end... the prize was a trip to San Fransisco to compete against other schools there!
The design heads got together and came up with the styling and the more tech sided ones worked out how to operate and get it to complete desired tasks such as picking up some small rocks and also measuring the temperature of an underwater thermal.
The guys worked extremely hard with myself and Donna really offering inspiration, pushing them along the way (I also assembled the frame for them over the weekend!) and getting the equipment they needed. It was tested in the community swimming pool and our thanks goes out to all those outside the group who offered support and encouragement.
Unfortunately, due to one of the propulsion pumps failing on the day, they did not win but were awarded the second prize for their Engineering and Design of 'ROSE' as it came to be affectionately known due to the lovely paint job the guys chose!
The first image below shows the Operating Team on the day of the competition. Below that is the whole team who worked on the project.
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