On Saturday, May 15, three teams of SHS EGR III/IV students competed in the Eastern VA Sea, Air and Land Challenge. The Sea Air and Land Challenge is an Office of Naval Research sponsored program, in which teams of high school aged students learn about the engineering process through the design and build of a robotic system. The systems are then used to compete in challenges relevant to the Department of Defense which mimic missions encountered by the military, national security agencies and first responders.
The Sea Air and Land Challenge provides the opportunity for high school students to tackle a difficult engineering task while working with educators and engineering mentors. The teams have twelve to sixteen weeks (one semester) to design and build unmanned vehicles and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) payloads to compete in the Challenge of their choice – teams may build submersibles for the Sea Challenge, drones for the Air Challenge or rovers for the Land Challenge. The challenges are designed by engineers at the Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory and by some of the country’s finest Navy SEALs and Green Berets.
The following Engineering III and IV students won "Best Execution of the Challenge" for their category in the Southeast Regional competition:
Sea Challenge: This team built a submersible robot that had to pick up and place various payloads in the correct spot in the pool-their only visual was the camera they installed onboard the submersible. Team Sea Challenge: Hannah Brisson, Benjamin Ray, Katie Dodson, Kevin Parker
Air (Drone) Challenge: This team had to outfit a drone with a camera, electromagnet and computer that read QR codes and controlled the electromagnet. Their goal was to pick up a metal marker and drop it at a specific site by reading the QR code. Team Air Challenge: Aiden Hall, Ayden Hall, Jamari Sawyer-Myrick
Land Challenge: This team had to built a "land" robot that was able to move obstacles out of the way, pick up various weighted payloads and deliver them to their correct place in the ring-their only visual was the camera they installed on their robot. Team Land Challenge: Ryan Smith and Aubrey Wilson