Feb 25 2011
InvenTeam, robotics team of Kell High School, is working on developing a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) for cleaning up oil spills.
Carlie Schulter, Program Manager of InvenTeam, has mentioned that their team had previously developed a ROV to remove garbage from water. He mentioned that when they were researching on improving the vehicle, the huge oil spillage happened in the Gulf of Mexico. He added that this incident made them to work on improving the device to remove oil.
Meanwhile, Lemelson-MIT Program offered a sponsorship worth $10,000 to Kell High School’s robotics team to form InvenTeam.
Alex Epstein, Lead Engineer of InvenTeam, has stated that he was developing computer programs to build various parts of the ROV. He mentioned that Gates Corporation offered them fabric samples for testing the conveyor belt.
Schulter mentioned that the apex portion of the ROV will include a camera, GPS unit and electrical systems to drive the robot. The solar panels will help the ROV to recharge its batteries. He added that the ROV will be fixed to a couple of treads and will navigate through water.
The four-feet-tall ROV will be analyzed at Atlanta's Piedmont Park on April 22. The width of the robot is 4 feet and its length measures 9 feet. The InvenTeam was selected as one among the 14 teams across the nation for participating in the mission. The team will showcase the ROV at Eureka Fest, which is scheduled to be held this summer at MIT’s Cambridge.
Source: http://www.cobbk12.org/kell