2021 Season

The 2021 Season is on! Don't let distance learning and social distancing get you down, your SeaPerch community and competition will meet you where you are. As we've been promising, there will be a variety of virtual opportunities to participate this year.

This season will emphasize a variety of engagement opportunities for you and your team to explore with your SeaPerch. Continuing with our Waterway Cleanup theme, this year's focus is on solutions to real-world problems. Pick up your parts and get started planning, designing, and building today!

Season Components

2021 Theme: Waterway Cleanup

The 2021 season will extend from the 2020 season that was cut short and focus on Waterway Cleanup. 

The world’s waters support an abundance or the earth’s life and serve as a vital resource for all of us. The health and safety of these waterways is threatened by waste ranging from floating “garbage patches” to dangerous submerged explosives. The 2021 SeaPerch Challenge mission and citizen science challenges are inspired by real-life circumstances where ROVs can assist us in cleanup efforts.

The 2021 season will be unlike any we’ve had before. For the first time, there will be opportunities for virtual participation and engagement with other teams. Stay tuned for details on the 2021 International Challenge event but get started building, documenting, and practicing for regional qualification events.

2021 International Challenge event and registration information will be announced in early 2021.

2021 Pool Courses

Obstacle Course

The Obstacle Course tests high-speed maneuverability and requires your SeaPerch to navigate the course as quickly as possible. The SeaPerch operator must develop the skill to turn and adjust the vertical position (dive or ascend) while driving in full or near full speed and must also be able to quickly reverse the SeaPerch to make corrections if it is off course. Please note: there is no guarantee of the position of the obstacle course hoops at competitions, so operators should not try to memorize actions such as in playing a video game but should instead practice a variety of general high-speed maneuvers.
 
Check the Obstacle Course resources available below, including rules, scoresheets and course build guides.

Mission Course

The Mission Course incorporates a mission that teams must complete with their SeaPerch related to a particular real-world application. Mission courses test various skills including ability to lift, move, maneuver, and develop innovative solutions to a technical challenge. In Mission: Waterway Cleanup, teams assist with cleanup efforts in a particularly polluted waterway. Teams must disarm and secure underwater mines, remove trash floating on the water’s surface, and dispose of submerged waste in an underwater vault. Keep reading below on the specific task challenges included.

Check the Mission Course resources available below, including rules, scoresheets and course build guides.

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2021 Mission Course Tasks

Task 1 – The Active Mine: A simulated active mine is submerged in the water and must be disarmed. The mine can be disarmed by rotating the arming device affixed to the mine. Additional points can be obtained by removing the arming device and disposing of it on a platform in the vault. (Please note, while we hope that this year’s challenge will be “explosive,” there will be no actual explosive materials used in the challenge.)

Task 2 – The Disposal Vault: A disposal vault will be used to dispose of sunken trash, unexploded mines, and the active mine arming device. Specific tasks will include:

  1. Opening the Vault: The vault will be closed at the start of the challenge must be opened by rotating a latch.
  2. Closing the Vault: The disposal vault can be closed by hooking an unexploded mine onto the vault gate’s closing arm. Additional points can be obtained by latching the gate after it is closed.

Task 3 – The “Garbage Patch”: A debris field containing multiple pieces of floating trash will be confined by a floating containment ring. The trash must be removed from this ring and transported to the pool deck.

Task 4 – Sunken Waste: A platform will contain sunken trash and unexploded mines simulated by weighted balls with rope loops. Waste must be removed from the platform and transported to the disposal vault. Waste can be deposited on the disposal platform (without entering the vault) or released into the disposal vault for additional points.

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Technical Design Report

Documenting and clearly communicating the engineering process utilized in an engineering project is very important. This information provides insight into the iterative design process and data collected for analysis purposes that supports the final design.

Engineering notebooks are used by engineers to document ideas and the steps taken to solve engineering problems during design projects. It is strongly recommended that teams maintain an engineering notebook to document the engineering process used to design and modify their SeaPerch ROV to meet the pool challenges. SeaPerch teams may be asked to submit their engineering process documentation in the form of a notebook, video, or report as a scored component of competitions.

Check the Technical Design Report resources available below, including specific instructions for the content and format of the Technical Design report.

2021 Resources

2021 Season - SeaPerch

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