District teams hope to make waves in underwater robot competition (video)

Underwater robot competition.

Those three words pretty much sum up the Dallas SeaPerch Regional Competition happening this Saturday at Loos Natatorium, 3815 Spring Valley Road. The regional competition will feature 67 teams—19 of which come from Dallas ISD—competing for a chance to move on to the SeaPerch National Challenge happening in May in Baton Rouge. The teams, which each built their robots, are grouped into middle school and high school divisions.

The regional challenge will consist of two portions: in the obstacle challenge, the teams will navigate their robots through hoops at various underwater depths. The teams will be aiming to get the fastest time.

In the finesse challenge, the teams will try to get their robots to move rings and pegs from one underwater location to another.

The U.S. Navy provided the robotics kits and mentoring for the Dallas ISD teams. Jeff Marx, education technology coordinator for Dallas ISD, said SeaPerch offers many benefits to students.

“This allows students to apply their Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) skills in a real world, fun and competitive way,” he said. “It teaches the students about team work and engineering design.”

The top three middle school and top three high school teams will advance to the national competition.

Saturday’s competition is 8 a.m.–4 p.m.