Robby the Robot goes underwater

Robotics, especially underwater robotics is still a new profession. Used by oil and gas companies to repair underwater pipelines and drilling platforms, underwater robots have replaced human divers in dangerous depths that can crush a human diver.

The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum and Research Center sponsored a camp for teens that involved building an aquatic robot. About a dozen campers joined volunteers from local maritime industries and the Madisonville Explorer Post 750 to build actual aquatic robots in a weeklong experience.

“I thought they were going to build a toy robot, not an actual one,” said Dan Covey of Sea Innovations in Mandeville. “These are real, working robots with cameras and everything. The only thing missing is arms,” he said.

Covey said the robots are very high tech and are driven with joysticks, similar to video games.

For the past 20 years or so, parents have worried about their children spending too much time playing video games. No problem. In fact, the hand-eye coordination required for the specialized field can be achieved quite well in playing video games, said Don Lynch, one of the volunteers.

Kristen Garcia, education coordinator at the museum, said that she got the idea last year and members of the Explorer post built the robots. This year, they returned to help with the camp.

The robots will have a black-and-white camera that can be hooked up to video or a portable DVD player. A motor that the campers build themselves will power the robots. At the end of the week, each camper will have had his or her own working aquatic robot.

Field trips demonstrated the uses of the robots to campers and counselors alike. “The robot was the size of an SUV,” said Glenda Ernest, one of the counselors. They said it was really neat for the campers when one of the robots waved to them.

Everyone involved said the camp has been a learning experience.

“I’m really surprised at how into this the campers are,” said Ernest. “I thought they would be attending just to have something to do, but they really know what they are doing.”

Robert Crawford, camp counselor and lieutenant of the Explorer Post, said he has already been offered an internship and the robotics field is quite promising and lucrative. He is a student at Covington High but is interested in the robotics field, possibly as his profession. He hopes to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has already programmed three video games of his own.

Garcia has been pleased with the response this summer and said she hopes to continue with innovative and interesting programming at the museum. For more information about museum programs, call 985-845-9200.