I will start at the beginning. 6th grade. I have two older brothers: David and Erik. David is 5 years older than me and Erik is 3 years older than me. When I was in 6th grade, they began a summer volunteer program at the Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport, WA. This program was 3 days a week. One day building ROVs, one day curating an exhibit for the museum lobby, and one day of doing science experiments with, and painting the faces of children. I always thought what they did sounded really exciting and couldn't wait to do it when I was old enough.
The summer after my 8th grade year I joined the summer student guide program. I didn't really like curating an exhibit because that seemed too much like school, and after all, it was my summer vacation. The kids were always fun to play with...well maybe not "always", but that day of the week was certainly entertaining. Learning how to solder, using power tools to drill holes in boxes, and wear super cool safety goggles (while not throwing pvc piping across the room at other students ;) ) was the best part.
We built very simple ROVs from pvc piping, bilge pump motor cartridges with propellers attached, small surveillance cameras waterproofed with epoxy, and a few double-pull-double-throw switches for our controls. They were simple, but fun and easy to control in the water. At the end of the summer we took our ROVs to a swimming pool on the Navy base and tested them out. Our instructors threw some things on the bottom of the pool for us to have our ROVs pick up with the coat hangers attached to the front of their frames.
I spent 3 summers volunteering at the Naval Undersea Museum, and so did my brothers. Who would think that a small fraction of an 8 week middle school summer volunteer program would have a big impact on what you do in college? Now I'm sure you're wondering how that led me to an international ROV competition. I'm getting to it, so stay tuned.
Woah, waterproofing a camera sounds like a very stressful task haha! I worked as a lifeguard for a few summers, so I can definitely relate to dealing with crazy little kids :) Do you think any of them kept an interest in ROVs?
ReplyDeleteHi! Welcome to my blog :) Camera waterproofing is by far the hardest part of building an ROV. Even waterproof cameras have issues. All of the other teens lived near in the same town as the museum and I had an hour commute, so when I stopped doing the summer program I almost never saw them again. I haven't seen any of them at ROV competitions, but they may be involved in other science/technology programs (through school or work).
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