PORT ANGELES — The Feiro Marine Life Center will begin offering a robotics class for middle and high school students beginning Wednesday.
Students interested in robotics, electrical or mechanical engineering, oceanography or related fields — or who just want to play with remotely operated submarine vehicles (ROVs) — are invited to join the new weekly after-school club, which aims to win a robotics competition in May.
Club enrollment is $5 for the year.
The club will meet each Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. at the Feiro classroom on City Pier near the corner of North Lincoln Street and East Railroad Ave.
Registration is open, and students can sign up at the Feiro center or online at www.feiromarinelifecenter.org/ROV.
The students will be separated into a middle school team and a high school team.
Each will design and build an underwater ROV, including building or updating the electrical control box, and build their own tether, said Rachele Brown, Feiro education coordinator.
“They will come up with unique designs,” Brown said.
Students will design, test and troubleshoot, she said.
Sea Perch competition
In May 2015, the teams will enter the Sea Perch Underwater Vehicle Competition in Kitsap County.
The Sea Perch Challenge program is sponsored by the Office of Naval Research and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.
The marine education center has hosted popular weeklong summer ROV camps for two years in conjunction with the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.
Feiro’s marine science programs serve 3,200 students a year in school-based programs and more than 20,000 general visitors to the exhibits.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
