Some of the world’s largest trash deposits, composed of metal, glass, paper, cloth, rubber, wood, and lost, and abandoned or discarded fishing nets, exist in our oceans and waterways.  However, plastics such as water and soda bottles and jugs, plastic bags, bottle caps, and foam food containers account for most of this garbage. The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program  estimates that it would take 67 ships one year to clean up less than one percent of the North Pacific Ocean. This global issue not only has economic and ecologic impacts, but it is also preventable.

Project Goal: Research sources and types of floating trash in a local waterway. Develop and test a prototype of a device or other remotely controllable addition that will allow your SeaPerch to pick up the garbage. Your device should account for and overcome extreme marine conditions while not posing risk to ocean life and protected species and not being a hazard to navigation. 

Floating garbage isn’t the only problem. The floor of the oceans and local waterways may also include underwater trash piles. Oceanographers and ecologists recently discovered that about 70 percent of marine debris actually sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Learn more at: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/. 

Project Goal: Research sources and types of sunken marine debris in your local area as well as methods that can be used to detect and remove it. Build and test a prototype of a device or other remotely controllable addition for your ROV that is capable of identifying and/or retrieving sunken garbage. Be sure that your device accounts for and overcomes your local marine conditions while not posing risk to marine life or protected species and that it isn’t a hazard to navigation.

There’s an app for that! Make a difference using your SeaPerch ROV, as well as any needed modifications, by utilizing a litter tracking app. There are numerous apps that can be used for this purpose, enabling community members to log the location, type, and quantity of marine debris.  The information gathered is useful in generating scientific findings and informing policy to combat the problem. For this project, share where you find marine debris as well as what type of trash you find. 

Project Goal: Identify and utilize an app to document where you find marine debris, document the type of trash you find, and/or share water quality data you gather in your local area. Analyze data gathered by others in your area and look for trends. Develop a plan for how your findings can be used to increase awareness or to identify solvable solutions to the problem and tell us all about it.

Where does it come from? Since the issue of marine debris is totally preventable, research how garbage is ending up in your local waterways to begin with. Whether it’s through changing your personal consumption of single-use plastics, increasing community awareness, developing a media campaign, or participating in a clean-up of a local waterway, there’s so many ways to alleviate the problem.

Project Goal: Research and develop a plan for how you can make a difference to stop the problem of marine debris before it begins and keep our oceans and waterways healthy.

Some of the world’s largest trash deposits exist in our oceans and waterways. This waste can find its way into underwater caves and be difficult to remove. For this project, imagine that you are exploring a cave deep underwater and discover trash that cannot simply be lifted with a stock SeaPerch. 

Project Goal: Develop a robotic gripper or other remotely controllable addition that will allow your SeaPerch to pick up underwater trash.

Data collected from the water around us can provide us with an important understanding of current environmental factors and also provide insight for changes in the environment. For this project, imagine that you are trying to collect data related to an underwater cave environment that is inaccessible by a human diver. For the purposes of this project, the specific data you are interested in collecting is up to you.

Project Goal: Develop a water collection device (for future analysis) or sensor pack (for real-time data collection) that can be added to your SeaPerch.

On the edges of bodies of water, there are coastal environments that can be difficult to navigate or explore by water or land. In cave environments, like the one described for the 2019 SeaPerch Mission Challenge, there are portions of the cave that vary in water depth and that turn to dry ground. For this project, imagine that you are trying to navigate this environment and want to explore an area of the cave that varies in depth from a few feet to only a few inches of water. 

Project Goal: Develop a modification that will allow your SeaPerch to navigate shallow water and exit, or partially exit the water.

How can underwater robots help ocean explorers gather data under a variety of ocean conditions? How do ocean explorers determine which piece of technology is best suited for their mission?

Project goal: Students will become familiar with a variety of Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) that are used by ocean explorers. They will be able to analyze a variety of mission scenarios that underwater robot exploration devices might encounter. Students can distinguish shape and structural features among at least three types of underwater vehicles that make each suitable for specific ocean exploration tasks, as well as discuss, analyze and decide which vehicle is best suited for which situation.

Find out more at: Which Robot When? (noaa.gov)