Category: Education

Interesting marine and robotic educational facts

Posted on

Rock pool creatures

For those who like playing “Where’s Wally”, can you spot any of the following:

Seastars (likely Meridiastra calcareous)
Elephant snail (Scutus antipodes)
Purple urchin (Heliocidaris erythrogramma)
Barnacles (Cirripedia species)
Limpets
Seaweed and crayweed
Mulberry whelk (Morula marginalba) and other sea snails

Rock Pool, Mona Vale NSW

Posted on

SeaPerch Marine Robotics Challenge 2018

Students around the world are busy preparing for the 2018 International SeaPerch Challenge in N. Dartmouth Massachusetts in early June.  Teams start with the stock SeaPerch kit to create an underwater remotely operated vehicle.  Members then have to learn how to make their ROV more simple, streamlined and maneuverable by improving their understanding of drag, buoyancy and thrust.  Regional competitions are usually held in Feb-Apr (click here for the full schedule) and winners continue to work hard to make their vehicles even faster by June so their ROV can complete underwater tasks faster than their competitors’.

For more details, go to the 2018 SeaPerch Challenge page

Posted on

Bait Ball video at MTANSW Conference

[cs_content][cs_section parallax=”false” style=”margin: 0px;padding: 45px 0px;”][cs_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 0px;”][cs_text]We presented this video to members of the Marine Teachers Association of NSW at their annual conference in Narooma last Friday. We are pretty sure they are juvenile convict goby (Pholidichthys leucotaenia).

Teachers said a bait ball configuration is an excellent defence mechanism for small fish. It allows them to look like a much larger creature or object, and makes it harder for predators to target individuals to eat.[/cs_text][x_video_embed no_container=”false” type=”16:9″]

Bait Ball Ballet from underseaROV on Vimeo.

[/x_video_embed][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content]