(Newswire.net via emailwire.com — July 8, 2013) Singapore, Singapore — Competing against schools from around the globe at the MATE (Marine Advanced Technology Education) competition in Tacoma, Washington, the Singapore American School Robotics team placed 22nd out of 620 schools. Singapore American School’s team, Recount Incorporated, was the best performing team in the Hong Kong regional, achieving more points in the pool than any other team present, enabling them to compete in the international finals. Bharath Srivatsan, a Singapore American School student and Recount Inc. team member, shared, “We learned a lot over the competition. During our second mission, our temperature sensor stopped working and our monitor turned off, making it much more difficult to complete the mission, but within those short minutes we were able to both troubleshoot the sensor and navigate through the field effectively.” Teams in the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) competition build remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) that perform complicated tasks underwater while being controlled entirely remotely from a control station on deck. At this year’s competition, teams had to maintain an ocean observing system, including fashioning and installing a temperature sensor that can monitor the warmth of a jet of water from an underwater vent, replacing a mock Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) after safely cutting power and opening a complex hatch, removing bio-fouling from stations underwater, and positioning other monitoring devices underwater. The Singapore American School team’s ROV, named The Orchid II, performed those tasks with minimal disturbance of the environment. Built and refined in less than six months, Singapore American School’s Recount Incorporated team of 15 students and two faculty advisors, are elated at their achievements at the international competition as only a second-year robotics team. In addition to competing at the MATE finals this year, they also placed 7th in the qualification rounds and won a judge’s award at the FIRST Tech Challenge regional for Singapore, and participated in the FIRST Robotics Competition this past year. Singapore American School (SAS) is an independent, non-profit, coeducational, college preparatory day school offering an American curriculum from preschool through grade 12. Established in 1956, the school primarily serves the American and international expatriate communities of Singapore. SAS is registered with the Singapore Council for Private Education, affiliated with the Office of Overseas Schools through the U.S. Department of State, and is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). For more information about the SAS Robotics team, contact Bharath Srivatsan at 9247-7692, or email him at bharathsrivatsan@gmail.com. For more information about the MATE – Marine Advanced Technology Education – competition, please visit their website at www.marinetech.org/rov-education. For more information about Singapore American School, contact Vanessa Spier at vspier@sas.edu.sg or visit www.sas.edu.sg.
Singapore American School Robotics Team Places in Top 25 in M.A.T.E. Competition
