ASNE Delaware Valley Chapter Teaches Students Naval Engineering through the Sea Perch Underwater Robotics Program

Sea Perch is an underwater robotics program sponsored by the Office of Naval Research as part of the National Naval Responsibility for Naval Engineering aimed at recruiting the next generation of naval architects and marine engineers. ASNE Delaware Valley (DV) and Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia, embraced the outreach opportunity as an educational, challenging, and fun way to get kids excited about naval engineering. ASNE-DV has received an overwhelmingly positive feedback from both teachers and students. Teachers have said their students are excited to learn about remotely operated vehicles and cannot wait to work on their Sea Perch robots. During the past 3 years, ASNE-DV has teamed with Drexel University and the school district of Philadelphia to successfully implement a sustainable, local Sea Perch competition program for middle and high school students. ASNE-DV is encouraging expansion of the program to additional areas. This article discusses how the DV Sea Perch program evolved from two schools building the robots in the winter of 2005, to over 40 teams from a diverse range of schools participating in a Sea Perch competition in the spring of 2007.