Hackley Aquabots Robotics Teams Competes at Villanova

This year, Hackley sent two teams to compete, under the guidance of their coach, MS science teacher Melissa Boviero. Team Whirlpool is comprised of ten fifth and sixth grade students, while team IRS: Mission Vortex is comprised of ten seventh and eighth grade students.

For the competition, each team must operate as a company that designs and builds a submersible remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that is used to complete underwater tasks. This year’s theme was “Port Cities of the Future” and the assigned tasks challenged our teams to build ROV’s that could be used by port cities to keep those cities safe, sustainable, and encourage them to be entertainment destinations.

As part of the competition, not only did each team build an ROV from scratch, including designing a frame, and wiring motors to switches on a remote control, but they also had to operate as a company in other ways. The students created a budget, a technical document that outlined their process from the start of the year to the last week of the competition, a schematic drawing of their circuits, a marketing display for their company, and they had to conduct a sales pitch to a panel of industry personnel.

Both teams did an excellent job representing Hackley, including winning second and third place in their division for their Technical Document. Also, for the third year in a row, Hackley won first place for their Spirit and Sportsmanship, showing that Hackley students embody our motto of “Enter here to be and find a friend.” Both teams left the competition bubbling with ideas for next year! Congratulations to all the students involved!