ROV team is state finalist

ALPENA -- The Alpena High School Remotely Operated Vehicle team, UR2, has been selected as a State Finalist in the 14th annual Samsung Solve for Tomorrow STEM competition on Tuesday.

UR2 was one of the only six Michigan teams selected out of the 300 finalists taken from schools all around the country. UR2 will now be competing with the other schools to be named one of the 50 State Winners.

According to a press release put out by AHS, as a State Finalist, UR2 was awarded $2,500 worth of Samsung technology. That same release says that UR2 now has an opportunity to win $12,000 worth of Samsung technology if they are the state's winner.

Samsung Solve for Tomorrow is a nationwide competition that has students in grades 6-12 compete against each other by developing creative solutions for critical community issues in an effort to show the real-world applications of STEM.

For the competition, UR2 will be working on a remotely operated vehicle that is capable of collecting substrate samples from the bottom of Lake Huron, according to their coach Robert Thomson, a teacher at Thunder Bay Junior High.

"We decided to try to provide a tool that could be used universally with underwater robots like ROVs," said Thomson. "It could take substrates samples, and then be able to process them and examine the layers of the silt and things of that nature."

Thomson claims that the idea for this project originated from a conversation that he had with scientists working with Viking Cruise Line, who the team is now collaborating with for the competition, at the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary while the team was working on another project.

"We were working on presenting for another project at the marine sanctuary, and scientists with Viking Cruise Line were there reviewing some of their research data," said Thomson. "We ended striking up a conversation focusing on studying microplastic microfibers, and also sampling substrate at the bottom of the lake. They were talking about how they haven't really been able to do really good soil sampling or substrate sampling of the bottom of the lake."

UR2 has until Jan. 11, 2024, to complete and submit an idea for competition.