Dipping into underwater robotics

St Andrew's Secondary School student Ashwin Lokesh loses his footing as he tried to use a book to fan his team's robot during the Underwater Robotic Olympiad at Marina Barrage yesterday. The electrical component failed to work and the team was eventually disqualified. Remote-controlled water quality-monitoring smart robots were the highlight of the 10th edition of the annual event organised by Republic Polytechnic. These robots sense critical indices such as temperature, amount of total dissolved solids and pH values of the water, and transmit the data wirelessly to a monitor for remote viewing. This year, more than 220 students got up close with underwater robotics by learning to build and use the robots, and then competing against one another. The winning team won trophies and a $200 shopping voucher.