HK IEEE CT/OES Joint Chapter ROV
(Home of the Future Explorers)
Voyager
Wayfarer
Adventurer
Pathfinder
Classes :
ROV Challenge & Qualification
Registration opening soon
A message from the Chairman of the HK IEEE CT/OES
It takes a special type of person to take up the challenge of building an ROV that works. I get to see many machines that should work, could work, and do work. At the OES we want to see real-task working machines.
I see so many ROV that have just been designed for competitions. Whilst this seems good, it is far from ideal. Why not make the challenges real? We are changing this mindset by offering students IEEE YE conferences and real ROV challenges and missions in a simulated environment only. This will take the competition experience further. This is what our competitions and conferences are geared up to achieve. We offer international recognition for all successful competitors and special recognition for those who do successfully overcome the real challenges.
We also offer some teams further challenges that move ROV teams to post competition work and demonstrations in “real” water, sea, river or dams. This moves them past the simulated environment to the real one.
I wish all of the participants in the OES ROV workshops, competition and the conference the best. May all the teams continue to “blow the socks off “the senior engineers who attend our events. It’s so much fun when I watch that happen!
Yours in ROV,
Paul Hodgson – Chairman, CT/OES HK Chapter
What is an ROV ?
An ROV (or RUOV) is a remotely operated underwater teathered mobile device, commonly called an underwater robot. They are usually designed to be controlled at the surface and have special tools fitted to perform tasks that it would be dangerous or impossible for divers to carry out.
Aim & Objective of the ROV "Future Explorers"
The aim and objective of the CT/OES Future Explorers program is to promote ROV workshops and competitions to youngsters. For the primary and lower secondary schools we have a mini-ROV that teaches specific engineering tasks. For the middle and upper secondary school students ROV instruction is done via the "ROV in a Box". This allows more than just a rudimentary understanding of ROV since it moves away from a kit type ROV training and involves students being able to include design changes to a series of 4 given possible basic ROV designs.
We have been involved in training students since 2006 and have been responsible for 1000's of local students learning to build ROVs and then testing them against specific tasks to show competence. The results speak for them selves. Our trained local students have been winning awards and obtaining top positions in international competitions since we started in 2006.
All of our competitions and workshops meet specific goals and targets so they can be certified by the HK IEEE CT/OES making them useful for student further study application attachment.
Recent Competition Event - 29th Oct. 2022
The HK IEEE CTOES MATE Hong Kong Regional - Navigator, Scout, Adventurer and Sentinel.
This regional was held at the Queen's College Old Boy's Association Secondary School at Tsing Yi. A great day with a total of 21 teams competing in the 4 categories.
Winners:
MATE NAVIGATOR
1 - Fukien Secondary School (OVER-DEFINED)
2 - Canadian International School (CDNIS Team SMCK)
3 - Pui Kiu Middle School (陳日羲與他的伙伴)
MATE SCOUT
1 - Pui Kiu Middle School (PuiKiu1)
2* - Equal 2Canadian International School (CDNIS Team JAMD)
2* - Equal 2CUHKFFA Thomas Cheung Secondary School海底小縱隊 (The Octonauts)
HK ADVENTURER
1- Queen's College Old Boys' Association Secondary School (QCOBASS 2)
2 - CMA Secondary School (CMAss Robotics Team)
3 - SKH Li Fook Hing Secondary School (LHF Alpha)
HK SENTINEL
1 - Lovempathy Academy (HIS Team)
2 - No School (Gunners)
3 - No School (Halves)
Recent Competition Event - 21st May 2023
Rules of the Game
Winners:
JUNIOR TEAMS
Rimmon
1 - Team 6 (Chloe Lee, Krista Chan, Maegan Cheng, Sophie Tam)
2 - Team 9 (Andrew Yu, Katrina Lee, Cyrus Tang)
3 - Team 2 (Soraya Burmeder, Kimmy Xu)
Phenex
1 - Team 9 (Andrew Yu, Katrina Lee, Cyrus Tang)
2 - Team 2 (Soraya Burmeder, Kimmy Xu)
3 - Team 3 (Odin Hui, Caden Wong, Moses Chan, Shou Jeng Chan)
SENIOR TEAMS
Rimmon
1 - Team 1 (KWAN Shing Siu, LIN Andrew)
2 - Team 4 (POON Joshua, LAI Ho Him)
3 - Team 8 (WONG Ting Yat, CHEN Chun Yi)
Phenex
1 - Team 4 (POON Joshua, LAI Ho Him)
2 - Team 5 (LAM Ho Wing, KONG Tze Chung)
3 - Team 8 (WONG Ting Yat, CHEN Chun Yi)
SPECIAL AWARD
* - Team 7 (Ethan Kwan, AIden Choy)
Planned Activities
1/ Sponsored ROV workshops (Mini, Basic and Advanced). Learn from the experts
(Starting Jan 2023)
2/ Friendly ROV competition at the Canadian International School of Hong Kong
(January 2023)
3/ CT/OES Training workshop at the UT-23 in Tokyo, Japan
( March 2023)
4/ ROV Battle Bots - Phenex and Rimmon Classes - First for HK!
(May 2023)
5/ IEEE CT/OES China Classic Adventurer, Pathfinder classes, Dongguan, China
(June 2023)
6/ CTOES Regional Challenge and Qualification for Voyager, Wayfarer, Adventurer, Pathfinder classes.
(Oct 2023)
Further than just Education
The IEEE provides two main competition pathways forward for students to further their experience with technology and engineering. This also applies to those interested in ROV.
Competitions allow different ROV and their pilots to show their ability against other teams. The IEEE runs 4 competition classes;. Voyager, Wayfarer, Adventurer, Pathfinder.
Conferences allow students to highlight their talents and abilities in the Young Engineer Conference (YE). This is a proper IEEE conference with posters, 15m presentations, 5min Q&A and a published paper if the project is accepted for such. The paper is published on ResearchGate.
About the IEEE
The IEEE and its members inspire a global community to innovate for a better tomorrow through its more than 400,000 members in more than 160 countries, and its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities.
They are the trusted “voice” for engineering, computing, and technology information around the globe. This includes setting the standards for the way technology is taught in schools and universities. It is therefore fitting that they take the lead in showing the future of this type of education, particularly STEM education.
IEEE recognize the effort youngsters put into our workshops and other arranged activities with formal IEEE certification. Competition and conference platforms are also provided for students to further their work and recognition.
About the OES
The Oceanic Engineering Society (OES) was started in 1985 and worked its way around the globe from then on. It was formed from the growing awareness of the ocean’s circulation and the planet’s climate. Oceanic engineers brought forth their creativity to design data collecting buoys, profiling floats, remote-sensing satellites and real time transmitters to gather data for analysis. The software needed to understand the data was also developed and refined. In 1986, the Challenger Space shuttle disaster pushed the further development of the ROV. Recovery of parts from 365 meters allowed investigators to understand the series of mechanical failures that had caused the shuttle’s explosion. Many more complicated projects followed.
The Oceanic Engineering Society has been a leader, among IEEE societies, with involving students in technical conference activities since 1989. The society is dedicated to running activities that encourage youngsters to get interested in the oceans and the machines and equipment needed to explore and map them. They run the annual Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) competition in Singapore. Workshops and competitions like the Singapore AUV and the Hong Kong ROV allow students and young engineers to develop the skills needed to move this sort of underwater technology further.
The OES is the correct organization to take the lead in this. As part of the IEEE the certification and other recognition issued is recognized worldwide. For secondary and undergraduate students this is critical for their success at entrance to and reinforcement in further education.
2023
June
59
224
27
Year
ROV's Built
Student Builders
Competition Teams
About the Qualifications
ROV competitions are the place where people can test their skill of design and operation. This is usually done via a set of fixed tasks and missions. Scores are allocated for each part and the team with the highest score wins. The winning team usually is a very experienced team with an ROV that has been developed over several years of competition experience.
New teams may get some recognition in the first year of entry, but then these new teams form part of the large group underneath the more experienced groups struggling for some form of recognition. Some competitors are from education institutions with robotics departments. Many are not. Some teams have access to a large resource base, many do not. We believe that this discourages many teams.
We are very interested in the real practical tasks a ROV can perform and not so interested in the competition tasks it can handle. For this reason, our challenge and qualifications are as real as we can make them. A mission to collect a rock sample collects a real rock. The installation of a blast detector involves a real blast detector. Collect an artifact, involves a real artifact.
This year, 2023, we will be changing from holding a competition-based event to a qualification event. Teams will be recognized with certification when they demonstrate that they can successfully complete the allocated mission within the allocated time. There will also be post competition further recognition where teams will be able to show they can also perform certain tasks in the real marine environment.
We know this exposure will help teams gain further confidence and raise sponsorship and awareness of ROV and marine environmental matters. We also feel that it is no good writing about innovation in a competition report, great ideas need to be more widely disseminated. This should be done by published paper. Please see: www.ieeeye.com for more details on how we do this.
For more information about the "Make it Real" part of the work we do see: www.ieeeye.com For a short video of one of our projects see here
About the Workshops
We believe the ROV qualification starts at the workshop level. This is where the teams are built, the ideas flow, the innovation is learnt and encouraged.
The IEEE CTOES holds workshops for the Mini, Basic and Advanced level ROV training. Special workshops are also provided. Our workshops follow the CT/OES Standard. This is a level that others simply cannot and do not meet.
We offer a different experience for a different age and knowledge level. Advanced workshops provide the tolls and attached equipment that will adapt the basic machines to practical, competition demonstrations then on to real mission tasks. The workshop groups are listed below:
Mini-ROV (10~15yo) - This is a kit form ROV designed to teach basic assembly, soldering, buoyancy.
Basic ROV (11~17yo) - This is the “ROV in a Box” level that moves the instruction away from kits and into ROV that can be tailored to include student ideas and adding tools for specific purposes. Students can select from one of 4 basic designs and work from there.
Advanced (13~18yo) - This is a practical workshop teaching the basics of different control systems, PWM motor drives, underwater cameras, ROV sensors (position and environmental).
Special (13~18yo) - These workshops are for specific ROV designs like mud and water sampling units.
Train the Trainer (Educators) - These workshops are designed to make schools and other institutions self-sufficient with the training of students for ROV activities. There are three levels; Basic ROV Educator, ROV Competition Educator and ROV Project Educator. Courses cover many levels including local sourcing for the builds and how the "ROV in a Box" finds the innovators. Over the years we have run this program in several countries.
