On the 18th of May, between 9:00 am and 12:30 pm, the Oceanic Observatory of Madeira / ARDITI – Regional Agency for the Development of Research, Technology and Innovation, will hold a regional school meeting of the “ROV4ALL – Construction of submarine robots in school context project,” at the Funchal Olympic Swimming Pool Complex, in Penteada.
In the last two academic years, students from the 9th to 12th grade, from approximately 50 schools in the Azores, Algarve, Madeira and Lisbon (areas covered by the project) have built small underwater robots from a specialised kit developed for this purpose, and who are now going to present, test, and share their project experiences.
In Madeira, the schools that implemented ROV4ALL were Colégio Santa Teresinha, Escola Básica e Secundária Professor Dr. Francisco de Freitas Branco, the Basic and Secondary School D. Lucinda Andrade, the Basic and Secondary School of Santa Cruz, the Basic School of the 2nd and 3rd Cycles of Torre, the Professional School Dr. Francisco Fernandes, the Secondary School of Francisco Franco, the Professional Institute of Transport and Logistics of Madeira and the Salesians of Funchal.
ROV4ALL is an ocean literacy project which aims to motivate and arouse students’ interest in marine science and technologies through the construction of small ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles for sea and underwater structures), that are used for scientific research as well as in military, security and oil exploration operations.
This project is financed by the Blue Fund of the Directorate-General for Maritime Policy, is promoted by ARDITI and its partners are the Instituto do Mar e da Atmosfera, the Observatório do Mar dos Açores, the Centro Ciência Viva Tavira, the Instituto para a Qualificação IP-RAM, the Instituto Superior Técnico’s Systems and Robotics Institute and the Instituto do Mar. It also has the collaboration of the Secondary School of Francisco Franco.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
