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Meet Brother Rice High School's Underwater Robot, Edmund MK 2.5

By Howard Ludwig | March 18, 2016 5:53am
Brother Rice Robotics Club
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Brother Rice Robotics Club

MOUNT GREENWOOD — At first glance, the color scheme of an underwater robot created by students at Brother Rice High School looks to be inspired by Tony Stark's Iron Man.

In fact, the Edmund MK 2.5 is painted in the Mount Greenwood school's colors — maroon and orange, not the superhero's signature crimson and gold palette.

The robot is named for Brother Edmund Rice, the founder of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, which also started the school on the Far Southwest Side. Structural components feature stickers with the "BR" logo as well as the Crusader mascot.

Twenty students in Br. Rice's robotics club built the remotely operated vehicle (or ROV), and their cube-sized creation will compete against 11 similar robots April 30 in a tournament coordinated by Shedd Aquarium.

 Patrick Nielsen (left), 16, and Jack McBrearty, 15, control an underwater robot they also helped build at Brother Rice High School. Nielsen controls the machine's movement, while McBrearty operates the front claw.
Patrick Nielsen (left), 16, and Jack McBrearty, 15, control an underwater robot they also helped build at Brother Rice High School. Nielsen controls the machine's movement, while McBrearty operates the front claw.
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DNAinfo/Howard A. Ludwig

"Our goal is to get to the Johnson Space Center this year," said Daniel Mostyn, a second-year teacher of chemistry and integrated science at the all-boys school at 10001 S. Pulaski Road.

Indeed, the top two teams in the Midwest Regional Marine Advanced Technology Education ROV Competition will advance to the international competition, which takes place June 23-25 in the Houston-based space center's neutral buoyancy lab.

To advance to the next round, the Br. Rice robot will have to complete a variety of tasks in the deep end of the pool at Northeastern Illinois University in North Park. Junior Patrick Nielsen, 16, and sophomore Jack McBrearty, 15, will man the controls.

The pair from suburban Evergreen Park will have 15 minutes to earn points by picking up certain objects and placing them into a net, testing the temperature of a stream of water shot from a hose and more.

All of these tasks must be completed without looking in the pool. Thus, the operators are restricted to using an underwater camera on the robot. Nielsen operates the robot's movement, while McBrearty controls the claw.

"All of these tasks are supposed to mirror real life ROV tasks," said Mostyn, who said the robot is meant to mimic a similar device intended to be sent to a moon of Jupiter to explore what is believed to be a hidden sea buried beneath a layer of ice.

But the competition goes well beyond simply operating the robot. Students also must explain how the Edmund MK 2.5 was built and why certain design decisions were made. There's even a team member assigned to social media, keeping followers updated on the group's progress.

Mostyn, a West Beverly resident, started the robotics club at Br. Rice last year. Interest in the club has grown steadily and the former teacher at George Westinghouse College Prep in Humboldt Park plans to launch an engineering program at the Catholic school as a result.

The team has more than a month to practice and are using the on-campus pool to test and tweak their creation. Sadie Norwick, manager of learning programs at the Shedd, said she's eager to see the second-year team compete.

The Shedd Underwater Robotics Program is actually in its eighth year. The aquarium provides most of the tools needed to build the robots over a three-year stint. Then the clubs are expected to branch off on their own, while still encouraged to compete in the underwater challenge, Norwick said.

 The Edmund MK 2.5 is the second underwater robot constructed by students at Brother Rice High School in Mount Greenwood. The device is designed to pick up and move objects as well as test the temperature of things within the pool.
The Edmund MK 2.5 is the second underwater robot constructed by students at Brother Rice High School in Mount Greenwood. The device is designed to pick up and move objects as well as test the temperature of things within the pool.
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DNAinfo/Howard A. Ludwig

The purpose of the program is to encourage students to pursue fields related to science, technology, engineering and math or STEM. And news of Br. Rice starting an engineering program after participating in the robotics competition is proof that it's working, Norwick said.

"Going forward in an ever-changing world, the engineering and STEM skills are going to be so great for students to embrace," she said.

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