Local middle and high schoolers explore marine technology in ROV-building contest.

PlayingAround''Left! Left! Now straight!" Stevenson High School sophomore Lisa Rieger shouts, peering into the Monterey Sports Center swimming pool. Barbara Boronda--Lisa''s Natividad 4-H Club-sponsored Green Machine partner--adjusts a hand-held control switch. In the pool, a PVC-framed box with a net in front, propeller in back and Kermit the Frog on top turns left.

Lisa Rieger and Barbara Boronda are among the 60 middle and high school students competing this late April day in a Remotely Operated Vehicle Building Contest sponsored by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center. The goal is to encourage students to participate in marine technical fields while making them aware of the skills they''ll need to flourish. The students build the ROVs themselves (the only outside advice allowed comes from sponsors, be they teachers, parents or youth organizations).

Each ROV is approximately the size of a grocery bag, is powered by a 12-volt car battery and draws a maximum of five amps when underwater--just enough to light a 60-watt bulb. The ROV must be able to maneuver in three dimensions and retrieve objects underwater.

Bill Watson, one of over 60 event volunteers, explains the rules for the Catch and Carry competition: "You have eight minutes to retrieve the red tee [a half-inch piece of PVC pipe] from the bottom of the pool and bring it to the surface. Once you get the red tee, then go after the green tees."

Underwater retrieval is exactly what Lisa''s and Barbara''s Green Machine is attempting. Lacking access to a swimming pool for testing, the team''s previous water experience came in a bathtub, a horse trough and a hot tub. The pool presents its own challenges. Two minutes into it, the Green Machine is closing in on the red tee. Barbara maneuvers the ROV to the red tee, while her colleagues cluster on the sides of the pool, shouting encouragement.

"Scoop it in the basket!"

The red tee slides under the net.

"Aaarrrgh!"

Barbara backs the ROV up and tries again. The blue curly straws attached to each side of the ROV''s net are supposed to help funnel the tee into retrieval position. The tee brushes against the straw and successfully moves into the net.

"Yes!"

The ROV moves slowly to the surface. Time: 5 minutes, 31 seconds.

"That was tough!" says Barbara before heading off to the next contest.

Teams rotate to the contest stations, which are set up around the steamy indoor pool area of the Sports Center. The Design and Innovation contest judges are engineers and ROV pilots from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Each of the 11 high school and 11 middle school teams are evaluated based on innovation of design and creative use of materials. Lisa and Barbara''s Kermit the Frog Green Machine is a hit.

Students wait in the bleachers until they are called "on deck" by runners, who escort them to their next competition. In between, and sometimes during, contests, teams rush to the Repair Table. Here volunteers Jon Kao and Paul Sund assist with technical problems, the most common being that the ROV propeller comes off. At least this is the trouble with the Rip Tide team''s ROV.

"Hot glue doesn''t stick well to chrome," explains Kao.

"We try to rough up the chrome," adds Paul Sand. "But there''s not time to really let the glue dry."

Back at the Catch and Carry station, volunteer Koshta Taylor resets the tees for the final team. With mask and snorkel, he dives to the pool bottom carrying a handful of red and green tees. He''s already thought of improvements for next year''s competition: "We''ll put some duct tape on the bottom of the pool," he says, "so we can make sure the tees are in the same place for each team."

All entries become eligible for the Prize Grab Finale, in which the green tees are coded for prizes ranging from scooters to tours of Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, all provided by local businesses.

Kimberly Swan, a Monterey Bay Aquarium fellow and event organizer, announces into a microphone: "All teams please go to the bleachers by the Prize Table. We''ll announce the results in a few minutes."

The Green Machine team and friends await the results.

Fred Rubin, another event organizer, takes the mike and reads results handed to him by the Tabulation Table supervisor. As the winners are announced, students high-five each other and race to the prize table where MATE Center organizer Jill Zande shakes hands and hands out plaques and prizes. Smiling parents take pictures. Sponsors beam.

"First Place High School for the Catch and Carry is the Green Machine," Rubin announces. Screams and shouts all around.

Barbara and Lisa laugh and hug. They read and re-read the words engraved on a brass label mounted on a wooden base: "1st Place, Catch and Carry, High School." They--and everyone in the center--know that for this moment, at least, they are the real thing.

For more info, click on www.marinetech.org, or contact Kimberly Swan at kswan@mbayaq.org, or 647-6852.