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guidance. While the team was proficient in
that it was able to design and build a vehi-
cle that was functional, it turned out that
the vehicle's tether was too short, hinder-
ing its range of motion in the pool. Despite
this shortcoming, everything else worked
well.
Bob Lobecker, of TMS coordinated the
efforts of 14 judges from industry and aca-
demia to review technical papers, posters,
oral presentations and mission perform-
ance.
This was Lobecker's third stint as a judge
- his first time as the head judge - and he
attributes the enthusiasm of the kids and
the competition for keeping his interest.
"These kids are the best and the bright-
est. They are so enthusiastic even in the
face of a completely failed mission. They
learn from the experience and vow to come
back next year to win. The kids that enter
this event are clearly the cream of the crop
as illustrated by the colleges they will
attend next fall such as MIT, URI, Webb
Insitute for Yacht Design Rutgers Marine
Science Program, Clark University, USC
San Diego, Brown University, US Naval
Academy and Keene State College.
In most cases the teams that invested the
most time testing and evaluating their
vehicles enjoyed the most success. Nearly
unanimously the teams felt that additional
time should have been budgeted to test and
evaluate their vehicles before coming to the
competition. In a few cases, the competi-
tion was the first time they actually were
able to "fly" their vehicles in a pool. They
were all submerged in various tanks, tubs
and vessels filled with water, but few had
the opportunity to actually operate in a
pool.
One exception to this rule was the team
from the Greater New Bedford Vocational
Technical High School (GNBVTHS),
which was successful at getting its vehicle
completely operational in a very short peri-
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