Stockbridge Advanced Underwater Robotics - (517) 851-7770 Ext 6210

We travel to the Republic of Palau in search of planes downed in the Battle of Peleliu during WWII. 10 students will go to Palau for the 2015 mission.

Stockbridge High School added Robotics to the curriculum 5 years ago as a replacement for the school store/ advanced markering program. The program started out using lego mindstorms and has since added the vex robotics system. In 2010 we added underwater robotics for the advanced students. The underwater robotics curriculum has grown from one intital class of 4 students to two classes of twenty students in the last three years. In 2012 the students in the advanced underwater robotics class were asked to build and ROV and participate in the BentProp project searching for missing American airmen from World War II. This initial class of 8 students traveled to Palau in March of 2012 and was able to find and identify a U.S. Marine Corps Corsair Fighter than was shot down in 1944.

We have recently added underwater robotics to the middle school and 5th grade curriculum as well. As the students progress through the curriculum the robots and ROVs become more complex. The elementary students begin with simple ROV in a Bucket kits and simple switches and then progress to the high school Advanced Underwater Robotics class where students build embeded electronic control systems, sonar and underwater infrad red video camera systems.

The high school program is directed and facilitated by Robert Richards. He has taught at the high school for ten years.


Learn how a rural landlocked school introduced and created ROV's at the elementary and secondary levels. Within a couple of years students went on to compete at the international level and are now headed overseas to serve in the reclamation of WWII MIA soldiers and aircraft.

Stockbridge High School's Underwater Robotics class has been presented with the opportunity of a lifetime. Based on our students' success in the MATE International ROV Competition, we were contacted by the BentProp Project and were asked to build an Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle or ROV capable of diving to a depth of 125' in saltwater, then recording images of downed aircraft in Palau from World War II. BentProp is a non-profit organization and missing aircrews from World War II. Information related to The BentProp project can be found at bentprop.org.

Tags: High Robotics