Students – Overview

students

About the Challenge

The Sea, Air and Land Challenge is a Department of Defense (DoD) sponsored program, in which teams of high school-aged students learn about the engineering process through the design and build of a robotic system. The robotics systems are then used to compete in challenges that mimic missions encountered by the military, national security agencies and first responders.  Know that some regions are also open to middle-school/junior high school-aged students and college freshmen.  As the name of the program implies, the missions include the choice of building a submersible for the Sea Challenge, a drone for the Air Challenge or a rover for the Land Challenge.  In addition, students will learn about some of the tremendous career opportunities available to them in or supporting the DoD as a civilian or in the military.

Nicknamed the SeAL Challenge, this engineering program provides a fun opportunity for school students and youth organizations to work together with educators and volunteer engineering mentors from industry or local colleges.  Teams have twelve to sixteen weeks (one semester) to design and build unmanned vehicles with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) payloads to compete in the Challenge of their choice.   Guidelines for each Challenge can be found under Support Docs, found on the top white bar on the SeAL Challenge homepageAsk your teacher or advisor for the password to access these documents.  In addition, check out photos of past Challenges in the Photo Gallery.

Teams may be formed from in-school classes, after-school groups, home-schooled and cyber-schooled students, clubs, scouts, 4-H and other youth organizations.  Each team of 3-10 students will need an educator or advisor.  If requested, each team will also be paired with a volunteer engineering mentor to help bridge the gap between math and sciences you are familiar with and the engineering process and lingo.

Each team may spend up to $600 per robotic system.  Funding may come from your school or club, from fundraising through local businesses and companies, from grants or other sources.  A support request letter template is available on the Support Docs page, in addition to a thank-you template.  Keep track of what you plan to spend and what you actually spend.  The final amount will be asked of you on Challenge Day.

Skills Developed

In addition to technical capabilities and coding, students will develop several skills which will prove to be essential regardless of career aspirations, these include:

  • Problem Solving
  • Creativity
  • Teamwork
  • Communication
  • Leadership
  • Systems Thinking

Team Formation

Each team will need a lead person for each of the following areas of the system development:

  • Team Lead
  • Finance/Fundraising
  • Purchasing
  • Mechanics
  • Electronics
  • Drivetrain/hardware
  • Coding

Suggested Timeline for a Spring Semester Challenge

Fall Semester

  • Read Challenge Guidelines
  • View Videos
  • School Registration
  • Build and Structure Teams
  • Choose Challenges
  • Team Fundraising
  • Consider Engineering Mentors & Volunteers
  • Student Registration (Click Here)
  • Pre-Challenge Survey (Click Here)

Spring Semester

  • Begin Brainstorming for Potential Solutions
  • Equipment Research
  • Design Initial Concept
  • Ensure Needed Mentor and Volunteer Background Clearances Complete
  • Preliminary Design Review (PDR) due for Review
  • Critical Design Review (CDR) OPTIONAL for Review
  • Fabrication and Testing Phase
  • Flight Certification Test for Air Teams
  • Challenge Day
  • Final Reports (Optional)
  • Surveys (Required) for Educators, Students, Mentors

Information on PDRs, sample documents, resources, scoring rubrics and other information can also be found under Support Docs.

This is not a competition based solely on winning.  Rather than the finish line, this program is about the journey.  All of the participants are winners.  Teams are judged based upon the team’s innovation and use of the engineering design process in building a vehicle and its ability to maneuver through the designated unknown course.

For more information, please contact the Sea Air Land Group at Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory.

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