Build Night on February 5th at Camp Thunderbird is Canceled. If you plan on attending the next build night on February 12th at Camp Thunderbird please email Matt Beauregard at Elmatroop14@gmail.com with a count of how many people will be attending. 

Get ready for an exciting splash into robotics with the Aquabots Challenge, an underwater robot-building event, brought to you in partnership with SeaPerch. This is a team based building competition for Scouts BSA members. Each team should consist of 3-6 Scouts. Troops are welcome to have more than one team. If there are 6 people on a team we recommend that the team be split into two teams. This will allow the scouts a greater opportunity for hands on work. 

If you are registering after January 22nd please email Rachael.weaver@Scouting.org to coordinate picking up your build kit! 

What’s the mission? Your team will receive a SeaPerch kit to construct an underwater robot. Each team will work to turn pieces into a fully operational ROV ready to face off in aquatic tasks. It’s not just about building; it’s about challenging your creativity and engineering skills to conquer underwater missions. Each kit comes with a detailed instruction manual. 

Kickoff Event: Join us on January 22nd 2025 , at the Camp Thunderbird in the Dale O Johnson Training Center from 6 PM to 8 PM. Leaders, this is your opportunity to get hands-on with the SeaPerch kit and learn everything you need to guide your scouts through their build. We'll provide the insights, tips, and a little bit of insider know-how to help you support your teams effectively. You can join the kick off meeting via Microsoft Teams at Here. 

Build Days: We are hosting build days for teams to attend and get assistance from our event leadership in building their bots. This is a great time to get some help with a new skill or in an area they may be having issues in. The build days are at the Camp Thunderbird in the Dale O Training Center from 6-8 pm, January 29, February 5, 12, 19, 26, and March 5, 12, 19. Teams do not need to sign up for these build days. Build days are optional, and provide a great location to build and work as a team. 

Competition Day: 

April 5th, Doors open at 9:30 and the competition itself starts at 10 am at the Olympia YMCA at 1530 Yelm Highway SE Olympia WA. 

The competition itself has three portions. 

Obstacle course- this section will have each team piloting their bot through an obstacle course of hoops at various angles. The bot will go through the course, surface, and return through all of the hoops. Teams may go twice and the best of those scores will be taken. 

Team Interview- Each team will speak to a panel of judges about their bots and their experiences in this building process. 

Engineering Notebook- Each team will present their engineering notebook to the panel of judges. This notebook should outline their process. 

Registration must include 3-6 youth and an adult that will oversee the team for communication. Troops may have more than 1 team.

Final Competition

If you have any questions please reach out to Rachael.weaver@scouting.org

If you do not have enough youth to form a team, please reach out to Rachael Weaver at Rachael.Weaver@scouting.org to put the youth on a list to try to form a team of other youth without a team.

A special thank you to our event partners the American Military Family Action Network and ARTS WA. We would not be able to offer this event without them!