The following is an article about the work of the Stockbridge Underwater Robotics Team's expeditions to Palau to search for downed WWII planes, using their own robot. The collaboration between Stockbridge and the DeWitt Creativity Group is included:
STOCKBRIDGE, MI – Stockbridge High School’s Advanced Underwater Robotics Team hopes a third trip to the western Pacific Ocean island of Palau is in its future.
Team members have made trips to the region in 2012 and 2013 and used underwater robotic devices they’ve built to search for the remains of missing American World War II airmen.
Fundraising is underway now to ensure a third trip will happen in spring 2014.
As part of that, the team is hosting its third annual Movie Night and Silent Auction at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, at Heritage Elementary School, 222 Western Ave. in Stockbridge. Admission is $5.
The event features the premiere of “Stockbridge to Salt H2O,” a documentary produced and filmed by DeWitt High School students and DeWitt Creativity Group members Geoffry Croley and Brad Grost, who traveled to Palau with the team during its 2013 expedition.
On that trip, students used their robot to locate three Japanese shipwrecks and a Japanese seaplane. In 2012, they located and transmitted images of a downed World War II Corsair that students later learned had been ditched by its pilot, whom they also found still alive in Florida.
Stockbridge integrates the Palau project into a robotics curriculum that is open to third- through 12th-graders. The team’s efforts have been featured in Popular Mechanics magazine.
It takes about $45,000 to make the Palau trip happen each year. Funds come solely from grants, contributions and fundraisers.
To donate, people can visit the group’s page on gofundme.com. More information about the program is available on its Facebook page.
A list of Friday night’s silent auction items is available online at biddingforgood.com.