Ballard High School's Maritime Academy students spent the morning of April 30 sending underwater vehicles to the bottom of the Ballard Pool to see which team could collect the most rings. And, as is usually the case in life, Chuck Norris came out on top.

Juniors David Mershon and Andrew Colbrook sent their Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV), named Chuck Norris after the hard-hitting, impeccably bearded star of "Walker, Texas Ranger" and "The Octagon," into the pool first and ran away with the competition despite their unconventional T-shaped design.

Colbrook said they wanted the simplest design possible because sometimes simple is a good thing.

All the other teams were building box or house-shaped ROVs, Mershon said.

John Foster, teacher at Ballard's Maritime Academy, has been having his students build and compete ROVs for the past five or six years to teach them about wiring, electricity and buoyancy.

In addition, students learn to design, test and redesign to achieve a particular goal, picking up rings, in this case, Foster said.

He said Mershon and Colbrook's Chuck Norris won the competition because they tested their ROV almost every day to troubleshoot, ending up changing its motor four to six times.

"Building them is easy," Foster said. "We could be done in a couple days if we wanted. But, they are never perfect the first time. Problem solving is the real lesson."

Building ROVs helps prepare Maritime Academy students for possible careers, he said.

ROVs were being used as underwater cameras and to close valves after the April 20 oil rig explosion in the Gulf Coast, Foster said. They are used to replace divers in industry because they don't complain and can be worked 24-hours straight, he said.

With shop classes disappearing around the country, this project gives students a chance to use their hands to build something, which they enjoy, Foster said.

"Oh yeah, it's hella fun," Mershon said.

"It's our creative outlet," Colbrook added.

In the initial competition, Chuck Norris came in first with 11 points, followed by Haley Jackson's Haley's Comet with five points and Jamie Thelan and Jayne Barnes' Orcanator in third with two points.

Two of the four scoreless teams got on the board later with retries.

The video above shows a camera-equipped ROV being test driven by Maritime Academy students. Courtesy of Ballard Maritime Academy.