Three Capstone Design teams from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering traveled to Virginia Beach, Virginia to present their electric driven remote-controlled boats during the annual American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) Promoting Electric Propulsion (PEP) Boat competition from April 15-18.
Team Gato Del Barro improved on a design inherited from previous Capstone teams — it had an inflatable 10-foot dinghy with an electric mud motor. Updated rules this year required the team to develop a 5-minute launch routine, leading to a new manual trailer to deploy the boat. The team updated the power delivery, improved the remote-control circuits and also developed an autonomous mode. Unfortunately, due to strong winds, the team could not demonstrate the autonomous mode. The team qualified and finished the 2-mile course in 17 minutes.
Team members: Garret Abboud, Colin Adams, Lucas Gastineau, Cameron Souder
Team Hydro Hustlers built a new remote-controlled boat from scratch. One of the team members is enrolled in product design and designed a 6-foot Styrofoam and fiber catamaran. The three team members developed the propulsion system. This boat also was remote controlled, and their design qualified for the competition and managed to finish ¾ mile before a battery failure unfortunately ended their journey.
Team members: Said Al Hinai, Kiefer Howland, Matthew Poff, Cannon Shields
Team The Deciduous decided on a design from mostly materials found in the lab. Their motor was taken from a broken motorized skateboard, other parts were salvaged from previous ASNE PEP competitors. The boat frame was made from wood and water-resistant fabric and was noted by many other teams at the competition. The team had several mishaps mainly with mechanical parts of their boat and persevered and repaired the boat several times. They managed to qualify and also enter the competition during the windy days in Virginia Beach. This team also managed ¾ mile, at this point the winds and waves managed to shake loose their antenna and the remote control was not able to communicate with the boat anymore.
Team members: Charlie Baer, Spencer Bazsika, Jordan May, David Stewart
