Limburg students create miniature submarine
About two months ago, I was telling my colleagues at lunchtime about a new hardware project I wanted to start working on. For a while now, I've been figuring out how to create a remote-controlled miniature submarine, but I haven't quite gotten round to actually starting the project.
Time passed, until all of a sudden this week someone sent me a mail with the subject "They beat him to it!", and a link to a newspaper item. And indeed they have...
The link took me to an article about two students in Limburg (Belgium) who have created their own remote controlled mini-submarine. Quite an achievement, and I reckoned this deserved more than just a quick mention, so I took the liberty of translating the original article: you can read it below.
A mini-submarine...
Michiel Celis and Maarten Vuerstaek have created a mini-submarine which should help divers of the Heusden-Zolder fire brigade investigate the channel bottom.
Michiel Celis and Maarten Vuerstaek posing with their submarine
Both boys are senior students Electrics-Electronics at the Don Bosco technical institute in Helchteren, Limburg. "We designed this all ourselves, starting with the mechanics all the way to the software which controls the submarine", say Michiel and Maarten, both 17 years old. "The most important fact is that this submarine can be remotely controlled from the river bank, and the fact that it is able to constantly forward images of what lies on the bottom."
Accidental or not, the submarine's colour is red - the same red as that of the fire brigade. "It was either that, or Ferrari-red", the students speak in jest. "But we opted for the fire-brigade because they can actually use the submarine. To achieve this, we even used a part of our Play-Stations, so our submarine can navigate in all directions."
Maarten and Michiel certainly don't leave anything to chance. Should the remote control of the submarine fail to work, it simply resurfaces on it's own. A cable connects the submarine to the mainland. That same cable can be used to drag the sub back to shore should something go completely wrong, but it also serves as a means to transmit the images which in turn can be viewed on a laptop. "On land, we also provided for a mobile control in order to be able to follow and direct the submarine."
...from an old gas bottle
"I've never seen anything like it", says Wouter Vliegen, an officer of the Heusden fire brigade, when he examines the submarine. "At security exhibits all sort of things are presented but this is actually useful to us. On top of this, these guys have made it all from recycled gear. The submarine itself is actually an old gas bottle. They've managed to create this for more-or-less 1.000 euro, but the value of this submarine for our operation is invaluable."
It's possible to see the submarine for yourselves at the Don Bosco open day, the 28th of June 2009.
Original author: Dirk Jacobs).
Personally I'll be sure to check out their submarine on the 28th - I might even sneak some pictures in and post them here.
Good work boys!
PS: You can read the original Dutch article in the newspaper Het Belang Van Limburg.