Since February, the Carbon High robotics team has been working on a new project: a submarine. Led by Brian Hobbs, the team has put in about 25 hours per week on this particular project. They tested their submarine Wednesday at the Wave Pool.
The submarine is built on a framework of PVC and Plexiglas. It uses several pumps and pipes to steer it. So far, the team has spent $300 for the electronics involved, which consists of an Arduino brain, power converters, two 18-volt-drill batteries, a submersible camera, lights, 50 feet of copper wiring and 138 feet of CAT 6 cable and nylon rope. The PVC supplies were donated by Southwest Plumbing.
“After the VEX state competition, in which we took 12th, the robotics team has dedicated their time to this project,” James Powell, Carbon High’s robotics instructor, explained. He also explained that the sub is far from finished.
“The goal of this thing is to get the kids excited about doing this at the college,” Powell said. He also mentioned that USU Eastern has helped a lot with the high school’s project. USU Eastern has their own submarine team that competes nationally.
The team still has to work out weight issues and leaks among other things. The team also plans on adding several sensors for direction, depth and voltage. The robotics program is only held after school, so every student who participates has to sacrifice free time to be involved.
The team has been working on other projects as well.
Powell explained that “Nathan Carpenter has been heading up the Lego robot. They are currently building a Lego robot that will solve a rubrics cube. He has put a lot of time in on the robot and its beginning to look like it will work. Testing and coding will soon follow.
Alonso Navarro and Brandon Tallerico both worked on our Vex robot this year. Alonso was one of the main drivers during competitions. Brandon was a builder on both the Vex robot and the submarine.
I’m amazed at what these kids are doing with the limited resources that they have, as they put their mind and effort toward these projects.”