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By Maria Lironi
A group of computer, electrical, mechanical and software engineering students—known as UVic’s Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Design Team (AUVic)—has won two national engineering awards.
The students are building an autonomous underwater vehicle—a submersible robot that is capable of completing intelligent tasks without aid from human operators. AUVs are used extensively in science, industry and the military. Scientists use AUVs to study the ocean and the ocean floor. Oil and gas companies employ AUVs to make detailed maps of the seafloor before they start building subsea infrastructure. These maps allow for cost-effective installation of pipelines with minimal disruption to the environment. A typical military mission for an AUV is to map an area to determine if there are any mines.
The team took its project to the Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC) last month in Saskatoon and won first place in CEC’s innovative design competition as well as a special award for technical excellence.
“As individuals who work on this project day and night it was exciting for us to not only see our work pay off but to see the excitement it aroused throughout the entire competition,” says AUVic team leader Matt Burdyny.
“It has been exciting to watch the AUVic team mature under Matt’s leadership,” says Dean of Engineering Dr. Michael Miller. “This interdisciplinary student-led project expands greatly on the students’ educational experience combining technical, communication and project management tasks. It shows what our excellent students are capable of.”
The CEC is an annual event attended by 150 engineering students from across Canada. It promotes communication, design, and ingenuity—encouraging students to develop their professional skills in a competitive environment. The event also fosters an important link between Canadian engineering students, industry, government and academia.
For more information about AUVic visit www.engr.uvic.ca/~auv/.
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