Students test remote control vehicles for monitoring water quality in wetlands

Ten weeks of work to develop and design a remote controlled water sampling vehicle will be tested at Adelaide’s Unity Park on 31 October.

More than 60 Year 11 students from across Adelaide were given a black box controller, a fan, some basic electronics and 10 weeks to design a vehicle that can collect 500 mL water samples. The competition is part of the Suburban Wetlands Acquisition and Telemetry (SWAT) System program to monitor water quality in South Australian wetlands.

The team that can collect the most water samples from four different locations and return them to a control station in 10 minutes will win the competition.

BAE Systems has supported the SWAT program for more than four years. The program supports the South Australian government’s STEM strategy by using technical and engineering problem solving principles to find a solution to real-world problems.

BAE Systems engineer Peter Morgenthaler completed a similar project in his final years at university and decided to start the program. “I had a lot of fun with a very similar project at university and it really convinced me that I’d chosen the right path with engineering. I wanted to share that with other students,” Morgenthaler said.

“The beauty of this program is that it is unique in South Australia. Unlike other programs that sample from a fixed point that requires human access, this program gets students to develop a vehicle that can be directed to a specific location, conduct some water sampling and map and log the data for further analysis.”

Once the students have tested their vehicles, they will be assessed on their designs and ability to sell their products. The final results will be presented on 14 November at the Golden Grove Recreation Centre.