Sparing divers from having to carry out dangerous underwater tasks? The time will soon come! Indeed, by establishing the Système d'opérations nautique intelligent et autonome (SONIA), a team of students from the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) were able to carry out a very ambitious project: the creation of an underwater robot capable of autonomously performing a complex mission. To locate a sound-transmitting marker, visually recognise objects in the water and collect specified data are all highly complex operations. But to have a robot accomplish these activities all by itself is quite a feat! Due to its advanced technology, SONIA could, for example, inspect the penstocks of electric dams or undertake the mine clearance of lakes polluted by artillery shells. The team behind the prototype, made up of 28 students, has invested over 4,500 hours in order to bring the project to completion. SONIA brings together technical skills in the fields of mechanics, electricity and computer science. Investors such as IBM, Hydro-Québec, Position Technology and Teknor Applicom are already showing a keen interest in SONIA.
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Demonstrating the skills of graduating engineering students and ensuring the training of tomorrow's scientists are not easy tasks. However, a group of nine students from the Department of Engineering and Applied Science at the Université Laval have succeeded in doing so by hosting an important event. The national finals of four Canadian regional competitions of the 2002 Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC-Laval) held at the Université Laval gave over 180 students the chance to showcase their skills in one of the program's eight categories. For example, during this event, participants had to design a project in less than 12 hours. This was a real challenge considering the fact that the topic to be researched was revealed only at the start of the event. And to stimulate future engineers CEC-Laval 2002 created a section for high-school students. Thus, 48 young students from 12 schools also had the opportunity to test their ingenuity. A great way to stimulate the grey matter of Quebec youth.
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The undersea world as a place for sporting competitions ? Why not! This is the challenge that students from the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) took up when launching the OMER 4 project. And the determination of the ten participating students bore fruit as the human-powered underwater one-person submarine which was the result of their efforts, beat the world speed record during the International Submarine Race held in Bethesda, Maryland in June 2001, reaching a speed of 7.2 knots, that is to say 13.2 km/h. During the competition, the team even won the award for best use of composite materials. What's more, the integration of an on-board computer - a first in itself - and the setting up of a sound security system further added to the overall success of OMER 4. The only vehicle of its kind in Quebec, OMER 4 is the result of a pooling of the vital energies of students in Mechanical, Electrical and Automated Production Engineering programs who made up the team. This versatility enabled the participants to demonstrate their knowledge in hydrodynamics, propulsion and steering.
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