IMarEST's third beinnial European International Submarine Races
The third biennial European International Submarine Race (eISR) will be held from the 6th to the 15th of July 2016 in Gosport, England. Teams of University students will race their human-powered submarines against the clock around a demanding slalom course in a unique sporting and engineering challenge.
The European International Submarine Races (eISR) are an initiative where IMarEST challenges teams of university students to design, build and race human-powered submarines against the clock on an out-and-back course. The concept combines engineering design challenge with technical skill development and sets them in a unique and exciting sporting competition.
The initiative is designed to encourage more students to consider careers within the marine sector. This is one of the ways that IMarEST is pushing its 'Sea Your Future' campaign to inspire the next generation and show them the opportunities available in marine STEM careers.
The basic rules of the sport are straightforward - teams must design, build and race flooded submarines piloted by a single scuba diver, who must be fully enclosed within the hull of the machine. All propulsion power must be provided by the diver during the race (i.e. no energy storage devices such as flywheels or batteries are allowed), but otherwise the design rules are open to whatever innovation teams decide to use.
The eISR is also about developing real, practical engineering skills. In the funding-constrained university environment, the practical elements of curricula have been replaced with theoretical calculation and computer modelling. A submarine big enough to contain a diver is a real, tangible machine, and the mechanisms have to produce and take real forces. At the same time, the challenge isn't so great that the students can't make the parts themselves - this provides an invaluable learning experience as they see their CAD drawings come to real life.
Finally, the competition is about working as a team in a time-critical, adrenaline-charged atmosphere. During the build-up to the race, the students learn to exploit each other's' strengths, and design into their machines what they think they will need to succeed at the races. In initial testing, they learn where the weaknesses are, and make considered adjustments to their designs. Then, once they arrive on the racecourse, and really put their machines to the test, they invariably find new challenges, and have to bring out their engineering knowledge to find solutions on-the-fly with limited facilities. Such experience is invaluable to them later in their careers, regardless of the direction they take.
To meet the teams please visit:
http://www.subrace.eu/
For more information on sponsorship opportunities, please contact Samantha.carter@imarest.org or marketing@imarest.org
A Careers' Day will also be held on Saturday 9th July at Hilsea Lido, Gosport, where sponsors will have the chance to talk about the broad range of opportunities within their organisations. The Careers' Day is open to all ages and will include live-demonstrations of the human-powered submarines.
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