GLIN==> Student Team's Robotic Water-Sampling Boat Expected to Save Time and Money

Student Team's Robotic Water-Sampling Boat Expected to Save Time and Money

 

July 1, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

COLUMBUS-An Ohio Sea Grant researcher and his team of engineering students
are testing an automated boat prototype that will lower the cost of water
quality testing. The team took the craft on a trial run in May at Ohio's
Grand Lake St. Marys and Dr. John-David Yoder, Associate Professor in Ohio
Northern University's College of Engineering, plans to continue the project
next year, developing the boat into a product for everyday use.

 

Made of a fishing boat hull and powered by a trawling motor, the 240-pound
robotic monitor fits in the back of a pickup truck. Two people can place it
in the water, programming its navigation system with a set of GPS
coordinates, and then the robot takes over. It travels to those locations,
recording water characteristics, such as pH, temperature, and conductivity,
before returning to the dock where people can download the data with a flash
drive.

 

State agencies and parks test water multiple times over the summer to
determine if water is safe for boaters and visitors at public beaches.
Advisories have been posted recently at Buckeye Lake and Grant Lake because
of toxins created by harmful algae. Frequent automated sampling would offer
faster results for state parks, allowing managers to close lakes before
harmful algae concentrations reach unsafe levels. Yoder predicts long-term
savings in human power will quickly outweigh the craft's upfront cost.

 

"We know certain lakes that are used for recreation and drinking water have
algae problems," says Linda Merchant-Masonbrink, Harmful Algal Bloom
Coordinator at the Ohio EPA. "We could deploy automated crafts to constantly
monitor these 'usual suspects,' and would be able to gather rapid results
and postings. If we can get real-time data, we can protect people faster."

 

Yoder predicts that monitoring surface water quality will continue to be
important in the years to come. "Hopefully this automated sampler will be a
low-cost solution for agencies and watershed management to keep much better
control over what's going on with surface water," he says.

 

Ohio State University's Ohio Sea Grant program is part of NOAA Sea Grant, a
network of 32 Sea Grant programs dedicated to the protection and sustainable
use of marine and Great Lakes resources. For information on Ohio Sea Grant
and Stone Lab, visit  <http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/> ohioseagrant.osu.edu.

 

To learn more about this Ohio Sea Grant-funded research, visit
ohioseagrant.osu.edu/_documents/twineline/v32i3.pdf.

 

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Contact:

 

John-David Yoder, Associate Professor, College of Engineering, Ohio Northern
University: 419-772-2385,               j-yoder at onu.edu.

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